Much of this past weekend was spent singing Bart Simpson's rendition of "New York, New York" (from On the Town), appropriately titled "Springfield, Springfield." I don't know why. It just seemed appropriate.
I met up with a few friends to spend the weekend walking around New York. And walking. And walking. And walking, walking walking. I spent half of the money I brought for mad money on bandaids for my protesting feet. But still we walked.
We stayed at this quite nice hotel in the middle of Midtown East, where everything seemed to be -- well, within walking distance. The rooms were about the size of closets:
But I could lie down on the top bunk and watch tv with the screen inches away from my face -- EXCELLENT! (When I put my feet up at the end of the day, to try to draw some blood from my feet down to my torso, my feet touched the ceiling):
The hotel did have a very nice rooftop patio, though:
St. Patrick's Cathedral was a few blocks away. My friends were enthralled with it -- but I thought it looked evil. Like it had broke through the earth straight up from the depths of hell itself:
Naturally Times Square was one of our destinations: 
We saw Wicked one night. It was okay. My friends bought $18 drinks at intermission. Should have gotten a pic of that!
I went up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Not quite as expensive as the CN Tower, and a bit more worth it (looking from above a city is a bit more interesting than looking from overtop of it, if you know what I mean):
The Supreme Court building. Very impressive. We went to the trouble of going through security (oh good gravies, close to everything we wanted to see had such security!) so that we could use the bathroom. Perhaps a less than impressive use for the building ... but an important one nonetheless:
Unimpressive picture of the Brooklyn Bridge:
My friend's brother pointed out how appropo it was that the stock exchange overlooks a cemetary:
It seemed to be pretty popular to swipe your credit card along the bull on Wall Street's butt crack. I don't know why: 
We saw the Chrysler Building in the distance when we were at the U.N. the first night. So we walked over to get a closer look. Actually, we walked right past it, and had to double back. It is extremely not impressive from the ground (well, the lobby is really really cool) and extremely easy to miss. As we were heading back to the hotel, though, I turned and took a pic once we were sufficiently far from it once more: 
Thus ends a peek into my New York experience. All told, Thursday night we walked to the U.N., Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building. On Friday, it was the subway to the tip of the island to cruise to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, then back to land to walk to the NYSE, World Trade Centre site, City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge, Supreme Court Building, Canal Street, through Soho, past NYU to have dinner somewhere in Greenwich Village before taking the subway back to Midtown East and walk over to Broadway to see Wicked, after which (or, after witch, as the case may be) we walked home past the Theater District and Midtown East to the hotel in Midtown West. Saturday we seemed to be really rambling, walking from the hotel to Grand Central Station again, the New York Public Library, Bryant Park, Penn Station/Madison Square Garden, Macy's, Times Square, Rockerfeller Centre and back to the hotel before (mercifully) taking a cab back to the Theater District to a comedy club.
Despite the fact my feet will never speak to me again, and are weeping as I type, it was fun. I intend to go back sometime to see Central Park, the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Using a cab or subway at every opportunity!
I met up with a few friends to spend the weekend walking around New York. And walking. And walking. And walking, walking walking. I spent half of the money I brought for mad money on bandaids for my protesting feet. But still we walked.
We stayed at this quite nice hotel in the middle of Midtown East, where everything seemed to be -- well, within walking distance. The rooms were about the size of closets:
But I could lie down on the top bunk and watch tv with the screen inches away from my face -- EXCELLENT! (When I put my feet up at the end of the day, to try to draw some blood from my feet down to my torso, my feet touched the ceiling):The hotel did have a very nice rooftop patio, though:St. Patrick's Cathedral was a few blocks away. My friends were enthralled with it -- but I thought it looked evil. Like it had broke through the earth straight up from the depths of hell itself:Naturally Times Square was one of our destinations: We saw Wicked one night. It was okay. My friends bought $18 drinks at intermission. Should have gotten a pic of that!
I went up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Not quite as expensive as the CN Tower, and a bit more worth it (looking from above a city is a bit more interesting than looking from overtop of it, if you know what I mean):
The Supreme Court building. Very impressive. We went to the trouble of going through security (oh good gravies, close to everything we wanted to see had such security!) so that we could use the bathroom. Perhaps a less than impressive use for the building ... but an important one nonetheless:
Unimpressive picture of the Brooklyn Bridge:
My friend's brother pointed out how appropo it was that the stock exchange overlooks a cemetary:
It seemed to be pretty popular to swipe your credit card along the bull on Wall Street's butt crack. I don't know why: This is exactly what I thought I would see everywhere in New York:
Near as we could figure, these two were guarding a relatively empty street. Kitty-corner to the New York Stock Exchange, sure, but I think they were just showing a presence, cuz we were there for about 20 minutes, and these two just lingered by the open truck door the whole time. I didn't know if they approve of their picture being taken though. Neither did my friends, so when I said I was going to take the picture, they encouraged me to do so but retreated three paces away from me. When the officer whose back is to the camera came towards me after I took the picture (for what it turned out to be an unrelated reason), I nearly soiled by jeans.
We took the ferry to Liberty Island / Ellis Island. (then walked through the Financial District - seen above - past Chinatown, through Soho, and up to Greenwich Village ... but that is another torturous story of which I have little photographic proof, but scarred foot soles). The kid in the green foam crown sells this pic:
I have more pics of this lady than I would have thought I would ever take. Truthfully, I didn't really ever care if I saw it or not. But when someone stands so still, so dramatically, for so long in front of you, your camera kind of makes its way to your eye automatically and clicks itself. (the day was actually crystal clear out -- I accidentally was holding my white camera cover over half the lens ... it came out looking kinda cool, I think):
We saw the Chrysler Building in the distance when we were at the U.N. the first night. So we walked over to get a closer look. Actually, we walked right past it, and had to double back. It is extremely not impressive from the ground (well, the lobby is really really cool) and extremely easy to miss. As we were heading back to the hotel, though, I turned and took a pic once we were sufficiently far from it once more: This statue has little significance ... I was just tickled how comfy the pigeon on the right had made himself:
Thus ends a peek into my New York experience. All told, Thursday night we walked to the U.N., Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building. On Friday, it was the subway to the tip of the island to cruise to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, then back to land to walk to the NYSE, World Trade Centre site, City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge, Supreme Court Building, Canal Street, through Soho, past NYU to have dinner somewhere in Greenwich Village before taking the subway back to Midtown East and walk over to Broadway to see Wicked, after which (or, after witch, as the case may be) we walked home past the Theater District and Midtown East to the hotel in Midtown West. Saturday we seemed to be really rambling, walking from the hotel to Grand Central Station again, the New York Public Library, Bryant Park, Penn Station/Madison Square Garden, Macy's, Times Square, Rockerfeller Centre and back to the hotel before (mercifully) taking a cab back to the Theater District to a comedy club.Despite the fact my feet will never speak to me again, and are weeping as I type, it was fun. I intend to go back sometime to see Central Park, the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Using a cab or subway at every opportunity!
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