I will never forget it - my very first glance of New York skyline was from across the Hudson river. Yet another reason I consider myself lucky to stay in my hotel for every day I get to see the most classical view of New York City from the opposite side of Hudson, while my bus made its way along the shoreline towards the Lincoln Tunnel. And every night I had a chance to see the same in shimmering lights of a magical sleepless fairy tale...
When you are in a jungle and disoriented and lost your satnav device, you would climb the biggest tree to overlook the area, right? I thought that it might be a good idea to get an overview of the Manhattan island to understand how walking around it works out. Guess, what is the tallest building in NYC nowadays? Now, smart ideas do come to all the smart people at the same time, and I've discovered that there are quite a lot of smart ppl in NYC - the early morning queue to visit Empire State Building was a bit longer then I was prepared to join... so I've hopped on on one of those red double-deckers Big Buses instead. That was my most effective investment in sightseeing, I must say. I bought a two days pass and used it up fully. Since the bus called “hop-on-hop-off”, that was exactly what I’ve been doing for the next couple of days. And would tell anyone who wants to see a little bit of everything in New York to use the same strategy. It definitely helped me to pick up places I’d like to explore in a more thorough way and I must say that few of those which I planned to see, have fallen out of my “to do” list after the bus tour – saved a lot of time for other, more interesting things. Those buses have three main routes – “loops” as they called them: Downtown loop, Uptown loop and Brooklyn loop. Not sure which one was the most interesting to me, but the Brooklyn was certainly the most enjoyable, mainly thanks to the intelligent and witty guide, who managed to create an unforgettable impression of Brooklyn for us. Don’t know why, but un-touristy Brooklyn also looked more…"innate" then midtown’s Manhattan…
So for the two first days all I’ve been doing was – consuming lots of information, both useful and absolutely bullshit about people I’ve never heard of and places I’ll never remember. But sometimes I do enjoy information overload. When you learn a little bit, you come back home and in a time memories will fail you and there will be nothing left…when I’ve got all sort of things pumped into my head under a huge pressure in a shortest time possible, now, when I’m back, it’s all start to make sense, when I re-read guide books and match images with the real ones that I’ve seen.
Now few brief notes on some things that worth few words…
Times Square.
Surprised me by her size…for some reasons I imagined Times Square to be a profound representation of the eternity of our times…well...something along this line anyway…In reality Times Square is more a reminder of how fleeting the moments of our life are. I would say she feels like a second to me. There is hardly enough space to walk around it, yet there were crowds and crowds and crowds of ppl standing still, gazing at the billboards as if those were the most advanced technological display. Looked nothing much of a fuss to me. [shrug] in day time Times Square is a tiny, densely overcrowded piece of land, a really tiny one. And I mean it is - tiny. A tight feeling of a communal flat. At night time she’s brushed up a bit and looks like a retired actress – lots of make up and a tired walls screaming for peace behind the flashing facades…
The Chrysler Building.
A distinctive landmark, never to be mistaken for anything else. I like it. It reminded me of an iron castle from a tale…its crown gleams in a sun and creates the impression of being of very posh and expensive origin. And in the night time the illumination is the most spectacular with the rows of triangular windows lit up...there was also something “fishy” about it’s appearance…in a sense how the top resembles a skin and shape of gigantic fish…
Empire State Building
Of course I’ve made it there! On my very first day in New York. I just turned up later afternoon and – surprise – there was no queue! So in some 20 min of security checks that were more strict then the security checks for Atlantic Flights I was standing on the 86 floor, looking down at the tiny-ants-like-cars, taking in the breathless views of the island of Manhattan and ways beyond…I’ve spend there over 2 hours. Just waited for the dusk to come down and then for the evening stars to shine for me while I was sitting on a top of a world…But of course, in a more prosaic way I can also say: the building has been worn down, way too overcrowded and doesn’t really worth a long queues. Yet still the views – can’t bit those with anything!
Grand Central Terminal.
Later in my stay I came over here again and watched life’s departures and arrivals for a little while…Although it is a listed landmark and every guidebook recommends it as a “mustsee”, I expected slightly more from what I’ve read of it in advance. It is A Big Train Station. With a little difference that since it stood there, for almost 97 years, it was so easy to imagine people of the past arriving to New York City for the first time in their life, and how they would walk into this hall of splendor and this would be the place where New York would capture their imagination, heart and mind…I also like how its name fits perfectly within the definition of it - Terminal – everything terminates here…
More to come…
When you are in a jungle and disoriented and lost your satnav device, you would climb the biggest tree to overlook the area, right? I thought that it might be a good idea to get an overview of the Manhattan island to understand how walking around it works out. Guess, what is the tallest building in NYC nowadays? Now, smart ideas do come to all the smart people at the same time, and I've discovered that there are quite a lot of smart ppl in NYC - the early morning queue to visit Empire State Building was a bit longer then I was prepared to join... so I've hopped on on one of those red double-deckers Big Buses instead. That was my most effective investment in sightseeing, I must say. I bought a two days pass and used it up fully. Since the bus called “hop-on-hop-off”, that was exactly what I’ve been doing for the next couple of days. And would tell anyone who wants to see a little bit of everything in New York to use the same strategy. It definitely helped me to pick up places I’d like to explore in a more thorough way and I must say that few of those which I planned to see, have fallen out of my “to do” list after the bus tour – saved a lot of time for other, more interesting things. Those buses have three main routes – “loops” as they called them: Downtown loop, Uptown loop and Brooklyn loop. Not sure which one was the most interesting to me, but the Brooklyn was certainly the most enjoyable, mainly thanks to the intelligent and witty guide, who managed to create an unforgettable impression of Brooklyn for us. Don’t know why, but un-touristy Brooklyn also looked more…"innate" then midtown’s Manhattan…
So for the two first days all I’ve been doing was – consuming lots of information, both useful and absolutely bullshit about people I’ve never heard of and places I’ll never remember. But sometimes I do enjoy information overload. When you learn a little bit, you come back home and in a time memories will fail you and there will be nothing left…when I’ve got all sort of things pumped into my head under a huge pressure in a shortest time possible, now, when I’m back, it’s all start to make sense, when I re-read guide books and match images with the real ones that I’ve seen.
Now few brief notes on some things that worth few words…
Times Square.
Surprised me by her size…for some reasons I imagined Times Square to be a profound representation of the eternity of our times…well...something along this line anyway…In reality Times Square is more a reminder of how fleeting the moments of our life are. I would say she feels like a second to me. There is hardly enough space to walk around it, yet there were crowds and crowds and crowds of ppl standing still, gazing at the billboards as if those were the most advanced technological display. Looked nothing much of a fuss to me. [shrug] in day time Times Square is a tiny, densely overcrowded piece of land, a really tiny one. And I mean it is - tiny. A tight feeling of a communal flat. At night time she’s brushed up a bit and looks like a retired actress – lots of make up and a tired walls screaming for peace behind the flashing facades…
The Chrysler Building.
A distinctive landmark, never to be mistaken for anything else. I like it. It reminded me of an iron castle from a tale…its crown gleams in a sun and creates the impression of being of very posh and expensive origin. And in the night time the illumination is the most spectacular with the rows of triangular windows lit up...there was also something “fishy” about it’s appearance…in a sense how the top resembles a skin and shape of gigantic fish…
Empire State Building
Of course I’ve made it there! On my very first day in New York. I just turned up later afternoon and – surprise – there was no queue! So in some 20 min of security checks that were more strict then the security checks for Atlantic Flights I was standing on the 86 floor, looking down at the tiny-ants-like-cars, taking in the breathless views of the island of Manhattan and ways beyond…I’ve spend there over 2 hours. Just waited for the dusk to come down and then for the evening stars to shine for me while I was sitting on a top of a world…But of course, in a more prosaic way I can also say: the building has been worn down, way too overcrowded and doesn’t really worth a long queues. Yet still the views – can’t bit those with anything!
Grand Central Terminal.
Later in my stay I came over here again and watched life’s departures and arrivals for a little while…Although it is a listed landmark and every guidebook recommends it as a “mustsee”, I expected slightly more from what I’ve read of it in advance. It is A Big Train Station. With a little difference that since it stood there, for almost 97 years, it was so easy to imagine people of the past arriving to New York City for the first time in their life, and how they would walk into this hall of splendor and this would be the place where New York would capture their imagination, heart and mind…I also like how its name fits perfectly within the definition of it - Terminal – everything terminates here…
More to come…