Who you gonna call?

Monday morning, and I am on my own again. Hedy had decided to work and take off Tuesday in honour of St Patrick, and Wednesday off in honour of her hangover (and to see a bit more of the city before I left). I woke up as she left for work, and pottered about getting ready, eating my froot loops and deciding what to do with my day. My feet were becoming unbearably sore from all the walking, so I began with a trip to a local clothing store to purchase the green converse I had been coveting. They were in the sale, so only cost $36 instead of the $45 on the label – not bad given that they are at least £35 in the UK. I resisted buying any North Face sale items – a brand name that I love and associate with the outdoors, but which seems to be sold in every trendy high street store here, and can be seen on every other person in the form of a coat, bag or beany hat. I can have Hedy vouch for this – it is everywhere and I didn’t buy any!

I decided to start my day by doing something that Hedy seemed to have no real interest in anyway. I looked up the location online and headed out for my first solo trip on the New York subway. The city’s subway system involves about six different coloured lines, each of which has between two and four letters or numbers allocated to it, and you appear to require a sixth sense to know which one is which, and where it stops. You get approximately three seconds to make a decision about a train before its door shut, so inevitably my first solo outing involved me going two stops and having to get off and get a train back to where I started. Take two: I needed to get to Tribeca, and managed to decipher which two lines I needed (either that, or I accidentally took them… I’m not 100% sure either way). I had about 10 minutes of walking to get to my destination, and found myself strolling through part of Chinatown on Canal Street. This is the part where all the shops seem to have identical products - fake watches, I love NY t-shirts, hats, key rings and other tourist tat. I cut off at West Broadway and found myself amongst trendy stores with every colour of Converse I could imagine – except the turquoise ones that Di asked me to find! Typical! There was even a ‘Topshop – coming soon’ sign. Shortly after, I reached my destination – a shabby little fire station. Oh yes, THE fire station I had seen oh so many times in my childhood. Who you gonna call…? It is called 8 Hook and something (who cares?! It is the Ghostbusters HQ!). There is nothing much to see, other than a faded Ghostbusters logo on the sidewalk outside, which appears to show the ghost with a fire helmet and hose. Apparently this station was only used for the exterior shots, and the inside was a station in LA. Good enough for me – I took a load of photos and hummed the tune for the next few blocks.
I was able to walk from 'HQ' to the Brooklyn Bridge in about 15 minutes. I had decided that I would walk across today as it was clear and quite mild. The views were great and I couldn’t help spotting the section where Miranda and Steve reconcile in the Sex and the City movie. As I reached the other side the New York changeable weather hit me, with a cold wind suddenly dropping the temperature several degrees. Cold and with achy feet, I braved the subway straight back to Manhattan, rather than explore ‘DUMBO’ and the green areas under the bridges shown in all the movies. I had to ask directions to find the station in Brooklyn and took a line that goes under the river rather than over the Manhattan Bridge, which would have been fun. Oh well. I jumped out at 57th and Sixth, and having had my plans for a cheapy hot dog in the park scuppered by the cold, I went into a pizzeria for a slice instead.
I had planned on visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art that afternoon using my City Pass ticket. As I walked round the park a crowd had gathered opposite the Oak and Plaza hotels, clicking and twittering and clearly out to see celebrities. I could see a film crew and eventually overheard someone saying that a scene was being filmed for ‘Gossip Girl’. I didn’t hang about as I don’t watch the show, but maybe I will now to see if I can spot the scene... I arrived at the Met to find that it was closed on Mondays, something a quick glance at my travel book would have told me if I had bothered to look. Oh well, another time maybe. Instead I headed on up to the Guggenheim museum – despite modern art not being my cup of tea, I wanted to see the famous building and I could get free entry with my pass. The curvy, winding building is really lovely and I immediately saw something that would make the trip worth my precious time. As I queued for my ticket, I looked around and discovered that the person behind me was Lois (the ‘Mom’) from Malcolm in the Middle! Hazzah! I spotted someone famous on my trip! I probably stared at her more than is socially acceptable for someone standing a foot away, but I am pretty sure that I was being suitably subtle… and that it serves her right for being famous anyway...
The art in the Guggenheim is what I would mainly describe as ‘weird’. The exhibit on the curving runway was called the ‘The Third Eye’ (I think!) and was all works from American artists influenced by Asia. I was given a free audio tour and pressed 'one' to start. It told me all about the installation in front of me - a room that was completely lined with pieces gold leaf. Okay. Weird, but kind of cool. Press two… “The work… based on a London bridge… famous landmark…”. I looked about for a piece of art that may be based on a bridge. I settled on something that I had originally assumed was a light. It didn’t look like bridge though. Nor did it fit the rest of the description. The next piece of art on the winding walkway tour was a long piece of paper with a stripe down the middle. A bridge? Don’t think so… Okay, skip this one and go to three… nope. I giggled to myself as, which each number, I completely failed to work out which exhibit it related to. The ‘work’ varied from ink splats, to white canvasses with a roller of black paint, an old film projector playing a blank reel (did the artist make the projector?? Or the film..? No? Art? No.), there was a shelf with bottles on, blank paper (what were people looking at? They were closely scrutinising it … but it was blank!). My personal favourite was the last exhibit – a woman who had filmed herself in extreme close up, black and white, with acupuncture needles all over her face… talking continuously about the day her husband died in the monotone style of Buddhist monks chanting . “Mitchel is dead she didn’t know what to say to me to we held eachother then I rang my mom the phone rang and rang as the shop was busy…” etc. Apparently this went on for 20 minutes. Bonkers? Yes. And more than a bit eerie... Was the museum worth the money? It was effectively free, so yes. I have advised Hedy to just go in and look at the skylight without paying though!
I finished my day with a wander* through Central Park (*read ‘limp'... my feet were swelling and agony), and I finally ate a pretzel as I strolled about (well half of it, they really are quite dull aren’t they?). I made it to Strawberry Fields where tourists had photos taken sitting on the Imagine mosaic, and someone had laid out white roses for John Lennon. I also saw the restaurant from Ghostbusters (“Let me in!! Let me in!! Nice doggy…”). Eventually I headed home via Magnolias to pick up some cup cakes for dessert. Yum!
The evening was set aside for Hedy and I to go to the ‘Top of the Rock’ at the Rockefeller Center – which was worth every penny. They really put the effort in there, starting with a mock gurder construction shot (which we forgot to buy!), information films and photos of the building being constructed. When the lift begins to move up toward the top of the building, the lights go off and you look up to see that the roof is clear plastic and the lift shaft is lit up like a runway. You really get to see how fast you move, which explains the popping ears! The night time city view was spectacular and we even had a shot with one of the 50c viewers (watching the people in the Empire State watching us!). This was after we both posed for photos looking into the wrong end... deliberately of course...
We headed straight home after this to make sure that we had an early night. We needed to be  bright and fresh for St Patrick in the morning!