Taking A Big Bite Of The Big Apple
Sam had heard about an amazingly cheap camera shop in New York and had wanted us to try and squeeze in a visit before we left. It was only a few blocks away so we headed off from our hotel on foot, after breakfast, only to find, when we arrived, shutters closed tight and a sign on the door informing us they were closed for ‘Tish B’Av’, whatever that was! What a bummer! Oh well, we knew of another one that was only a short 19 blocks away (just as well we had our walking shoes on!). We were very disappointed to find they were also having a day off to celebrate the mysterious Tish B’Av, which we later found out was a Jewish holiday. It seemed there were a lot of Jewish photographers in New York!
After that debacle, we hailed ourselves a yellow cab and asked if we could please go to Greenwich Village. Our request was met with a confused silence before the driver piped up and said “you’re actually in Greenwich Village already!” Hmmmm. It seemed our camera shop-seeking adventures had taken us further than we thought. We then asked if we could please go to Soho but neither he nor us, knew where we were going in Soho. “Just pick somewhere nice”, we implored him. He then kicked into full tour guide mode and was explaining so much to us in detail that it was a great pity he was encased in perspex and was rivalling Tinkerbell for having one of the softest voices we’d ever heard! We couldn’t hear a word! We just kept nodding and smiling and hoping he wasn’t recalling some sort of family tragedy.
Our soft-spoken cabbie did let us in on what he thought was a little secret, when he told us of an amazing American singer/songwriter by the name of Jackson Browne. He said This musician captured the heart and soul of America in his lyrics and he nearly crashed the cab when I told him I knew who Jackson Browne was and had most of his albums on my iPod! (Of course there were other times he nearly crashed the cab too but that was just because he was a terrible driver!) It is funny how some Americans think of Australia as some isolated backwater, out of touch with the rest of the civilised world. I’m sure it would surprise them to know just how much of their culture we’re subjected to through our media on a daily basis – not that that’s necessarily a good thing! (They can keep their Kardashians for a start!).
We loved exploring Soho and its trendy one-off chic boutiques and its bohemian feel. We grabbed some lunch at Dean and Delucas, an enormous deli with a fabulous eclectic range of produce, including artisan breads, handmade chocolates, cheeses and all kinds of exotic smallgoods and pastramis. They had a mouth-watering array of fresh home made salads too and some tasty looking pre-made sangas. I really felt like I was in New York, ordering a pastrami on rye!It was just a short walk to the pretty Washington Square Park so we decided that’d be a good place to spread out on the grass and eat our lunch. We were joined under the shady trees by loads of students- NYU is right across the road- all out enjoying the hot day. Some had even stripped down to bikinis, working on their tans in their lunch breaks and the big round fountain was playing host to a truckload of kids, obviously on some sort of vacation care, splashing and enjoying the relief from the scorching temps!
There were buskers aplenty around the park and up one end, a few wise old sages playing chess. We were invited to join a game but one quick look at the fistful of dollars this chap was trying unsuccessfully to conceal, I knew I didn’t stand a chance! We also saw a film crew doing a summer fashion shoot!
After our own little photo-shooting session, it was time to climb aboard the subway for Brooklyn. On our way through Greenwich Village though, we were stopped in our tracks by a high quality game of student basketball being played out energetically on a court just on the street corner. Their skills were being admired by a gathering crowd of admiring onlookers, ourselves included, and though there were no white men on the team, we can vouch for the fact that those boys CAN jump!
Catching the train to Brooklyn, we walked back, treading the beautiful wooden planks of the Brooklyn Bridge, taking photos and dodging bikes as we went. After walking about halfway across, we returned to spend some time amongst the brownstones in Brooklyn. There’s a new bridge that leads down from High Street to the river’s edge and it’s a piece of engineering genius. While you can see it is bolted down securely, it actually sways in the wind (a bit hairy) and gives you the impression you’re on a wooden planked suspension bridge. It’s really cool! Down on the water we were spoilt with uninterrupted views of the iconic New York skyline and if we squinted down river we could even see Lady Liberty standing proudly on the harbour (we did have to really concentrate because from where we were standing, she was no bigger than a fly!).
The clock on the building told us it was 31•C and we were feeling every degree so we thought it might be a cooling change to swap the steamy subway for a ferry ride to midtown. It was lovely and did cool us down though we still had about 8 blocks to walk back to the hotel. The subway would’ve been more direct!
During our time in the soft-talker’s cab this morning, we’d noticed an ad on taxi-tv for a promotion currently running in NYC for Restaurant Week. All the top New York restaurants are offering a 3 course meal at any one of their fine establishments for just $35 per head! We thought that sounded like a great deal and a lot of fun! After much well-considered research and deliberating, we chose “Barbetta’s” Italian restaurant because, as Sam said, you can’t find a bar better. (Coincidentally it was right across the street from where we stayed on our first visit to the Big Apple!)
Our first impression of Barbetta’s, with it’s twinkling fairy lights in the trees, was already pretty special but once we entered through the door, it only got better! We were ushered in past the white grand piano, bunches of fresh pink roses, multiple chandeliers and round, starched, white tableclothed tables, and outside into the garden. The ivy-covered archway led to a beautiful leafy courtyard with a cherub-squirting fountain and huge terracotta-potted white gardenias. We were shown to our table by one of many bow-tied waiters that looked like they’d just stepped out of The Godfather. This restaurant has in fact been owned by the same New York Italian family for the past 108 years so I’d be very surprised if it hadn’t been home to a few shady, under-the-table mafia deals over the years! The head honcho was about 80 in the shade and feigned surprise when he found out Sam was my son and not my husband! (It was flattering nevertheless!) Our waiters weren’t overly gushy (or happy even!) but what they lacked in smiles, they made up for in spades in the attentiveness stakes! Sam had 4 bread rolls because the keen-eyed, bread-basket-toting waiter would discreetly dispense a roll on Sam’s bread and butter plate, the second it was empty! There was also almost an all points APB going out to alert of water shortages in the New York area after the over-zealous water filler gave us each about 20 glasses of water! The food was amazing though and we felt like celebrities for a night!
Our MoMA tickets from yesterday had included entry to the Top of the Rock at the Rockefeller Centre and tonight was the night we were going to visit. It was about 9pm by the time we’d downed our last glass of water at the restaurant so we thought we should head on up. What we didn’t know though, was that time slots have to be booked, even if you already have your tickets. Bummer! This rookie error meant the next available timeout was 11pm! Double bummer! We were both totally knackered from a day of walking. It was our last night in the city that never sleeps after all, so when in Rome…(you know what they say).
We found a nearby Starbucks (not too hard to do!) and enjoyed mindless wi-fi fun through tired squinty eyes until our time had come.
It sounds like a cliche but it was worth the wait! The view at night from atop this lofty building was spectacular! The Empire State Building, Chrysler Tower, Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue Of Liberty- all were on glittering show, twinkling at us through the inky night sky. It was beautiful! Needless to say, as with most of our days, we were ready to flop into bed like a sack of potatoes and sleep like babies.
