Friday, January 14, 2005
USA: New York minutes
[tags: _travel]
I hope people don't read this and think, Wow, he really doesn't like the States. I do. Like all Filipinos, I've always had a soft spot for the American dream, the lights, the cities, the people. I always believed as a kid I would one day live there - "there" being New York, or LA, or any random large city. Then life intervened.
Day 05: Monday was a transition day; woke up late for a rushed last breakfast with Uncle Totoy; then packed up my things and said goodbye to Max and the others. The snow was now an icy crust that made navigating with the bag a little difficult. I dropped my bags off at South Station and walked from Chinatown to the Theatre District to the Common - all in the space of an hour. Spent some time in the Public Library admiring the central sculptures. Walked back up Newbury to catch the 3pm bus and spent the rest of the afternoon on autopilot, admiring the sunset through the grime of the bus windows.
I arrived in New York just as the last light faded and the view from Manhattan bridge lit up with the skyline from a thousand TV shows. The Winthrop Street apartment where I would be staying was in a corner of Brooklyn inhabited by the #2 line and Snoop Dogg lookalikes in Econoline vans. The apartment was owned by a nurse friend of Tita Elvie's, and she was there to greet me when I arrived. We had a dinner of embotido and rice, and I promptly collapsed on the bed.
After lunch, I tried to make sense of the geography. Walked down 42nd street, decided to walk back and took the subway to 53rd. From there, went to the corner of 5th Avenue and stared at the skeletons of trees in Central Park, gawked at the jewels in Tiffany's and the suits rushing in and out of Trump Towers.
The one museum I hadn't been to in New York was the MoMA (it had been under renovation last time I was here); today of all days, though, it had to be closed. So I ended up banging away at the blog in the Public Library (see below) until about 4 in the afternoon.
Gina and I hadn't seen each other in years. We caught up while Tita bought a huge load of fresh fish at one of the endless stalls off Mott and Mulberry. The market could have come straight out of Guangzhou, with its buckets of frogs and blowfish still wriggling and staring out at us. Gina was doing her last year in med school; her younger sister Geraldine was in Florida doing a dance routine with a traveling show. When we finished eating Tita Elvie insisted on getting puto and coconut bread from her "suki" in yet another store. Laden down with tons of bags, we escorted Gina to her car, and went home to sleep.
Boston Public Library
I hope people don't read this and think, Wow, he really doesn't like the States. I do. Like all Filipinos, I've always had a soft spot for the American dream, the lights, the cities, the people. I always believed as a kid I would one day live there - "there" being New York, or LA, or any random large city. Then life intervened.
* * *
Day 05: Monday was a transition day; woke up late for a rushed last breakfast with Uncle Totoy; then packed up my things and said goodbye to Max and the others. The snow was now an icy crust that made navigating with the bag a little difficult. I dropped my bags off at South Station and walked from Chinatown to the Theatre District to the Common - all in the space of an hour. Spent some time in the Public Library admiring the central sculptures. Walked back up Newbury to catch the 3pm bus and spent the rest of the afternoon on autopilot, admiring the sunset through the grime of the bus windows.
I arrived in New York just as the last light faded and the view from Manhattan bridge lit up with the skyline from a thousand TV shows. The Winthrop Street apartment where I would be staying was in a corner of Brooklyn inhabited by the #2 line and Snoop Dogg lookalikes in Econoline vans. The apartment was owned by a nurse friend of Tita Elvie's, and she was there to greet me when I arrived. We had a dinner of embotido and rice, and I promptly collapsed on the bed.
* * *
Day 06: I had come to New York with vague plans of "doing" all the usual sites (Liberty, Empire State etc) then a bit of shopping. All the plans went quickly out the window as soon as I got on the subway. It wasn't so much that I had done them already; more to the point, I wanted to get lost in the city, get absorbed by the whole sprawling vastness of it.
Main Concourse, Grand Central Station
After lunch, I tried to make sense of the geography. Walked down 42nd street, decided to walk back and took the subway to 53rd. From there, went to the corner of 5th Avenue and stared at the skeletons of trees in Central Park, gawked at the jewels in Tiffany's and the suits rushing in and out of Trump Towers.
The one museum I hadn't been to in New York was the MoMA (it had been under renovation last time I was here); today of all days, though, it had to be closed. So I ended up banging away at the blog in the Public Library (see below) until about 4 in the afternoon.
Near 53rd and 3rd streets, I think.
Gina and I hadn't seen each other in years. We caught up while Tita bought a huge load of fresh fish at one of the endless stalls off Mott and Mulberry. The market could have come straight out of Guangzhou, with its buckets of frogs and blowfish still wriggling and staring out at us. Gina was doing her last year in med school; her younger sister Geraldine was in Florida doing a dance routine with a traveling show. When we finished eating Tita Elvie insisted on getting puto and coconut bread from her "suki" in yet another store. Laden down with tons of bags, we escorted Gina to her car, and went home to sleep.
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