A New York Walkabout
It’s going to be a while before this trip will start. I figure I’ll share a little day trip, you might call it, that I took in New York two weeks before I left.
Sunday morning I was feeling depressed and angry for a variety of reasons, and when I’m depressed and angry, there are only two things I can do about it. 1) I can talk to someone and hopefully make the cause go away, or 2) I can walk until I drop from exhaustion. Seeing as I could find no one to talk to that day, I chose option number two and set off from my dorm at Washington Square Park, and begain my walk by heading into the West Village to find breakfast.
I ran across a nice crowded little cafe in the West Village, sat down and tried to do some reading for my essay class, but had more success people-watching instead. A man outside was pacing back and forth on a cell phone, holding a packet of papers. What he was wearing was what got my attention. Brownish-red Reebok boots that were knee high (I didn’t know those things existed), green pants, a baige jacket, and a scarf. It was odd to say the least, even for New York.
I finished eating and went to pay the check. I practically had to climb over the table next to me to get out, only to discover that the minimum to use a credit card was $10. The bill was $7, and I only had $4 cash. I had to leave my school ID with the waitress while I went to the nearest ATM which happened to be in a gay porn magazine shop run by the straightest looking Latino man I had ever seen. All the while, I was thinking to myself: If I had someone to talk to and he was having breakfast with me, I wouldn’t be in this predicament. Needless to say, I had more aimless walking to do.
I walked to Hudson Ave, and up to 9th Ave, and up 9th, weaving between 8th and 10th all the way up to Central Park, stopping once around 45th St to get a slice of cheesecake. Of course I evesdropped on the conversations around me. One I can only assume was between two men in the theatre industry, and in reference to a Streetcar-esque drama.
“He’s terrifying when he suddenly turns angry like that. You don’t know where it comes from. You think he’s gonna hit her!”
“Yeah, he needs to tone it down. I’m trying to get him to understand that he’s in love with her. The anger should be more subtle, more manipulative. I think he’s starting to get it.”
On my way to the park I made several discoveries. Along 9th Ave round 34th st and again in the 50’s, there are several places elevated enough that on a clear day you can see all the way east to Brooklyn and all the way west to Jersey. It’s incredible! And at 61st I think it was, as you walk down it there is one block that is absolutely silent, or as close to silence as anyone ever can be in the city. The engines, squeeling breaks, honking horns are all a distant hum even though you know they are just over the 20-story buildings on either side of you. It is a strange sensation.
The trip was topped off by a visit to The Rambles where I found a quiet place to sit on the ledge of a rock cliff overlooking a cove. It was sprinkling, and birds were singing, and aside from the muffled sound of aluminum rowboats, and the tops of buildings sticking up over the trees, there was no sign of humanity. It reminded me that I desperately need to go camping!
Wow, this blog entry turned out to be LONG! I guess that’s to be expected when it’s about a 90 block walk.
Tags: 7. USA, 7A. New York City, New York
Drea
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