What was missing from my 'Big Apple' visit

A recent article on graffiti in NYC made me think back to my one-and-only trip to NYC.

It was late 1994 and I was excited I had an invitation to accompany a friend to NYC. She was going to see a medical specialist and she asked if I would travel with her.
I thought the trip would be fun with some sightseeing and shopping. I was in need of a change of pace and something fun and different to do, so off we flew to JFK.

Our taxi from the airport was driven by a man wearing a turban. We gave him the address to our hotel and we held on in the back seat during the exciting, fast drive from the airport to the heart of Manhattan.  I don't remember seeing a checker cab, but there's a sea of taxi cabs on duty in the city.



And I'm glad I had bought a new coat with a liner. It was November and people were wearing fur
and leather coats and jackets.

The air was brisk. Christmas decorations were on display. The neon lights and taxis were never still, even during the early morning hours.  I know because I gazed out our window in the wee hours of the morning. There were maybe a dozen less taxi cabs but delivery trucks and people galore were moving about on the streets.

From our hotel room near the Rockefeller Center, we walked along 5th Avenue, Park Avenue and visited the top floor of the Empire State Building. We peeked into the foyer of Trump Tower and went into Macy's and took the wooden escalators up and down a few floors. At Times Square I watched Brandy perform. Her debut album was out that year. She was cute singing and dancing in her winter white hat, vest, leggings and  boots. We even took a short carriage ride through Central Park, browsed in FAO Schwarz. We decided to not go in the glitzy Plaza Hotel.

We rode past the old World Trade Center buildings in a double-decker bus. I remember thinking those buildings were a solid city block massive at their bases. The support under those building had to be strong and steady for all that mass that reached way up into the sky.

One WTC construction is in progress. Totally amazing on the construction engineering of such tall, huge buildings. I bet none of the workers are afraid of heights. I wonder what their hourly pay is? View this special beam installation.

We ate at the famous  Stage Deli, now closed, where I got hooked on NY cheesecake. We had breakfast at some small joint. Food was served fast. Leisure eating is frowned upon. In
the Big Apple there's no such thing as leisurely eating. In a New York minute you're served, you eat, you pay and be on your way so the next customers in line can be seated.
I did go back to the Stage Deli for a cheese cake to bring home.

I saw only one grocery store and it had a parking lot in front of it.

There were street vendors selling all sorts of merchandise and food. Just about every block there were small grocery stores you walked into to pick up enough groceries or necessities to carry or put in a cart. In front of many of these stores were beautiful cut flower displays which added to still multiple bursts of color along the street accompanied by the moving bursts of vehicles and people.

The city had a vibration I could feel. It's alive with palpable, tangible, visible and smellable energy. There's lots of concrete and little natural growing greenery other than in Central Park and maybe a very small plot of green grass with a few trees here and there. In between all the buildings one after another, with no space in between, I caught a glimpse or two of the sky. Good thing the island has a strong underlying bedrock to support all the man-made structures.

Construction is going under the street level.

What I didn't see was graffiti.

I wanted to see the sights of NYC to say I've seen them, and one of the sights I wanted to see was graffiti.

When it was time to take the subway to get to my friend's doctor's office, I remember being a bit apprehensive going underground. At first I didn't spot where the subway entrances were. At ground level you see these inconspicuous rails over to the side on sidewalks. When I went up to them, there were steps descending down below the street. I had never been underground, so I was a little nervous.
I had seen movies about gangs and muggings on subway cars. I wasn't into experiencing any of that but I did want to see subway graffiti.

This is how I envisioned but also a bit afraid of how the inside of a subway car might look.
I  wanted to see the graffiti art.

I imagine Manhattan was kept graffiti-free for the tourists, so I was hoping the subway would be my chance to see up close and personal some real NYC graffiti.

The closest I'd been to seeing graffiti looks like a big blur on railway cars going too fast for me to gaze at the words and art.

The underground subway station surprisingly was well lit, bright, open and clean. No graffiti on the walls. There were turnstiles and lots of people. It was quiet and I my nervousness was eased. My friend had been to NYC before so she knew her way around. Our subway came, we got on and sat down.

On the subway train, people were quiet. There is no eye contact, no chit chat, no smiling, just other people going about their business. Nothing exciting to see. We came back the same way. My subway adventure was uneventful and graffiti-free.

I saw no graffiti. This article explains what happened to graffiti and graffiti artists.
Today, subway car windows are scratch-proof and the walls of the cars are replaceable.

Painting on subway cars is a crime.

Spray can art is bright and vivid. No paint brushes needed. I wish I'd seen this artist in action. He doesn't spray on public buildings or subway cars. Considering all the spray paint he has to buy and the canvas, he sells his art at a very reasonable price.




NYC is crammed like sardines with buildings, taxi cabs, vehicles and people. There's plenty of good food to be eaten fast. I don't think any chef would have any difficult time finding employment. I wonder if people do a lot of cooking at home or is the norm to stop for a quick bite to eat and keep moving?  I didn't see any who looked overweight. I did hear a lot of foreign language being spoken that I almost thought I was in a foreign country. There are plenty of places of spend your money just walking along the streets in Manhattan and be entertained for free by looking at the people and sights as it's in constant motion 24 hours a day.

I asked our taxi driver if he'd drive through Harlem on the way back to the airport. He seemed puzzled why I'd want to go there. I thought he could drive by the Apollo Theater. He granted my request and drove one block into Harlem and one block out. 

We were gone almost three days and I'd go back to the Big Apple just for the food. It was all marvelous and scrumptious! Generous portions, tasty and served quickly. My pretzel from a street vendor was big and warm. I want one right now. And I'd go back to visit more sights. There was so much I didn't get to see, e.g., museums, Brooklyn, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, Grand Central Station, and more).

Perhaps I'll be fortunate and get another chance for an adventure to visit the sights in and around NYC in this lifetime. With a pass I could tour some underground tunnels, (I'm now cool going underground ) and other interesting sights.

And, one of these days I've got to catch American Graffiti.

In NYC the senses are maximally stimulated

It's been years since I accompanied a friend on a trip to NYC. My first time there was fabulous. Seeing some famous sites was exciting. The food was marvelous. People-watching was entertaining and and just being in NYC three days was thrilling and maximum sensory stimulating.

A horse drawn ride through Central Park

Photo credit: td2 from morguefile.com

 
Things to do in New York City.

I boarded the plane leaving NYC with a Stage Deli cheesecake in a carry-on box. One of the pilots volunteered to keep it up front with him. I should've told him, "not a problem as long as I could be in the cock pit with it for safe keeping." 

When I got home I ordered a cheesecake from Stage Deli to treat my staff to this
fabulous, and I'm not exaggerating, 6-inch thick melt-in-your mouth delicacy.

Pretzels from a street vendor was warm and scrumptious! There was food and smells and stands displaying the brightest flowers on just about every block. Small grocery stores were here and there. Everyone walked briskly on sidewalks and the streets were covered with taxi's. New York City is a swirling, metropolis holding millions of people and an immense array of things to see, places to visit, sounds to hear, aromas to smell, while pleasingly gratified with an abundance of drink and wonderful food consume.

NYC is alive with street vendors. 
 
Check out this virtual tourist site of NYC.   If auditory and aromatic senses could be included, that would be the best virtual experience to NYC.


View this video of a stroll along Fifth Avenue, NYC





Old street vendor pictures.

There are two observatory decks. I went to the open-air observation deck at the top of the Empire State Building, which sways a bit.

 I took an elevator which went up to a certain floor. Then I had to take another elevator which went up to the highest floor the elevator could go. It's windy out on the observation deck, but I sure took in quite a panoramic eye-full of the city and surroundings at a quarter-mile above ground.  

The ground floor lobby was impressive and full of people, and I couldn't help but notice one gigantic list of building tenants, some 15,000 make their business address at this famous skyscraper on Fifth Avenue.

Bonus-there's another deck and the building's undergone renovations since my visit in 1994.

The foyers of The Ritz, Trump Towers are impressive. 

Riding in a horse drawn carriage into Central Park on a chilly night was a joy. 

The clop, clop clop and the driver in his top hat and coat and the blanket across the lap are nice memories of that experience. 

There are lots of horses in NYC pulling carriages or being ridden by policemen.

Check his view of mounted policeman amongst taxis in Times Square.  (See other tourist views at this link).
 This women policeman on her police horse show it's definitely mandatory horses be accustomed to commotion of vehicles, people and sounds to not be spooked.

The air is filled with energy, aromas of food, and honking horns of taxis, mass transit double-decker buses and delivery trucks.

Shops and more shops and big, colorful, neon, flashy, can't-be-missed, over-the-top advertisements line the streets and certainly in Times Square.  

Macy's has wooden hand rails going up the escalator. 

I remember lots of make-up counters and displays just about on every floor,  mostly Clinique.  

I want into Neiman Marcus, the Toy store, and since it was November, there were some festive decorations in the store windows and people were wearing coats and boots.

The subway is accessed by taking steps going underground. At first I didn't see where, but you have to look for a square of thick fencing along a sidewalk and there will be the steps leading down to the subway. I'd never been underground (at least to my recollection) so taking steps down under the street was a new experience. I was surprised that everything was well-lit. Even the subway cars were clean and on time.

I looked around at the people on the subway car. I saw that it's all about getting to where you're going and ignoring all the other people also busy getting to where they were going. 

No one looked directly at another person so there were no pleasantries or 'how ya doing?' spoken by anyone. People on the subway were reading or being to themselves like it's their normal, everyday commute.

 Here's info about riding the subway which I didn't have at the time. My friend had been to NYC before so we didn't have any problems at all getting about. I was sort of hoping to see some graffiti, but everything was spotless. The uneventful subway rides got us to our destination and back. 

The ride on a double-decker bus was more fun.

I saw very little trash, graffiti or homeless people in Manhattan. I wondered where I might see some like on the movies and TV shows. My guess is Manhattan is kept pristine for the tourists. 

I found NYC stimulated all my senses almost to overload and to my great surprise the bustling multi-cultural metropolis with it's millions of inhabitants was pretty clean and tidy.

Not enough greenery or trees, but tons of concrete and metal stretching skyward, fancy advertisements, lane upon lane of vehicles and people, people, people constantly moving. I guess they slowed down and rested when they were home. 

I almost felt NYC could be in a foreign country. I heard other languages being spoken more than I heard English. I saw people wearing turbans and Jewish head ware. 

Did I mention the food was absolutely heavenly and plenty of it served quickly. Sitting and letting your food digest while leisurely drinking a cup of coffee at your table isn't done in NYC. In NYC there isn't any idling around. Order, eat, and get up so the table can be readied for the next patrons waiting to be seated. 

Some 10 minutes or so North of the main sites of Manhattan is Harlem. 

I managed to get the taxi driver to drive a couple blocks into Harlem though he was very hesitant to do so. He looked puzzled that I wanted to go to Harlem. At least I can say I've seen Harlem, even if it was only 2 blocks.

If I ever get back to NYC, I definitely want to visit this establishment.  It's new as of 2013, and sure has made an big impression in many categories.
I think a week would be plenty of time to visit other places in NYC and get an adequate sensory experience and taste sampling and more memories in the city that doesn't rest, not even for one New York minute.