The City That Never Sleeps

The hostel I stayed in for that night scored more points by providing a free breakfast which was more than enough to feed five thousand. Take that, Jesus. There was box after box of cereal, gallons of milk, loaves of bread, bananas, oranges, peanut butter, grapes bigger than your head, and more. We had our fill, bemoaning the unfortunate lack of tea and coffee, did our washing up and spotted the tea and coffee. Sadly there was no time, but with the weather looking great I checked out and we set out Downtown. Paul was kind enough to carry my second pack. Our original plan of catching the first ferry wasn’t quite executed successfully, but on hearing that the crown tickets are sold out until October, it didn’t really matter.

Luckily I remembered the penknives in the pack Paul was carrying before we went through the security checks, and I stashed them in a bush before we proceeded. I passed with flying colours, unlike the night before, but I did have to remove the battery from my laptop so the lady could check there were no aliens in there waiting to paint the statue with fluorescent chains. Or something.

She looks like she’s crying.

Someone on MPH needs to get hold of a set of these:

It was good to see the statue, even though by that point the weather was oscillating between very close to rain and glorious sunshine at a fairly alarming rate, but we both agreed that the highlight of the trip was undoubtedly Ellis Island. And not just because it had the room from that scene in Hitch. A set of very well presented exhibitions and a beautifully restored building is a great combination, but the conversation it provokes is also very interesting. Plus it has incredible views of Manhattan.

We had a bit of chuckle at the SWAT team. One was very serious, with one hand on each gun at all times, whilst his two colleagues compared apps on their iPhones.

I’m still not used to the number of guns on show at any one time in America.

As we were getting hungry we boarded the boat back to Manhattan and made for Little Italy, where there is a small bar called Cafe Habana which had been recommended to Paul by his sister after she visited a few years ago. It also came highly recommended in his guidebook, which can go either way. When we arrived it was very busy, and we had to wait a few minutes for a seat. We both ordered the Cuban Sandwich, which had been voted ‘Best Sandwich In New York’ for a few years.

While we were eating a sandwich which completely dominated the BBQ Pork from a few nights ago, we got chatting to the barman. Apparently it wasn’t busy at all, and an hour’s queue is the norm for for most of the day. I guess we were very lucky! He has three jobs including running a not-for-profit art gallery which he’s hoping to expand. Exhibitions have included ten thousand cupcakes hanging from a wall. He invited us to an exhibition taking place the next evening. I declined as I was moving on but Paul said he would go.

For the afternoon we made our way to the American Museum of Natural History. A ‘suggested donation’ of $16 per head seemed a bit steep as we only planned to go for an hour or two and wouldn’t see half of what it had to offer in that time, so we settled on $5. I’ve since learned locals often pay as little as 50c, which seems a little on the cheap side to me. We had a hard enough time getting in because there didn’t seem to be an entrance which lived up to our expectations of grandeur, so eventually we settled on entering from a terrace and making our way to the ticket office from there. We spent a while in the dinosaurs and African mammals section but by this point I was really flagging. We set off so I could check in at my last hostel in New York and drop off the bags.

The guy at the desk was very amused by the fact we were both called Paul, but having had multiple friends and acquaintances with the same name for quite a while now I wasn’t as amazed as he seemed to be. Still, I humoured him, because I didn’t want to be locked out on the streets of New York. With the bags deposited we found our second wind and went in search of a mystical bookshop which opened in the 20s. Unfortunately, and in spite of Paul’s protestations, when we got there we found that it had been overrun by a street of diamond and gold stores.

We made the best of it and tried a comic book store nearby instead, but this one didn’t have the character of Midtown Comics, and its rare collection was far less impressive. As the Rockefeller Center (sic) was close by we went for a visit. The part of the plaza with the gold statue and fountain was closed for a private function, so we let ourselves become distracted by the Lego store close by. And who can blame us when they have things like this?

Post-Lego we took a quick trip to a cathedral a block away before having dinner, parting ways and heading home. If Paul has any luck he’ll be on the receiving end of a phone call from an attractive Italian waitress. If he doesn’t, he’ll be waking up to a horse’s head in his bed!

The next morning I showered and packed so I was ready to leave in good time for my bus. It’s a good job everyone who stays in that hostel is a contortionist or they’d have real trouble managing to sit down on the toilet with the door closed. As I had plenty of time I followed through with my plan to take a quick trip to Grand Central station for a photo opportunity. I’d admired it on the way through to Times Square when I first arrived but hadn’t wanted to stop at the time. With that done, I moved on to a square near the bus stop and sat down for half an hour taking everything in and enjoying the wonderful sunshine. I hope the hallmark of my trip doesn’t become sunshine the day I arrive and leave anywhere and rain or an overcast sky on the days in between.

And so it was time to leave New York. I knew before I started this trip that my rough route would mean there would be things I wouldn’t see, and I couldn’t have been more right. I didn’t even go to Queens or The Bronx, nor did I make it to the Lower East Side as recommended by Jenna at the airport for any length of time. But in spite of that I can honestly say that I don’t feel like I missed anything, even though there was plenty I didn’t see.