Today was my last full day in the city. I still wanted to see the Natural History Museum and I wanted to do some more shopping, so that’s what I decided to do.
I got on the subway to the Natural History Museum at 81st Street, and once there bought a ticket for the museum and another IMAX film for $12. I spent an hour just walking round the "Hall of Biodiversity" which was a wonderful place where all the different species were presented by displays and computer terminals and models arranged in order of their various classifications.
Next I went to the IMAX film which was a documentary about the Amazon. This was in 2D and on a much smaller (though still huge) screen and with a much feebler sound system. It was still excellent and full of stunning Amazonian photography.
My
favourite parts of the museum were the areas with the dioramas of
different species depicted in their natural habitats. These were
presumably real, dead, stuffed animals which is a far better way
to see animals than live ones locked up in jail – especially
as the quality of the dioramas was such that often it was hard to
tell where the modelled landscape ended and the painted
background began. I was particularly taken with the Bison –
which were much larger and scarier than I had previously thought!
Unfortunately the marine life section was closed (I could just
glimpse a life-size blue whale suspended from a ceiling in an
adjacent room). The hall of meteorites was pretty groovy too, and
of course the dinosaur bones section was great fun. There seemed
to be a lot more dinosaurs with more complicated names than I
remembered as a kid – presumably new species are being
discovered all the time and all the less complicated names are
already taken.
It
was already about 3pm before I left the museum – I had
already rushed round at a mad pace and could have happily spent
days there. I still had plenty of time for shopping though, as
everything seems to stay open until at least 10pm, so I walked
around The Park some more before heading off to the shops. Among
others I visited Caswell-Massey – a famous and fancy
smellies store with lots of soap-y lotion-y things suitable for
grandparents’ gifts. I went to Dave’s A&N Jeans
where I got a pair of Levis for $30 – I now wish I had
bought a few more pairs as they cost at least double that here in
the UK. I also visited the Strand Bookstore – the biggest
second-hand bookstore in the known universe with over eight
light-years of bookshelves. It was a bit of a disappointment
– the place was huge and in no particular order, and you
didn’t feel like searching as there was no air conditioning
and it was too hot. I didn’t see one book I felt like buying
– but I have no doubt that if I’d had anything in
particular in mind I could have found it…eventually.
Today was my last day. I was kind of looking forward to going home – but it was still sad because I knew it would be a long time before I came back here.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to get much done as I’d have to be on my way to the airport by 4pm, so I looked on the map and found out where George Washington Bridge was – I planned to go and have a look at the Little Red Lighthouse so that when I gave my mum the ornamental one I’d bought her I could show her a photo and say "look, here’s the real one!"
The bridge was up near 170th Street somewhere – People had warned me against going too far North but I could always get back on the subway South if I felt unsafe. When I got there I felt more out of place than unsafe – this wasn’t a touristy area! I found a flyer stuck to a lamp post advertising "Little Red Lighthouse Festival" due to start in a week or so – but it gave directions which I tried to follow. I got to a road overlooking the Hudson River and I could see the Washington Bridge but there was no sign of the lighthouse. I knew it was under the bridge but there seemed to be no way down – so after walking up and down trying to get a glimpse through the trees I gave up. It didn’t feel like the best place to be wandering around in getting lost, so I just went back to the subway. I wasn’t really sure where to go next, so I rode all the way to South Ferry station and had a wander round Battery Park. I took a last look at The Statue across the water – and then remembered that I hadn’t yet been to see the aerial tramway that goes across to Roosevelt Island. A brief consultation with the pop-out map showed that the tram station was at Second Avenue and 60th Street - and a brief consultation with my watch showed that I had time to go and have a quick look.
I was running low on subway tokens (my seven day Metrocard had run out yesterday) so I was a little alarmed to find that I needed two tokens (one there and one back) for the cablecar. It was quite a fun ride across and I took loads of pictures (I still had most of a film to use up). Roosevelt Island had some good views of the city. It also had a funny kind of ambience to it. It was weird having such a quiet secluded place right in the middle of the city – it didn’t feel like it was part of the rest of the world. I couldn’t quite make Roosevelt Island out. There wasn’t much to see, so I got the next car back.
I still had about an hour and a half to kill. An annoying amount of time to have left – as I couldn’t really do anything constructive. So I got on a subway train at random and ended up at Columbus Circle again. I tried to get some food but found I didn’t have enough money for food and subway tokens to get back to the hostel to collect my stuff. I went into a bank and was annoyed to find that the minimum amount the ATM machine would dispense was $40. How useful. What was I going to do with $40 in an hour and a half. I didn’t want to just waste money – so I went and found another bank that would let me have just $20. By this time there wasn’t much time left, so I was hard pushed to spend even $20 – but at least I could get some food and a copy of the New York Times to keep as a kind of souvenir.
I got on the wrong subway train and arrived at the Hostel a bit later than I had wanted to. I decided to get the subway to Queens and get on the bus that goes all the way to JFK Airport as my guidebook suggested. The subway ride took about fifty minutes and I had to stand all the way. I then found myself in the middle of Queens waiting for the bus. When I got on the bus I was the only white person – I just hoped no-one had anything against white people.
The bus drove through what seemed to be quite a poor area – but even so, all the houses were what would be considered very large in the UK, and there was no such thing as a semi-detached or, heaven forbid, a terraced house!
By the time the bus approached the airport there was hardly anyone left on it. I didn’t have a clue what terminal I wanted – and it was then I realised just how big JFK airport is. It’s practically a small city. I saw a sign that pointed to Terminal 4W and listed Air India among the airlines that operated from there – so I immediately got off the bus to find myself in the middle of nowhere. I stood around and looked lost. The bus stopped and the door opened and someone called out, inviting me to get back on. It was a black guy who had seen my predicament and had told the driver to stop and let me back on. He asked where I was trying to get to, and I told him and he said that I didn’t want to get off where I did. He obviously knew the layout of the airport very well – and I was extremely grateful for that because the bus drove through the airport for a further twenty minutes before he told me I was where I wanted to be. I was very thankful! I had made it to the airport – and despite being almost an hour late for check-in, the rest of the trip home was easy!
So that was my trip to Noo York City. The flight back was great, the food was good, the movie was good, and they even let me use my portable CD player on the plane. I made good use of the free beer this time because I figured anything to help me sleep would be good.
My parents were waiting for me at Heathrow Airport, bless them, and I was very glad I didn’t have to get the train home to Southampton. I didn’t know what time of day it was – it was as if someone had stolen my night from me. The plane landed at 8am UK time, and although to me it was 3 in the morning I couldn’t sleep with the bright sunshine and all. I ended up going to bed early that evening – and getting up early Saturday morning. I had to – I needed to be in Bournemouth by 12 to collect a van that my company were kindly lending me so that I could move house. I just about made it!
I quickly became frustrated with the slowness of everything back home – something I’d never before noticed. Like the way people let everyone else go in front of them at road junctions, and how I couldn’t get my photos processed in anything under 24 hours, and how the shop assistant stood and just waited while the old man in front of me made up his mind about what sized prints he wanted. Everything seemed far too nice and polite and safe and a whole lot less efficient!
All in all I’d had a fantastic trip, and would thoroughly recommend New York to anyone. I’ll probably go back for the occasional quick visit – but for my next trip to the states I want to go driving, probably from Steve’s house to New York to LA to Miami and back. America was made for long distance driving - it has to be done.
Oh yeah – I never did find the new Manic Street Preachers album in America – so not everything is easier to get hold of in the States!
This page was last updated on October 20, 1998