Where else in the world would they advertise a version of Monopoly that uses credit cards instead of cash? Or have tanks of liquid nitrogen standing innocently on street corners? Or pelican crossings that make a “cuckoo” sound as you cross? In America – of course!
Very strange. Possibly too strange for this tired little grockle mind. I thought I would share this strangeness anyway…
Well, I have to say, it finally got to me: the grockle tendency which inhabits all of us when we travel. I have the camera, the hat, the armful of leaflets, the suncream that smells of dulux… all one really needs to be a tourist. A grockle, as those in the West Country might say.
I should now really do the new-media-tourist thing and blog about the exciting things I have seen and done – including all recommendations and links etc. During the Women, Business & Blogging conference, Jess spoke about how blogs are often used as a kind of human filter for all the stuff that is out there. I did not really appreciate this use of blogs until moving to Word Press, which provides me with far more stats about my readers and how they get here. People are out there looking for things: blogs provide human summaries of those things through experience and opinion.
So, here are my brief experiences and opinions following my visit to New York over the last week – in true web 2.0 grockle style!
The Down Town Tour:
I am a bad person to review any tour, as I become a profession-snob as soon as someone else takes the microphone. Our open top tour of Down Town New York took far longer than planned due to UN week traffic and included two tour guides. The first really wanted everyone off the bus at the stop at which we boarded. He proceeded to sit behind us, rambling in quick-time-new-york tones about people and ball players we had never heard of, whilst pointing out random buildings which we had already passed. The second guide was better, but really only gave soundbites of information whilst repeatedly reminding us of his name, the driver’s name, safety and tips.
See? Profession-snob! No mention of the route of the tour, the sites we took in or anything! I will restrain myself.
The down town tour included Times Square, China Town (where we saw this great Macky D’s), Greenwich Village, Wall Street (where other grockles were taking pictures of each other at the bull’s behind :S), Diamond District, Garment District… basically, all the accessible areas of lower Manhatten. Diversion and traffic plagues the bus as UN diplomats moved around the city, but otherwise it was good to see so much from up high without the stress of people and cabs.
Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty/Harbour Cruise:
All of the above in one go. This trip was at the request of my youngest sister to help with her A Level courses. Unfortunately, she went round like death all morning having drugged up on travel-sickness medication. Sorry, I mean “meds” – must get with the lingo!
We decided not to get off at boat at the Statue of Liberty, as we got plenty of photos from the approach. Ellis Island was quite another matter. A free museum on the island chronicles immigration to the US through NY, particularly those experiences relating to the people who were checked into the country through the facilities at Ellis Island. I could certainly have spent a while day at the museum – it covers social history, immigration patterns across the world… all sorts! Not a place to go with any person who does not like museums though – speaketh bitter experience here 
Wicked (@ The Gershwin Theatre, Broadway):
FANTASTIC show! Want to go again already! The soundtrack CD (currently playing) has been providing one of my main distractions from constructive thought ever since (as I don’t appear to be able to think and listen to lyrics at the same time). Some of the numbers were much more musically complex than one would expect in a musical, but the storyline was very clever and the light show extremely effective. I came away desparately wanting to write something with that much passion. Everyone should go see it!
I pretty much rail-roaded my sisters into accompanying me to this exhibition. I had to study photographs from it as prompts in a poetry class once, and despite the initial repulsion which affected me at that time (when it was still very controversial) I couldn’t help myself wanting to see it in the flash, so to speak.
The exhibition consists of models made from human bodies, using a technique involving polymers and acids. The idea was to de-construct the human body and show our inner workings – the way the public dissections did during the renaissance – making anatomy more real and tangible than mere textbook diagrams. The ones created by injecting a red polymer into the blood vessels of donated bodies, then removing the flesh to leave a cost of the circulatory system were actually extremely beautiful. I think I will blog about this separately on another occasion, as there is so much more I could say….
Night Tour:
Another open top tour, which took us around part of the down town loop and then across to Brooklyn to see the lights of the Manhatten skyline. The guide was much better and the views stunning – although I discovered that my night photography skills leave much to be desired. Coming across the Manhatten Bridge on an open top was much like riding a rollercoaster – the side of the bus was very close to the edge of the bridge, with the associated sheer drop on the other side. My hair was a little wind-frizzled by the end, but it was definitely worth it.
Uptown Tour:
As if I had not spent enough time on an open top by this stage (is it possible to spend too long on an open top?) I had to go one last tour, which took us Uptown through Harlaam, Columbia University and round Central park. This featured the best guide of the lot, who had quite a dry sense of humour and attitude towards politics (“we don’t go to war under false pretences anymore, of course”). He gave the most informative tour I have heard in a good while – including the background to Hell’s Kitchen, the details of the project to build the largest stone cathedral in the world (currently ongoing since the 1800’s) and how Ella Fitzgerald started out in the Apollo Theatre. My only criticism was that he was evidently a tape recorder: if he got distracted or interrupted, he had to go back to the beginning of his story and repeat it word-for-word, intonation and everything. You know what though? I actually didn’t mind!
Macy’s/Times Square:
Several trips were made to both Macy’s and Times Square during our stay. The highlight of Macy’s (for me) was the wooden escalators towards the top of the building. Apparently these are not permitted in the UK any more, following the Kings Cross fire in the London Underground. Using the ones in Macy’s felt like stepping into a Terry Pratchett novel – using something inherently modern, presented in a medieval way. Times Square was just a mass of lights and advertisements – fun, but crowded. As Forest Gump would say, “that’s all I have to say about that”… except that they did have a restaurant called Bubba Gump Shrimps!
So, there you have it: a potted account of our trip to the Big Apple, just in case you were interested!
|
Recent Comments