brooklyn: the coolest borough of them all
walking over the brooklyn bridge, wandering around the tree-lined streets named after fruits, surrounded by beautiful architecture and cool deserted streets: there's no doubt i'd rather be here than the lunacy of manhattan. even the people seem cooler (unlike those in the east village, who are just plain weird). the brooklyn museum of art: no crowds, beautiful pictures, nice ambience. bloody awesome.
harlem
i doubt i would have ever ventured out here on my own. luckily some bearded dude hungover from the sixties did a walking tour straight from the hostel. it was hot and dirty, but mostly worthwhile. i think. we meandered through big empty streets and lush dirty parks littered with crack cocaine containers and baggies: apparently a significant improvement from the days past when cocaine vials crunched underfoot. far out.
lincoln centre
saw cinderella (american ballaet theatre) at the metropolitan opera house. i was right up the top, in the family circle (think hamer hall, near the roof). i know what you're thinking: ballet?! look, whatever, it wasn't too bad. it was dance. i like dancing. we had something in common. and nice music to go with the whole thing as well. i would probably go again. you know what they say about traveling changing people...
museum of modern art, metropolitan museum of art
i'm lumping these two together because they are basically the same: enormous, cumbersome, crowded places filled with way too many picassos and renoirs and rocks from egypt. i think its the congestion of people that really get to me. and the rude suited security guys really piss me off. and the fact they keep roping off sections for no apparent reason. and the museum shops at the end of all the exhibits with selling overpriced crap and filled with obese people with annoying accents blocking the well-hidden exits. AARRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!! gimme brooklyn anytime.
guggenheim museum
now this place is something else entirely. for me, its second only to brooklyn in the coolness factor. i even spent way too much money on a print and big fuck-off tube to carry it around in. i have no idea how im going to cope lugging it around the country and on to the plane etc etc. ironically, one of the pieces in the museum told us: the more we own, the less free we are: aint that the truth! but, im getting ahed of myself. first of all, the building itself. i know it's been talked about to death but it is absolutely magnificent. and the art inside, not just pictures (although there were plenty of those) but installations too, were really exciting. finally, i don't know if i was just early or lucky, but it wasn't particularly crowded. i got a bit carried away...
fifth avenue walkabout
in my post-guggenheim ecstacy i decided to wander down fifth avenue from the 103rd street, hang a left at the 42nd, check out the united nations building, then take in east village and chinatown. after walking about 150 blocks later, i realised it was a bad idea, but by then i had very sore feet and not much of a mental capacity left.
midtown along the fifth avenue is like wall street, but feels like a dusty, exhaust-choked wasteland in the guise of capitalist paradise. there were plenty of expensive shops, countless brightly dressed young women (why don't australian girls like wearing short semi-transparent dresses? they all do here! drool...) but it was about 35 degrees and a string of sirens went past, eleven police cars at one count. it felt like i was in an absurd play, everything was warping at the edges, then...
the air-conditioned grandeur of the grand central terminal. once again, like all american things, this place is bloody huge. 130+ tracks? spencer street, eat your heart out! but, like all american things, it felt coarse around the edges. massive domes left undecorated. elaborate archways leading to drab concrete tunnels. beautiful marbled floors but litter everywhere. basically, the whole vibe of the place was cheap. what a shame.
after several more hazy streets filled with car horns and angry vendors selling hotdogs and pretzels, finally, the relative cool of the united nations building. there was a queue for a tour of the place, which cost thirteen bucks. but the line was moving at sloth-pace so i turned around and headed south instead. but cbgb was no longer there, graffiti on the walls said our world was a little darker, but all i wanted was a cool drink and a little shade. stumbled onwards deeper into east village. it was a strangely wonderful place being slowly eroded by relentless waves of commercialisation. what was that tom petty song? there was even a cbgb souvenir shop. it was all wrong, but the red and brown buildings were really captivating.
finally, i was in chinatown. it sprawled like a crumbling guargantuan. by this time i had been reduced to a mindless savage. thoughts of food, shade and sleep took over my entire consciousness. the first was easy to come by in an area occupied by the chinese. it was unsurprisingly cheap as well. but the second required more dragging of tired feet across town. finally, i was inside an air-conditioned train shooting north back towards the hostel.
9.7.07
new york culture update #2
american museum of natural history
this is the real deal: they use real dinosaur bones in their reconstruction, not casts. the four floor monolith is incredible, and i struggled to see everything in one day. i suggest two days if you have kids in tow, or you're a kid yourself. and start on the fourth floor so you don't skimp on the dinosaurs. my word they are impressive! i also found out what badgers and racoons actually look like at last. totally worth the sore legs and the effort required to gently shovel little screaming children out of my way.
rent @ the nederlander theatre
three of the regular casts were out for the night. the understudies started shakily but warmed up quickly, such that by the end of the first act, the applauses began to feel deserved rather than polite. to be honest, i've never been one to harp about musicals, but at the end of it all, i was left less than impressed: is this the best america has to offer? isn't broadway the crown of western theatre? perhaps i should've checked out spamalot, phantom of the opera or even les mis instead...
liberty and ellis islands
it is worth getting up early so you're down at castle clinton to get your ferry tickets by 9am. the number 1 train is nice and slow (stops at all the stops) and the queue was already getting out of control by the time the first ferry was off. the statue of liberty was pretty cool, all things considered. but don't bother with ellis island: it's just a big empty building. full of history, yes; worth lining up for the ferry back to manhattan, a most definite no.
wall street
this place is phenomenal. it exceeded all my expectations. so many beautiful, tall, old buildings! i spent a good hour wandering around aimlessly looking up, always up. afterwards i kept going over the brooklyn bridge, and wandered around brooklyn heights. but i'll leave that story for later.
empire state building
the longest, craziest queue of them all: it curled around itself about three hundred times until finally, an hour and half later, i found myself on the eightieth floor, decidedly not outdoors, definitely not on the observation deck, and far from impressed. luckily, this was just a way for the capitalists to plug an audio-tour and cheesy postcards. the audio-tour is absolutely gold. i would highly recommend you secure tony's services, just to listen to his boo-ti-ful accent. the postcards were duds so i returned them, no thanks!
the view from the eighty-sixth floor was excellent. with tony in tow, i looked in all directions and spent a merry hour or so in the clear summer rays. wish i had brought my buffalo brewery hotel bucket hat with me though, i think i got second degree burns.
this is the real deal: they use real dinosaur bones in their reconstruction, not casts. the four floor monolith is incredible, and i struggled to see everything in one day. i suggest two days if you have kids in tow, or you're a kid yourself. and start on the fourth floor so you don't skimp on the dinosaurs. my word they are impressive! i also found out what badgers and racoons actually look like at last. totally worth the sore legs and the effort required to gently shovel little screaming children out of my way.
rent @ the nederlander theatre
three of the regular casts were out for the night. the understudies started shakily but warmed up quickly, such that by the end of the first act, the applauses began to feel deserved rather than polite. to be honest, i've never been one to harp about musicals, but at the end of it all, i was left less than impressed: is this the best america has to offer? isn't broadway the crown of western theatre? perhaps i should've checked out spamalot, phantom of the opera or even les mis instead...
liberty and ellis islands
it is worth getting up early so you're down at castle clinton to get your ferry tickets by 9am. the number 1 train is nice and slow (stops at all the stops) and the queue was already getting out of control by the time the first ferry was off. the statue of liberty was pretty cool, all things considered. but don't bother with ellis island: it's just a big empty building. full of history, yes; worth lining up for the ferry back to manhattan, a most definite no.
wall street
this place is phenomenal. it exceeded all my expectations. so many beautiful, tall, old buildings! i spent a good hour wandering around aimlessly looking up, always up. afterwards i kept going over the brooklyn bridge, and wandered around brooklyn heights. but i'll leave that story for later.
empire state building
the longest, craziest queue of them all: it curled around itself about three hundred times until finally, an hour and half later, i found myself on the eightieth floor, decidedly not outdoors, definitely not on the observation deck, and far from impressed. luckily, this was just a way for the capitalists to plug an audio-tour and cheesy postcards. the audio-tour is absolutely gold. i would highly recommend you secure tony's services, just to listen to his boo-ti-ful accent. the postcards were duds so i returned them, no thanks!
the view from the eighty-sixth floor was excellent. with tony in tow, i looked in all directions and spent a merry hour or so in the clear summer rays. wish i had brought my buffalo brewery hotel bucket hat with me though, i think i got second degree burns.
8.7.07
new york culture update #1
i have concluded that new yorkers love queues. this is not a coincidence. in a city of eight million people all in a rush, shortages are inevitable. yet there is a need to to maintain a veneer of civil behaviour, hence queues.
for new yorkers, queues reinforce their place in the universe:
their city is screwing them all day, every day.
true new yorkers never complain when they find themselves in a queue:
everyone else is also getting screwed,
so they accept their misfortune with dignity; however,
this is not to say they like queueing up:
if they can pull some strings, call in favours, and get to the head of the line, top of the heap, etc they will: after all, it is the new york way.
for new yorkers, queues reinforce their place in the universe:
their city is screwing them all day, every day.
true new yorkers never complain when they find themselves in a queue:
everyone else is also getting screwed,
so they accept their misfortune with dignity; however,
this is not to say they like queueing up:
if they can pull some strings, call in favours, and get to the head of the line, top of the heap, etc they will: after all, it is the new york way.
7.7.07
first impressions of earth
los angeles international airport is without a doubt the worst place i've ever been to.
ugly non-functional architecture;
american flags every where, so crass and unimaginative;
shuffling, blank people completely demorolised -
a spiritual wasteland.
new york was grey and raining, which reminded me of melbourne and ballarat,
except all the cars were on the other side of the road;
subtle differences in the buildings and the cars and people:
bigger, brighter, more obnoxious, super-real;
the american dream in every gesture and word.
the smell of raw sewerage on the nose, the blast of loud chatter in your face, the heat of the streets against the skin;
the terrible condition of the roads and the horrible drivers using their horns freely -
the garbage on the sidewalks (don't they have bins? don't they recycle?) -
the conscientious lack of eye contact on the subway -
remind of of taiwan.
before the tunnel between queens and manhattan was a field of tombstones.
ugly non-functional architecture;
american flags every where, so crass and unimaginative;
shuffling, blank people completely demorolised -
a spiritual wasteland.
new york was grey and raining, which reminded me of melbourne and ballarat,
except all the cars were on the other side of the road;
subtle differences in the buildings and the cars and people:
bigger, brighter, more obnoxious, super-real;
the american dream in every gesture and word.
the smell of raw sewerage on the nose, the blast of loud chatter in your face, the heat of the streets against the skin;
the terrible condition of the roads and the horrible drivers using their horns freely -
the garbage on the sidewalks (don't they have bins? don't they recycle?) -
the conscientious lack of eye contact on the subway -
remind of of taiwan.
before the tunnel between queens and manhattan was a field of tombstones.
1.7.07
time to go
after forty-two weeks of subacute care, i knocked off work at the qe one last time around 830pm on friday. walking down the ramp, looking back at the flat, sprawling, ugly monolith, a flash of nostalgia quickly quelled. no more overnight on-calls! no more disabled parking permit applications to fill out! im free at last!
but you (think you) know i (think i) love it.
however, this is not just more end-of-rotation rhetoric spurred on by the relief of finishing a physically and emotionally exhausting rotation or the five weeks of annual leave hot on its heels; no, its long past time for me to get back to acute, learn how to put drips in again, dealing with acute nurses, real codes, rushed communications with patients and their families, senior colleagues watching/looking over my back. i dont know. i cant tell. how its going to go. whatever.
home for three days then onwards to nyc. practically a whole twenty-four hours spent on planes and airports. bugger me. i hate flying.
but you (think you) know i (think i) love it.
however, this is not just more end-of-rotation rhetoric spurred on by the relief of finishing a physically and emotionally exhausting rotation or the five weeks of annual leave hot on its heels; no, its long past time for me to get back to acute, learn how to put drips in again, dealing with acute nurses, real codes, rushed communications with patients and their families, senior colleagues watching/looking over my back. i dont know. i cant tell. how its going to go. whatever.
home for three days then onwards to nyc. practically a whole twenty-four hours spent on planes and airports. bugger me. i hate flying.
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