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World Trip 2006
San Francisco
New York
Helsinki
Berlin
Bangkok
New York
26th
Sep - My first day
in New York was a quiet affair. I'm still having trouble
adjusting to sleeping at the right time and I have a health issue that I
picked up on the flight over here. So I'm lying low for a few days.
Today I walked around Chelsea, caught up on some email at Starbucks, and
then spent a couple of hours out sunbaking on the 'clothing optional'
sundeck at the guesthouse where I'm staying. I've noticed a lot of
people have those pug dogs here. In fact there might be more
pug dogs in New York than anywhere else in the world. Mmmm....
lunch at Better Burger!
27th
Sep - Okay time to
get out and about. Today I took one of the Lonely Planet's
walking tours around Greenwich Village. It's such a beautiful
part of the city with tonnes of history. I only got lost once.
I also got to watch a popular break dance group here practising in
Washington Square. Those guys have amazing bodies (see photos).
Later Roy from the guesthouse took me out for dinner nearby at a place
called the Boston Market. The weather is still perfect!
28th
Sep -
Today I
got up late (again) and headed up to the Penn Station area and did
some shopping at Macy's and H&M. I picked up some really cool
Pumas for 30 bucks! Now here's something I never knew.
Because I'm not from here I can get 11% taken off the total of my
purchases. The Macy's store clerk mentioned though that it can
only be deducted at certain registers. It must be the sales tax.
Afterwards I went and met my friend Jim at his place in Chelsea. We
went for lunch at a nearby diner and then he gave me a tour of the lower
west side part of town, and then through some of Greenwich Village.
Along the way we passed through the meat packers district where big
business seems to be moving in and making the area "trendy" for people to
live and hang out in. I personally preferred the days where
you were on edge as you slinked thru the streets at night to find the
Lure. It's still a very nice part of town.
29th
Sep - New York State of Mind -
I'm a little hungover today. Last night I got a
message from Daniel Narcidio (nightlife Prom Queen of New York) inviting
me out to a night he was promoting down near Washington Square. Some
DJ was doing a gig and I should say "Daniel invited me" at the door.
If only the rest of life was this easy. Maybe next time at the
register I'll say "Daniel told me to shop here". So the night
was fun, even though the place wasn't busy. There was the
usual go-go dancing boy in his undies (who turned out to be an actor
wannabe from Sydney) and a bunch of other guys mingling about.
I chatted for ages to a couple about life in New York. I think
the 2 for 1 drinks was the end of me though. I remember
walking sideways for 23 blocks back to the house where I'm staying.
It's scary how little gets me drunk now. I blame Stella Artois....
STELLA ! ! !
So today I decided to treat myself nicely with a sleep in and a late
breakfast. Afterwards I headed down to Union Square to check
out the Virgin megastore and Circuit City. Oh... and I found
"Dave's" on the way there. Dave's sells cheap Carhartt and Dickies
workwear, as well as loads of other great gear. I bought some
Dickies pants and really heavy Carhartt hoodie. The temptation
to shop is huge at the moment. I need to remember that I still
have another 3 weeks of this trip to go yet.
Tonite I can't decide whether to go to the Eagle, Splash or the east side
bars. Decisions Decisions...
30th
Sep - From the Emergency Room to the Eastern Bloc -
I've had a really unusual day. For the past week I have had a
strange rash on my butt. First I blamed sitting on the plane for too
long, and then I blamed the bed in the cheap hotel in San Francisco.
And it looks like the second option won. It seemed it wasn't getting
any better with my self diagnosis and with the plethora of creams I'd
bought off the shelf so it was time to see a doctor. My friend
Jim who lives nearby tried to get me in to see his doctor, but they
wouldn't accept foriegners, so I had to go to the NYU emergency room to
get advice. Eventually we got in, I signed a load of forms, we
waited and then I was put in a room by myself where people with infectious
diseases are put. Some time later 2 doctors came and prodded
at my butt and decided I had simply picked up some dermatitis, fixable
with a special cream. I guess that will teach me to watch
where I'm putting my arse. I paid the hospital the $US626
consultation fee and left.
Later on that night Jim took me to a Louisianna style restaurant where
they made us some delicious shrip cocktail and gumbo. YUM!
The place was pretty authentic too and a little out of place on it's
little patch in the middle of Manhattan.
So then after I long day waiting to see a doctor I headed back to the
guesthouse to find that another Australian called Phillip has moved into
the room next to mine. We chatted a bit then I caught the L
train across to Avenue A so I could check out a bar called the Eastern
Bloc. I'm always so surprised at how friendly the bars are
here. And in particular the Eastern Bloc was a load of fun.
I was actually invited there by the stripper for the night who was doing
all kinds of spiderman manouvoures on the stage pole naked. It
was a really fun night. I was going to head over to Boysroom
after that but there was a line up outside, and given that I was already
drunk and tired I decided to get the train home.
1st
Oct - The Rats that ate New York -
I
have such a vague recollection now of what I did yesterday. I
do remember getting up late and people commenting on it. I went and
did some email at Starbucks and then caught a train to 53rd Street to see
the Museum of Modern Art. What a massive place! I
mostly liked the sculptures and some paintings. After that I caught
some of the Pulaski Day Parade which was happening nearby. I
think I wandered for many many blocks after that and stopped for a quick
photo session in Times Square.
Then is was back to the east side to check out the new Boysroom location
on Ave A. I kinda expected the place to be busy but it wasn't.
I met some guys from Ft Lauderdale and Kansas there and stayed way too
long drinking Coronas.
But the highlight of the night had to be the empty subway station on 1st
Ave on the way home. As I stood down onto the platform a
plague of rats all scattered out of my way onto tracks or into cracks in
the walls. I was amazed at how many there were. So
then I spent my time waiting for the train and dragging my feet along the
platform to keep the plague away. I could see them in the
cracks looking at me and waiting for me to leave. I saw
many more on my walk home along the dark sidewalks. And I was
thinking that someone should make a movie about the rats in New York.
It seems the city is full of them.
2nd
Oct - Monday Monday -
Okay... it's been 2 days since I wrote here and I've actually
forgotten what I did. I do know that I woke up late and was
eating breakfast alone in the guesthouse dining room. I
suspect the day contained my usual lie on the rooftop sizzling away, and
an afternoon stop at Starbucks for a hot tea and a muffin. The
food here is amazing! All of a sudden Coke and sugar is back
in my diet... and as hamburgers and fries. Yet
still my jeans are loose on me! I've actually been really
interested in the news events here.
1. Dustin Diamond (Screech from Saved by the Bell) is all
grown up and out of work now. SO he made a homemade p0rn video
with two girls. He narrates what is going to happen. But
rather than just do a straight p0rno he gets into the kinky stuff with
ends with a "dirty sanchez"... I later learnt that this is one
one of the girls has human shit smeared on her upper lip like a moustache.
The title of the video.... "Saved by the Smell".
Classic.
2. Unsafe work practises at building sites. In the space
of 2 days emergency services were called to 4 work sites in the city to
rescue trapped workers because of falling scaffolding and cranes.
In the worst incident a 19 y/o boy fell to his death. The poor
work practises reminds me of the building workers in San Francisco all
wearing their hard helmets back to front... as if it was
"cool" to wear them that way. I'm sure they weren't designed
as a fashion accessory.... ooh... listen to me on my
high horse!
3. The Republican Rep called Mark Foley was a guy who chaired the
committee that introduced laws to control p0rn on the internet and bring
in laws to stop people from committing illegal sexual based activities
using the internet. Well well well... he has just
resigned as a news service published emails between him and underage
teenage boys who work for the government as messengers. The
lewd emails were fantastic... and horribly embarrassing for the
government. Straight away he claimed to be an alcoholic
and gay.... 2 more socially acceptable problems which
could have caused his wayward desires for underage boys. The
twisted thing is that he may just get away without any conviction under
the laws he introduced!
4. This is not really a news item. Flavour Flav
(from Public Enemy) now has his own reality TV show???
The topic is even more alarming... it appears that these
girls are competing for the prize of being Flav's girlfriend (or
something). The man is a freak! It
would be like girls competing to go out with George Bush! I
don't understand... maybe there's cash as well. I will
try to find out what the show is called. But you can catch it on
VH1. Maybe someone can explain the madness.
Oh...
and I now remember what I did. I caught the E train down to
the World Trade Centre site and found that Century 21 (the
department store) was closed to celebrate the Jewish holiday.
Seems a little strange since all the people working there are black.
But I shouldn't be judgemental since Melbourne has a holiday for a horse
race. I walked across to the Southport area and shopped at
Abercrombie instead. There is something about that place that
tells me it's okay to buy overpriced American college looking clothes.
3rd
Oct - Lost in New York - Today I got up at a reasonable hour...
had a good breakfast and headed back for a BIG shop at Century 21.
I bought Jake the CK undies he likes, I bought a hoodie, some t-shirts,
socks, undies and a strange fluffy thing for my head.
I had big plans for the rest of the day.... but I decided to
sunbake for a while on the roof instead. Later I headed to Kmart for
some supplies for the rest of my trip. It must be almost time
to send some things home... because I seem to have bought a lot of
stuff that I won't need for the rest of the trip through Europe.
In the evening I met a guy off DList called Jake. And he is
such a nice guy! I'm hoping I'll see him again before I leave.
In fact everyone I've met here have been absolutely beautiful!
We went to the Dallas BBQ place near here and I got drunk on one
margheritta. The meals there are HUGE! Some people
there almost need 2 chairs to sit on. What a perfect day
in New York this has been!
4th
Oct - East Side Village - Today I went out early and gymed at the New
York Sports Club. There seems to be one on every second block here.
They charge $25 a visit... ouch!
Afterwards I went round to Jim's place. He took me on a tour around
the east village. It's really quite nice and peaceful over
there. Especially in the middle of the week when all the bars
and clubs are closed. On the way back to the city we
stopped for burgers at the Fleamarket Cafe. Also on the way
back we stopped and bought some New Balance trainers.
Later in the evening after dinner at the Boston Market it started to rain.
I sat for the longest time watching a spectacular lightning show over the
city.
5th
Oct - Shakin Jake - Another early start. I had a lot on
today. I packed up a bunch of clothes that I know I won't need
for the rest of the trip and took them to the post office. The
box of clothes weighed 20 pounds and cost $100 to send it airmail back to
Australia. There was no way I was going to cart all my
shopping through Europe. Afterwards I caught the train up to
5th Avenue. Up there I got to see the bright and sexy Apple
Store and FAO Schwartz. FAO seemed half empty.
This could have something to do with FAO Schwartz's business going broke.
It seemed like the store could have existed in half the space they have
there. Then is was back on the train and up to Hunter
Collage to meet Jake for lunch. We ended up spending the rest
of the day hanging out together. It's been great making so many new
friends here!
6th
Oct - Bring the Christmas - It's my last day in New York. It's
kinda a funny day. It's one of those days where you spend the whole
day preparing to fly late in the day. This morning I walked up
to Barnes and Noble to buy a travel guide on Finland. And as I
walked along there were large trucks unloading large Christmas trees,
camels, deers and other creatures to make up Christmas displays in the
stores here. I guess it won't be long before it gets cold and
then snows here too.
I'm actually looking forward to flying on Finnair to Helsinki today.
It will be a really interesting place. Oh... and I'm going to
JFK on the train! Some guys from the guesthouse here are going
to travel with me. It's been a lot of fun being in New York.
I've met some really great people and saw some pretty cool stuff. A
big tick for another holiday here sometime. Photos will be posted
soon.
Update: The trip to the airport was actually fairly quick and easy.
Of course it only works well if you don't have a lot of luggage, otherwise
you have to contend with all the rolling eyes on the A train through lower
Manhattan. When we got to the Airtrain which connects the
subway to the terminals at JFK the guys I was travelling with had already
gone through the turnstyles and I was about to purchase an airtrain ticket
from a machine. I heard a women shouting..
Phillip.. Phillip! I thought it sounded strange but I
ignored her. Who would be shouting my name in New York?
It turned out that the boys had credit left on their ticket and had given
it to an attendant at the station to give to me. I only needed
to add a dollar to make it enough for me to ride. But how nice
of her to come over yelling my name trying to save me some money?
The Finnair flight to Helsinki was delayed and then we lined up behind 13
other planes to take off. JFK is such a busy airport!
The flight over seemed quick. I watched "The Devil Wears Prada"
along the way. I like silly movies on planes. I also
managed to grab another seat in a weird space with lots of leg room.
The plane wasn't as well equipped as the Qantas plane to the US, but they
still gave a great service, plenty of food, drinks and friendliness.
PHOTOS
Touring
Greenwich Village |
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Getting
Ready for Hallowee, |
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Mmm...
snacks |
Welcome
to the car clamp club |
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Guarding a movie set with real guns? |
Entertainment in Washington Square |
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Christopher Street |
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How
cool are these? |
Now
inhabitated by students |
Let's
shop! |
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Lower
west side where the freight trains used to go thru the buildings |
Meatpackers district |
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The new
buildings roll in as the butchers move out |
Faux
country in the city? |
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More
train lines thru buildings |
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Hudson
River |
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Jim my
walking tour guide |
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Greenwich Village sex shop |
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Abracadabra has an outfit for every party! |
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My
visit to the NYU emergency room |
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Momo |
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Momo |
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Momo |
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Pulaski
Day Parade |
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Pulaski
Day Parade |
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Me in
the mirror |
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Times
Square |
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Times
Square |
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Lower
East Side village bar |
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Lower
east side shopping |
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This is
a nightclub?? |
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The
steps of the Colonial House Inn where I stayed |
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Apple
Store on 5th Ave |
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FAO
Shwartz |
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Mmm...
lunch with JAke |
Rockerfeller Centre |
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Jake |
Jake
shows me hi New York |
Me at
the NYU medical centre |
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Dinner
at Live Bait in NY |
Dinner
at the Dallas BBQ in New York |
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Shopping at Century 21 |
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