The grid marches relentlessly west, and finishes and a sweeping flight of steps opens up to a large plaza below dirty piles of snow still cling to shadows in corners where the sunlight has not managed penetrate, a large gun with a knot tied in the barrel and the other piece of modern New York to be associated with a european architect, Le Corbusier, the huge rectangular block sitting above its sculptural podium housing the headquarters of the United Nations.
Manhattan island is almost completely surrounded by water, bounded by The Hudson River on the West side and by the East River on the er…Part of the tour includes a boat trip around the island. From the water a jagged landscape of the extruded grid punctuated by the few larger buildings meets the water very clumsily. Over a hundred piers stretch out into the river to welcome nautical visitors each with their own piece of history, one receives the cruise liner QE2 from time to time, another received survivors from the Titanic in 1912. Many are derelict, some are leisure centres, golf driving ranges, tennis courts, swimming pools… the aircraft carrier USS intrepid serves as a floating museum with its collection of former war planes. The U.S. presidential helicopter lands on one whenever he visits the city. The bright orange Staten Island Ferry makes its trip towards manhattan island, transporting a mind bogglingly large number of commuters every day. Into New York Harbour. Ellis Island, Governors Island, and the smallest, Liberty Island, with probably the most famous landmark, the Statue of Liberty seemingly small compared with its place as a national icon, but that is a visit for another time. Suspension bridges Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg span majestically span the East river, linking Manhattan to the mainland as though they are preventing it from floating away. Across the river power plants that supply Manhattan with energy stand along the shore of Brooklyn like sentinels protecting the city from power loss.
Breakfast at Bendix as recommended in the ‘Rough Guide’ , service with a frown and the motto ‘Get Fat’. With eggs, scrambled, up , down, waving, doing cartwheels, pulling faces…
New York’s first skyscraper the Fuller, ‘Flatiron’ building stands on the corner of Madison Square Park at the southern end of the diagonal section of Broadway, a prime example of the extruded plan. Madison Square Park as the name suggests is a park which is er…rectangular, where dog owners take their dogs to play in a fenced off dogs only zone marked by the whiff of urine. Dogs getting upset when they have to leave whist their friends are still playing. The rest of the park contains threadbare grass surrounded by fences (grass in rare in New York) with a few trees, with large red squirrels. On the lower east side there are a few such parks. Quiet streets, gritty, faded peeling paintwork, small shops, the Dodi and Diana Deli? shops selling records, tattooists, external fire escapes everywhere, otherwise reminiscent of Carnaby street in London.
Washington Square Park has a triumphal arch, much like the ‘Arc de triomphe’ in Paris, or ‘Marble Arch’ in London, neo-neo-Georgian facades and a film crew manufacturing more reality, watched by a large group of people, mainly students, trying to catch a glimpse of the actors…Val Kilmer in this case. Close by among the red brick façades huge numbers of students mill around on the street frontage to New York University (NYU). A stop for lunch next door at Tsunami’s Sushi Bar, (curious name), with a very square meal. Wandering around beneath the facades and a stop at a basement bar ‘Jules Place’ a French bar, with free refills on glasses of red wine, and a true French feel with an American accent.
Walking back up through East Village, past one of the parks we visited earlier, now has old men playing chess, dominoes or draughts (checkers) sat at tables, and an outdoor barber shop…A cyber café ‘Alt coffee’, apparently rare in New York. This is first an foremost a cafe, or even a lounge, people were sitting in armchairs or on sofas, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, reading newspapers, talking to each other face to face in a laid back and comfortable atmosphere; no anoraks here! To go and surf the net you go to the counter, order a coffee, book a machine, the machines here are about six in number very grubby, the beige box is more like a black box with coffee stains, there are two of these in the front room and four in the back, in the back room dead computers pile up in the corner. You sit down in your armchair andaccess anywhere in the world. On emerging from cyber space the sun goes down on East Village, the actors from the day cast change to the night cast, tramps in the park where earlier dog owners were watching their dogs play. Heated arguments break out on street corners, large dogs growl and snarl. The familiar request for ‘spare change’ issues from the shadows that were the shop doorways earlier on. Time to experience a first cab ride back to the hostel, astounding how easy it is to flag down a yellow.
Americans are obsessed with conspiracy theories. Diana and Dodi, not the deli owners, were killed by MI5 in orders of the CIA, who control the United Nations, and of course we faked the moon landings, this was all before we placed our orders at the Chelsea Square Restaurant, being served by a convincing Danny DeVito lookalike, complete with Italian American accent.
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