What do you do when you're visiting the Big Apple for the first time, but you've got 2 dogs with you and limited cash flow...and limited time before catching your flight to Paris? You cruise the town in your friend's car, snapping pictures as fast as you can. Which is what I did.
The cover picture is our first view of New York City as we came in from Flushing, where we'd stayed the night before in our AirB&B room. It wasn't as early as you might think from the picture. It had been raining overnight and the rain had left its veil over the city.
One of the things I like about NYC is that its bridges are individual. By that I mean their architecture varies, and thus the impressions they create are singular and memorable. The 59th Street/Queensboro/Ed Koch Bridge is a case in point. It was built in 1909, and is a double-level cantilever bridge. We drove over the top level. This bridge was immortalized by Paul Simon in his song "The 59th Street Bridge Song ("Feelin' Groovy").
I like this bridge so much, I'll even give you a closeup of the entrance with the top of the first suspension tower.
As we went over the 59th Street Bridge, we drove into the type of misty-rain that's not enough to turn on the wipers, but enough to make the windows blurry. You can see this on the left side of the picture of the East River.
When we got to the end of the bridge, I noticed the turn to go to the West Side. I felt obliged to do a medley of "Tonight" and "America" for Rhonda. I don't know if she's ever heard "West Side Story". Let's just say that she was not as impressed with Lenny's songwriting as I am. Yes, I said "Lenny." I am on a first-name basis with Leonard Bernstein, now that I'm grown and he's dead. I am on first-name bases with a number of dead people, including Wolfy, Johann, and Louis (Ludwig). They'll never know I'm dropping their names.
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". . .they say the neon lights are bright, on Broadway..." Yes, of course I sang that song. George Benson style. Once again, Rhonda was not impressed, mainly because she was listening to Google Girl giving directions while I'm singing. Google Girl is rude talking over my singing like that. Ruder than New Yorkers are proported to be. In fact, we discussed how un-rude everyone we'd talked to in the NY area had been. Rhonda asserted that in her previous visit, she had not encountered the legendary New York rudeness then, either. So much for urban legends.
So now we're in the main district of Manhattan. We whizzed by Rockefeller Plaza so fast the shutter on my camera couldn't get a clear image. The marquee says "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". Other tourists were getting their NBC Headquarters shots as well. To the left, that is the butt-end of a hansom cab. You can't see the beautiful black horse fronting it, but more's the pity.
In the distance on the right you can see the sign for Radio City Music Hall. Notice the hansom cab in the street in the center of the picture. Also notice the crowd of pedestrians to the right of the picture. Notice which color they're wearing predominates? More on that in a moment...
Here's a closeup of the RCMH marquee. Right about here we got into a conversation about how each city has its own "feel". I mentioned how overwhelming the vibe of "power" hits you when you drive on the Beltway into D. C. But neither one of us felt that New York had that kind of feel. New York feels powerful, yes---but in a creative, free-wheeling sort-of way. Not the oppressive quasi-tyrannical feel of D.C. It's more of a joie de vivre as opposed to D.C.'s "Imma Run You Over!" vibe.
Checking out the Lincoln Center, we went by the Alice Tully Bldg...
And speaking of Lenny, we went by his work hangout (the office building for the New York Philharmonic: the orchestra of my childhood). Lenny used to put on a series of televised Concerts for Children when I was a kid. Very educational---and definitely not boring. He was the quintessential musician and music educator. And he was pretty good with a baton, too. Plus, he was just a "nice New York Jewish boy." Like Paul Simon, only tall.
So now it's lunch time, and we're coming into Times Square. What shall we have? And how are we going to pull this off with two dogs in the car? I convince Rhonda that we need to "eat authentic", which meant for me that we can go for a New York pizza, or a deli sandwich. Since she'd had the NY pizza on her first trip a few months back, we settled on the deli. We found one with an available 10-minute parking spot in front and I hopped out. I came back a little more than 10 minutes later with tuna for me and a Reuben for her. The sandwiches were expensive ($17 for the Reuben! I am not lying!), but worth it. Complete with a kosher dill pickle that was almost as good as the sandwich. Authentic New York deli sammiches that hit the spot!
While we were in Times Square I took several pictures of the Flat Iron building seen here, because it just didn't look right to me. The wrap-around marquee so prominent in movies and on New Year's Eves past is now missing. I don't know what the deal with that is. It's just gone. That is all.
From here we went to Central Park and the Dakota Building, where John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived when it happened. I will devote a separate post to that part of our New York City experience.
Earlier in this post I drew your attention to pedestrians and the preponderance of black clothing. It has been a long-time observation of mine, starting as a teenager in Florida, that New Yorkers are obsessed with black. I mentioned this to Rhonda, and then proceeded to drive her crazy by yelling "BLACK!!!" every time a crowd crossed a street clad mostly in midnight. She was (naturally) impelled to dispute and refute my claim and would shout out other colors in the groups. Actually, I was amazed and amused that 50 years after my initial observation about New Yorkers and ebony----they are still obsessed with it! LOL
Toward sunset, we found our way to Lower Manhattan where the iconic World Trade Center Towers had stood. We were mostly silent (and she actually slowed down) as we drove by the Memorial now standing in its stead.
It's interesting to me that the green peaceful beauty of the Twin Towers Memorial evokes the same reverence and need for silence that the Vietnam War Memorial in D.C. does. We wanted to stop and walk around, but there just weren't any spaces available and we had a horde of impatient horn-loving taxi drivers always on our rear bumper, honking before the light even changed. So we settled for driving by it a few times.
So the night dropped, and we moved on to Newark's airport for a red-eye to Paris. I love you, Gotham. I hope I get to see you again someday when I have more time. We didn't even have time/money to see the Lady in the Harbor. . .this time.