NYC: Day 2
Most of our trip, I was running on little to no sleep, but I honestly didn't feel it until I got back to the hostel. NY's a feast for the eyes, and it's better than any caffeine. Especially since our first full day out in the city we explored the tourist heart: Midtown.
The first time we got out of the subway station, it was a SHOCK. This was the New York that's popularized in popculture: loud, busy, smelly and full of yellow taxis. And I was standing in it. We learned very early on that nobody follows the traffic signals-- at all. I think it partly has to do with the fact that there is a long lapse between yellow and red lights and between red lights and pedestrian walk signals. But I think mostly, it has to do with the fact that everybody does not give a damn about laws and needs to be someplace. Cars will speed through a red light after it's been red for quite some time, or they'll block an intersection because they are NOT waiting through another red light. Hoards of pedestrians cross four lanes of traffic at their leisure. Combined with the bicyclists, I really have no idea how anybody survives living here.
Radio City Music Hall
We didn't go inside, but we snagged a few pics in front of the fountain with the giant, red ornaments-- you know what I'm talking about. What is with that solitary silver one? Anyway, we passed by here a few times, and the fourth time, I noticed the Christmas tree and marquee was lit. My sister says it was lit like that the entire time, but I have photographic proof that it wasn't (sorry, I sound a little too smug right now :P). Nearby, there's also some giant string of lights that looked a little tacky, and some more lit trees.
Today Show
On our way to Rockefeller Center, we noticed that they were taping for the Today Show (yeah, that's how early we made it out). The crowd wasn't too big, and since we had time, we decided to stop by. It was pretty much perfect timing because a few minutes later, Al Roker came out.
He was so sweet and shook hands and/or signed autographs with nearly everybody there, going down the line of people. Then Ann Curry and Matt Lauer came out, the big shots! Since I don't really watch the show (I don't get up early enough), I wasn't really star struck, but one woman said really loudly, "Ann, you're so beautiful! You're always so beautiful!"
It was nearly impossible to get a good shot of those two. That's obviously the back of Matt Lauer's head. The black hair to the right of him is Ann Curry. Oh, well, a good shot of Al Rocker.
They came and out and went back in like that. We got bored, so I walked around the bend to see inside the studio, where nobody was standing. Suddenly, I was face-to-face with Star Jones! She was wearing CRAZY amounts of make-up, and just looked generally bored waiting to be on camera.
This picture is deceptive. I was RIGHT in her face.
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
So basically, the tickets to the live show were completely out, buuut careful researchers know that every weekday, Jimmy Fallon practices his monologue, hashtags and thank you notes with a small test audience before the taping. And we were set on being part of that small audience. For some reason, I was really worried that there would be a huge line to get the tickets, and I wouldn't get a chance to see Fallon at all, so we got to the NBC store at 9 am-- and saw it was perfectly empty. We got there early enough to get in line for the show's standby line (which had about 6 people in it). For some reason everybody in line was British or Spanish.
We had plenty of time to kill, since both the rehearsal and show were late in the afternoon, and we did some flipping around in plans with our sightseeing, but honestly, the transportation system is so fast and easy that it really didn't matter.
30 Rock
I love the show, so I was excited to see the building in real life. Now every time I watch 30 Rock I squeal at knowing exactly where certain things were filmed. The facade of the building is gorgeous art deco, and the murals inside were cool too. Inside there's a big shopping mall that's alright (it reminds me of the Embarcadero Center in SF). The Starbucks is super fast just because they have somebody take your order before you pay. We also saw one of many shoe shines in here, full of customers-- how classic! My sister and I can't recall any shoe shines on the west coast... but maybe that's just us.
The Christmas tree outside was ok. It's big and lighted, but meh. The ice skating rink is teeny, but the golden statue of Titan in front of the fountain was cool, and I especially loved the view farther back with the angels lining the sides. I was also surprised at how enormous the Atlas statue was in real life... and got perspective on how big the GE Building really is.
St Patrick's Cathedral
As I found out later, many buildings were under construction, and St Patrick's Cathedral was no exception. The entire bottom of the building was boarded over with wood, so the outside it wasn't that much to look at, but inside, it was a gorgeously ornate gothic church. This was the first time either of us had been in a church so intricate, so we were impressed. I loved the carved wood, stained glass, sculpted granite, and random golden arch in the front.
It felt a little funny to be in a church as a tourist, surrounded by fellow tourists... but hey, it was pretty!
Lunch: Margon
Cuban food! I got a cuban sandwich, which is basically a loaf of bread filled with two kinds of meat, pickles, cheese and mustard. It wasn't really that special, but it had a good strong taste and filled me up fast (I had leftovers). The place is really low key, but the people are nice, and the food is cheap! My sister got a breakfast plate.
Chrysler Building
I love, love art deco, so this building is a treat. Everything from the decoration over the doors to the gorgeous mural on the ceiling. Definitely worth a visit in the lobby. And I love this building's exterior so much more than the Empire State's. I'm really sad I didn't take any pictures, but I wanted to enjoy the city through my eyes rather than through a camera's.
One thing I should mention is that we were walking practically everywhere, so my feet were soooore! And I was wearing practical shoes, too! But I preferred this method of travelling just because I could really appreciate the awesome architecture found on every block. Since NYC is an older city than most in the United States, you could really see the care and money wasted on these buildings, from a time when it's more about how grand it looked than how practical it was.
Grand Central
We had to take the 6 train to get to Gramercy Park, and I knew we were going to back to really enjoy this gorgeous transportation terminal. So our first time in here, we acted like New Yorkers, didn't dally, and just walked straight to our train. One big surprise was that when we entered, a guy held the door for us. WHAT! Unheard of. My guess is that he's either not from here, or he's an import.
Gramercy Park
After walking through Midtown and going on the subway straight to Gramercy Park, it was a huge shock to the system. They're basically right next to each other, but they're a whole other neighbored for good reason. Midtown's crammed with tourists and brokers. This essentially means that most people were wearing the cutest coats and looking like important, fabulous, beautiful people. Or there were a few tourists who were fashionably-maimed, wearing tennis shoes and gaudy clothes. People were constantly moving and there's always some weird smelling food.
Gramercy Park is like the suburbs of Manhattan. The first thing my sister noticed was that it was crazy quiet. Hardly anybody is on the sidewalks or streets. And most streets were one line versus the four in Midtown. At one point, I crossed the street before the light even changes, and some guy beside us asked, "Are you a broker?" I couldn't understand his comment at the time (I thought, did I look like a broker?), but then I realized it was probably prompted by my reckless crossing.
The buildings here are pretty. The National Arts Club was festively decorated with lights, and a guy was trying to untangle the flag in front (I never saw them succeed). There's also a cute southern-style house where a male model was posing in front for some photos. It's a nice place to take a quiet walk, even if you can't go into the exclusive park.
Flatiron Building/Madison Square Park
Not too far is the Flatiron Building. This building is so FLAT! Haha. Interesting fact: at the tip, there's a little glass room where hundreds of decorated Starbucks cups hang from the ceiling, and inside, sometimes, the artist will sit and be in the process of decorating one of these! It's definitely quiet bizarre to have people staring at you doing your thing, and I felt strange staring at her, but hey, they're pretty cool!
The park itself isn't much to look at, but the buildings around here are gorgeous and huge. There's also a Shake Shack here (but we waited to go to the one in the Upper East Side; more on that later), with outside seating, which means heat lamps, which means, we were there! We sat down to rest, and an overweight squirrel (too many burgers for you!) inched closer and closer to me. He was not shy at all and came close to touching me. I freaked out and screamed that I had no food. It also dawns on me how creepy it would be to be Snow White with all those animals following and fawning all over you.
We moved over to a park bench next to a woman. Suddenly, I realized I had my leftovers from Margon in my purse! Damn, these animals were good! Hungry, I took out my leftovers to nibble on. I look up from my food, and I realized a whole flock birds had appeared out of nowhere to surround me and were closing in. My sister and I scream, and I say, "THEY KNOW!" And the woman on the bench repeats, in amusement, "They know!" (because hey, these fowl weren't gaining on her!). I quickly zipped up my food in my purse and fled to another bench (third one!). They must have lost my scent because I was able to eat peacefully after that. Hands down one of the most hilarious moments we had. It's also a cautionary tale for people who feed wild animals.
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (reprise)
We headed back to 30 Rock and were guided by expert pages to line up in a random hallway to wait to get inside the illustrious 6B!
One thing about NYC versus LA. I had seen The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien a couple months before Conan left, and the one thing LA has is plenty of SPACE! The lot at Universal is HUGE, so basically we could line up for the show with ease outside, and you could see just how far you were away from the studio since it was on the ground floor. But at 30 Rock, you're trying to get everybody near the elevators to take you seven floors up to the studio. So we were all waiting in a tiny hallway, standing for probably 30 minutes to an hour.
We happened to be next to some family with a REALLY whiney guy who kept talking about how long the wait was. This really did not take my mind off of how badly my lower back hurt.
We went downstairs to the elevators and automatically got taken to the 7th floor. We got to wait in an even smaller space to get into the studio, with just two little doors in our way. We were so close that we could hear the Roots and Jimmy rehearsing some song. Not going to lie, I was hoping to see some NBC actor stroll down the halls. Meanwhile, one of the head writers for the monologue came in and told us his life story and about how he never thought he'd be a writer, but he made it! He asked if anybody was from outside of the country. Some kid in an impossibly thick Irish accent says, Ireland, and the crowd oooohs. The head writer said, "Okay, there will sometimes be jokes that you will not understand. But just assume they are funny. For instance, you probably don't know who Snooki is. Consider yourself lucky."
Finally, we were let inside, and Jimmy was on the floor, welcoming us in, saying "Hey, guys" over the speakers. AHHH!! Usually very formal, he was wearing jeans, sneakers, and has messy hair (he claimed it was for a sketch). The monologue writers were sitting where the guests normally do and looked very serious. Then Jimmy asked, "Where are you guys from?" Everybody said their respective states, and Jimmy went, "No, not you!," walks up the stairs, and we turned to see that an entire troop was seated right behind us. Dude, when did they sneak in?! They came to bring Jimmy a flag and then Jimmy maked a big deal to fold it up into a triangle... Jimmy, that's just for the American flag, and at funerals! :P
He gave us a little spiel on the history of 6B and then went straight to the monologue. In honesty, the monologue never gets a laugh out of me, but the little group of us laughed with abandon as he read down his sheet of jokes. Then he went through hashtags! Whoo! Loves these. You can clearly see he was sorting them out according to our reaction. And he riffed off of each of them (which the writer told us he just makes up on the spot... yeah, I can tell :P).
It was fairly short, but I loved the personal attention he gave us, since he's clearly talking to us. When we saw Conan, it was a little bizarre just because you'd sit in the audience with a camera between you and the action, so they're clearly "performing" for the audiences on TV. You can't really see anything except the band. But not here; Jimmy was listening to our laughter with intent.
We get out and find out the show tonight had enough people. Thank goodness we saw the rehearsal!
Cushman Row
We take the bus to Chelsea. The most surprising thing was how frequently the bus came throughout the day. I also loved the numbering system: the first letter stands for the borough (M for Manhattan) and the number usually corresponds with the street number it mainly runs through. So logical!
We get there well after nightfall and while Cushman Row was pretty with it's nice banistered staircases, it would definitely have been better during the day. Oh, this is also where I noticed that people do not have bins for their garbage. For some reason, they just piled their garbage bags on the street. What's up with that?
High Line
We got here after the sunset, so it was chiiiiillly. I would definitely recommend going here during the day or right before sunset (it's right by the water). But regardless, it is a cool place! The gimmick is that it's a park placed where there used to be a railroad, so it was designed to showcase the tracks and grates on the ground. A perfect artist's project. The plants were dead, but every so often there'd be big trees flanking either side of the walkway. In other parts, you're underneath a building with everything lit by purple lights. The buildings on either side are of wildly different styles (but I'm sure equally expensive), spanning from modern designs that looked like space ships to red-brick apartment buildings with tiny windows to enormous square buildings that gave the meat-packing district its name. I'm sure there's a lot of artist studios around here, and you can gleam some their ingenuity in the windows. As for the park, the seats spring out from the floor and are wood-panelled. My favorite place to sit looks out into the city and is built to look like a hollow billboard. There's also a mini-theatre that shows a running video of Manhattan scenes.
Afterwards, we head towards food. I'd read that the streets in this area were paved with brick. This is NOT as romantic as it sounds. Spanning huge areas, most bricks were out of place and messily cemented, making it pretty difficult to walk around. I'm not sure how easy a drive it is.
Dinner: Myers of Keswick
While mainly a British grocery store, they have a case in the front full of what I'd read was very authentic and delicious British pies. We got one cornish pasty and a Shepherd's pie. Warm, soft and delightfully curried, we gobbled the cornish pasty like that. It wasn't salty, but extremely flavorful beef, perfectly flaky, and filled with the softest potato. We later ate the Shepherd's pie back at the hostel, which was equally delicious. Curried and full of warm, well-cooked lamb, potatoes, and mushrooms. Ugh, I would go to England just for the savory pies. Since this was hands-down my favorite food from that week, I'm really sad there aren't any British grocery stores near me.
Starbucks
We go to Starbucks more often than we should when on vacation (this is the second time). My sister sweetly ordered a peppermint fudge cake pop for me, which was ridiculously creamy and delicious. The barista (a girl) also called me "baby" in a way that makes me feel okay with it, like she just called me darling instead.
Chelsea Market
This marketplace is an embodiment of everything I think Chelsea is, and by that I mean pretentiously artsy, ironicly retrofitted and oozing cool. In what used to be a huge biscuit factory, the ground floor has been changed to a very long, indoor market place (San Franciscans, think Ferry Building). With exposed brick and metal beams, much like the High Line, the market lays bear its industrial history and takes advantage of it in the way only artists can. The building map has objects that represent what the store carries (books would fill the square the bookstore is in, etc). On the ceiling, the fans are surrounded by old-fashioned wire netting, and there's a lot of rope in random places, hanging paper decorations. It's like a hipster, trying to look poor but everything about it indicates wealth and cleanliness. The most recognizable feature is the factory style clock sandwiched between two archways, which that time of year were covered by a zillion Christmas lights:
Mistakenly, we sat next to this archway and were instantly blinded by its brightness.
Each restaurant and store is clearly very expensive, and there are artistic touches here and there in the hallway. One of my favorites was an extravagant display making a statement about how we take clean water for granted. On one side, there's a huge pipe pouring out a steady stream of water into a makeshift well. Right behind it are jerry cans surrounded by fire, which plays on the two uses of jerry cans (we use them here to hold gasoline, while people in Africa use them to carry water). Definitely intriguing.
Chelsea Market was the most pleasant surprise for both of us on the trip. I was okay with skipping it, and my sister hadn't even heard of this place. But we both loved it from first sight, making it a great last item on our itinerary.
Sorry for the lack of pictures on this post! The rest of the trip I lose my "experience through the eyes only" mentality and take loads of photos. And we later make a return visit to Midtown. :)
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