Sulkyblue's Blog

Having covered south yesterday, today was about north. Well, sort of ‘north of the middle’ anyway.

First stop (after breakfast of course) was the Chrysler building, which of all the things on the New York skyline has always been my favourite. Unfortunately like most skyscrapers, close up doesn’t work very well, it just looms overhead, hiding all the beautiful details from prying eyes. We popped into Grand Central Station to gawp at the scale of it, impressive, but at the same time, rather dingy and slightly disappointing.

Back out in the absolutely heaving streets, not really surprising given it was 10am on a Monday morning around one of the largest transport hubs in the world. After probably annoying any number of locals just trying to get to work, we ducked into St Patrick’s Cathedral. Once you’re inside you could be in almost anywhere, it’s like every other cathedral in the world - with the same stone, the same stories in the stained glass windows and artwork and the same architecture soaring above the heads of the whispering tourists and silent worshippers. It’s only the outside when you look at where its set that it is clearly revealed as New York’s Cathedral – tucked in between shops and skyscrapers on all sides.

After a respectful bit of gawping, we walked a couple of blocks over, returning to what New York is all about. The Rockerfeller Center has shops, television studios, an ice rink and a tourist ‘experience’. We stood watching the zamboni and the ice skaters swoop round the sunken ice rink (not at the same time) , perused the NBC shop and were a bit disappointed that the famous Rockerfeller Christmas tree would be hidden under scaffolding for another couple of days.

After a bit of a faff and unsatisfying exploration of the dark underground shopping centre , we finally got on a lift to the Top of the Rock. It’s not as high as the Empire State Building, but the viewing platforms are spread out over three floors and you can actually stand on the roof, which really does feel like you’re at the top of the world. Unlike from the Empire State you can also see Central Park in all its glory and of course the one thing that it’s impossible to see from the Empire State – the Empire State itself. It was a little foggy unfortunately, but that may have helped create the peacefulness, a sort of fuzzy barrier between you and the rest of the world. I could have stayed there all day.

Unfortunately that wasn’t an option (not least because we were hungry) so we went back to ground level and had a bit of a wander in search of lunch. On our travels we passed the Villard Apartments, a luxury block of apartments around a surprisingly spacious courtyard... which was set up with a film crew for Gossip Girl! How New York is that – a film crew for a tacky show about bitchy socialites? I resisted the temptation to loiter (well James wouldn’t let me actually) and we headed back up 5th Avenue, which was again absolutely heaving. Unfortunately, despite my desperate want for a little blue box, everything in Tiffany’s was far too expensive James departed to meet a local friend for the afternoon and I was left to my own devices. So I went to a toy shop. FAO Schwatz is the toy shop from Big, with the giant floor piano. Unfortunately I just missed a demonstration and it was heaving with kids. I was good and didn’t go into the Apple Store, despite the massive temptation.

The temple to technology is located right next to the south eastern corner of Central Park, where all the horse carriages start from, so my introduction to the park was a load of beautiful but extremely smelly horses. With an afternoon to myself I’d decided to take my camera to a zoo, unfortunately it was too late and too far to go to the Bronx Zoo, so I settled for its smaller sibling - Central Park Zoo. It’s a kind of boutique zoo, only a few dozen different animals, but it’s very well presented and quite charming. The tropical zone was unfortunately so hot I couldn’t stay long despite the beautiful birds flying free with no fear of the humans they’d happily pose with. I adore zoos, I love the camaraderie you quickly enter into with other visitors, pointing out camouflaged animals and all just walking round grinning like small children.



The zoo didn’t take very long and I had plenty of time to amble around the south end of the park, stopping frequently to appreciate nature and watch others enjoy the park. I was expecting something like Hyde park, but a lot of it feels a lot more natural, particularly when you can scramble to the top of one of the many rock outcroppings and just stare at the different coloured leaves. But then your next stop is spent watching tiny 6 year old ice-hockey players and teenage prima-donna figure skaters on the giant Woolman Ice Rink; or the enthusiastic but rubbish Little Leaguers playing baseball. It really is an amazing space – loads of things to do, but also plenty of peaceful spots where you can feel like you’re all alone in the center of the huge city. The skyscrapers seem to loom at the edges of it, peering in, but excluded from the area where there’s no work, no shops, just fun and peace.



Sun set, the temperature dropped and the park suddenly felt a lot more sinister. I walked along 59th Street which feels in many ways as if you're at the top of New York and if only you could get a little higher above the traffic, you could see all the way south to... well the ocean. After a brief stop back at the hotel to collect James we headed out again to Macy's. It was as far from Central Park as you can imagine and to be honest, we were utterly overwhelmed by it. I’m not a good shopper at the best of times, much preferring to stick to tried and tested shops than explore new ones. Macys was completely unfamiliar territory, we got lost over and over in the maze of departments, not really understanding how we were supposed to find anything or compare anything. We fled pretty quickly, but outside was even more chaotic as they closed 34th Street for a practice of the thanksgiving parade. We were going to wait and watch, but my energy levels gave out and I couldn’t face standing in the crowds of parents out supporting their cheerleading kids. After a proper dinner in a (somewhat overpriced imho) pizza restaurant we headed home and collapsed.