Empire State of Mind or New York State of Mind

 

Fully immersed in New York now, need to see if I can find the commonality between Billy Joel and Jay Z's respective states of mind, both I think eschewing the virtues of being relaxed around the rules. Yep, think I can get on board with that.

Started to catch up on sleep last night but was of course awake early enough to write the first day blog, have breakfast and visit the gym all before 9 o clock!  Lets linger a while on the Hilton breakfast. It may need its own daily update, disappointed as we are not to source a local diner, but pretty much all tastes catered for!  I will make sure I include something U.S each day, and went bacon with pancakes and maple syrup today.  I think I might have doubled in size in the last 12 hours!  Gym and walking may help to offset a bit, but I sense overall may be on a losing battle.

Waiting for Patrick Swayze to appear as a ghost

We had a very full itinerary today but that needed to be slightly varied as I realised we were seeing the Knicks tonight and not tomorrow, the latter at some point been wrongly written into our schedule. But no problems, we started as planned, with a short walk to the subway and a direct train over to York Street station near the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

Fat Boy apt sculpture

Manhattan Bridge

Fashion Shoot

Brooklyn Bridge

I must say I hadn't really got my head round what we would see in this part of New York other than some famous bridges and expanses of water, but on a crystal clear day the vista and views absolutely took my breath away.  They have done some real regeneration work under the Manhattan Bridge, with loads of information for tourists on the wildlife, industrial past and more cultured present. We strolled under and around the area, and all senses were catered for!  The one thing I will remember is the noise as all manner of transport rumbled over the bridges above us, which contrasted with the serene view across the water that surrounded us.  A modelling photo shoot also we barged on through, they didn't seem to want to include us.

make your own art

Framed Empire

We even managed to find a bit of Art in the Empire building which we had to pass through as we walked up to the walkway across the Brooklyn Bridge and tried to create a bit of our own in the gallery itself (interactive framing), and then a famous instagram picture shot of the Empire State Building through the Brooklyn Bridge. Chrissi did a better job than me!

spot the statue of liberty

The bridge in itself was an experience, with brittle slats that feel no stronger than those on our bed back home, as well as midget police vehicles. But again, the views, majestic, out towards the Statue of Liberty, or the CBD skyscrapers and of course the water itself.  We couldn't have had better weather for this endeavour.

Boo

We continued with our walk back on Manhattan and followed our noses down to the financial quarter. I wanted to see Stock Exchanges and Wall Street. Passed up on making my fortune but able to find that pointer to history, the Dutch building the 'Wall' from which it is named to keep out the Brits in the early days of settlement.  Trump Building down there too, he likes to build walls in modern and metaphorical parlance.

Followed the water around to catch the Staten Island Ferry after a quick Starbucks coffee stop, no toilets for Chrissi, she not happy.  However we were both happy with the ferry, a terminal with a toilet and a free way to see the sights and panorama of New York from the water, with a 'ferry pass' of the Statue of Liberty. Definitely one of those world iconic monuments that is a must see and taken us 3 trips to get close.  An immediate turnaround so we could get many more shots as we crossed the water, good viewing.  Maybe one day we will visit Ellis Island and get up close and personal if we come back (New York marathon is an annual entry attempt for me)

It was then on the subway to find another equally important New York icon, the fire station from Ghostbusters.  Had Ray Parker Jr buzzing in my ears. I ain't afraid of no ghost.  Fire stations in this city though always feel like an extra part of the military, and we saw a tribute on an early one to those from the station that had perished in 9/11

We then needed a bite to eat and I don't like a trip to the US pass without at least one visit to Panda Express. We saw one was nearish to Time Square so stopped on the subway nearby and navigated our way there for me to fill myself with Kung Pao Chicken and spicy beef. Very nice. A barbers next door caught my attention, all these recent photos reminding me of the need for a haircut, so great to chew the fat with one of the locals as he gave me a much needed shear.

A further walk back to the hotel via Time Square again, I think Chrissi has captured most of our walk today on Strava, so I will include a screen shot but it doesn't include the last couple of miles searching for Pandas and milling around the Time Square area.

Relatively quick turnaround in the hotel as yes, you guessed it, another walk back down through Time Square to Madison Square Garden.  New York in all its full neon glory with packed sidewalks, street entertainers and all elements of humanity on display.  We were on a mission to make tip off at the basketball but made it easily in good time as it turned out.

Looked wistfully at the Billy Joel piano outside, that show had passed us by, but tonight was all about sports entertainment.  The merch was off the scale, bought a couple of 'cheap' souvenirs, $16 for a foam finger. Beers $18 each so it was going to be a night mainly focusing on court action, although we did also pay a fair wedge for some chips, and beer at half time.

I have to say thought the sport and entertainment fairly much offered crowd satisfaction in equal measure. The fast paced shooting of hoops provided one narrative, and the Knicks never really got in the game, always around 10 points down on the Dallas Mavericks from quite early on. Knicks short for Knickerbockers by the way, famous Dutch pantaloons. There we go, we've gone double dutch in the references today, I can have a day off now if I fail to fine one tomorrow.

just told Chrissi the price of the tkts

The other narrative was crowd participation, off the scale. Whether it was dancing in time outs, competitions to get whole rows winning prizes, the 'big screen' or court always had something to draw you in. Even if your weren't interested in the sport you would have felt you had been part of something pretty special, and with the cost of the tickets (and we went low, but I'd say 4-5 times what I'd pay to see the Swans) you needed something to shout about.

And shout we did, and then my big foam finger pointed us back in the direction of Time Square and back to the hotel, much later than last night, a big conference ball was on, but we bypassed that, and headed for some much needed sleep. Reckon we've walked 10 mile plus today and that's without all the other action. Very much feeling more Billy Joel than Jay Z by the end of the day.