Empire State of Mind - Part One

On my second arrival in New York City, I was relieved that the thrill of being in this sprawling metropolis still sent butterflies flapping through my stomach. It would have been a whole lot more exciting had the bus from camp not dropped us off in Harlem where the excitement fast turned into 'let's get a cab before we get mugged'. But, after 20 minutes of attempting to hail a yellow cab in a non-yellow cab district, we were finally on our way. In New York City.

I had initially planned to stay at a fancy hotel in West End on review, but when those plans fell through at the last minute, some girls from camp were able to incorporate me into their travel plans. We stayed at the Hotel Riverside Studios, a delicate balance between dodgy hostel and dive hotel which offered two double beds, a fridge, a television and a less than appealing interior decorating scheme.

Unfortunately, the rainy weather put a bit of a dampener on our evening plans, but we decided to head out to Times Square anyway. Even though I had seen Times Square the first time I was in New York, getting to see the lights in the evening was pretty remarkable. The whole place looked like a christmas tree of consumerism - everywhere you turned there was an illuminated sign trying to sell a product, a lifestyle. But it was Times Square none the less.

While it was disappointing to wake up to another day of rainy weather, there seemed no better reason to wait it out by touring through New York’s museums. But first things first – breakfast. After nine weeks of camp food, a decent breakfast and a nice cup of coffee was all I was asking for. We popped into a cafe called ‘Gina’ on Broadway, not really expecting much but being happily surprised. Gina’s was a flirty, feminine Italian cafe where fresh bread comes served in a traditional brown bag with strawberry jam (REAL jam!) and the hospitable staff are more than happy to bring refills. On a cold wet day in NYC, a poached egg and tomato dish with a cup of (fairly) decent coffee, certainly recharged the batteries.

We visited the Museum of Natural History first, the setting of Ben Stiller’s Night At The Museum. As one of our girls had to leave at midday to catch her plane home, we were fairly rushed in making our way through the exhibitions. The museum is a multi-level building with exhibits including Asian, Pacific, Indian and Aztec peoples, mammals, marine life, snakes and reptiles, environments and space. As we weren’t able to visit all the exhibits due to our time restrictions, each member of our group chose a specific exhibit they wanted to see and we made sure we visited everyone’s choice before leaving the leaving the museum around lunchtime.

In the afternoon, it was off to the Museum of Modern Art which was not only the crowning jewel of my day, but of my entire trip to New York. As we were once again on a time restriction, we had to move quite quickly through the gallery rooms, which was disappointing and certainly not the best way of experiencing the museum. Of the work we did see, Picasso’s etchings, the architecture and design galleries, photography and sculpture works were most impressive. The museum itself is amazing, situated in a beautiful part of New York which offers views of the Manhattan skyline and it’s hard not to get side-tracked by the architectural art which exists right outside.

But this view was nothing compared to that from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. While the rain once again prohibited the view I was hoping for, seeing the sprawling metropolis of lights and skyscrapers stretching out over the horizon was no less impressive. Standing at the top, freezing my butt off in the dusk air, I was once again hit with that feeling of satisfaction. That at that very moment, I could be sitting at home in Sydney living my run-of-the-mill mundane life. But instead, I was on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building in New York City.

Sometimes, that perspective is all I need.

Ciao for now. xo