New York City

I had travelled out for the 4th of July weekend in 2015. As soon as the celebrations were over, I decided to head back a day earlier and spend it in New York City.

We’ve all heard and seen so much about it from the news, TV shows, Movies and Pop culture in general. THE point of entry to the new world. I had one day, flat sole shoes, a back pack and $10 to spare. (Poor grad student and all.)

So I head out, on foot, exploring most of midtown by myself. Here’s a brief summary of how that went.

Here’s a map of the places I walked to:

I got off from Penn Station and was startled by the big city immediately.

Walking straight down W 34th Street and a quick side step into W 33rd Street, I found myself across the famous Madison Square Garden. I took a bunch of pictures here, people were largely uninterested in what anyone else was doing. Passed a few indie film makers on the street who were taking random interviews.

Continuing past them I could feel the vibe of the city. It was fast and diverse. I could swear that in the first 10 minutes I heard at least 6 different languages being spoken. I walked along with a bunch of artists, I could tell as they were carrying a large canvas and other tools. We passed from under a scaffolding, as if going through a dark tunnel, we exit it, our eyes took a minute to adjust to the light. When it finally did, we saw the Empire State Building.

I wanted to go up to the observatory, but they were asking for $60. Tall glass of NOPE.

So I turned on to W 34th Street, up onto the intersection of Broadway past Herald Square. The next time, I’ll try to book tickets for Hamilton. May be book them a few years in advance. -_-

Walked up Broadway, in direction of Times Square. On the way I found an amazing street artist. The street caricature artists have a sneaky way of making money: the portrait itself is 5 bucks, but since it’s made of charcoal, it might wear off if not kept in a plastic case, which they conveniently provide for $20. Little did they know, they were dealing with a desi. I pulled out my own plastic folder and put the portrait in it. The guy was furious.

Finally, reached the famous Times Square. After soaking in the sheer size and glitz of the place, I settled down on one of the iconic red steel tables, broke out a granola bar I was carrying. Since I got a bit thirsty, I bought a bottle of Gatorade from a street vendor. Another shopper there angrily told me to not buy anything from the vendor, as he was selling it at ‘holiday prices’. Meh. I was thirsty and needed the energy so I bought it anyway.

Took a few random selfies with a few of the smelly superhero actors and head out on W 42nd Street towards the Avenue of the Americas. Came across the HBO office where they had setup a window exclusively for Game of Thrones merch. So cool.

My next stops were Grand Central and the Chrysler Building when I got a call from a friend asking me to go visit. He was in Lower Manhattan — the Financial District. I was weighing seeing Fifth Ave and Grand Central against visiting him. It was about late afternoon, I figured I should go, so I went underground and spent whatever I had left of the $10 on a subway pass.

After asking a bunch of people for directions, I got on a Yellow line to Lower Manhattan. I was tracking the stops on my phone as the doors open and shut in no time at each stop. When I got off, I headed towards Wall Street. Quick picture with the Raging Bull and then finally made it to my friend’s place. Staying in the financial district is of. the. hook.

After a few beers on the rooftop of the financial capital of, possibly, the world, my friend was kind enough to give me a neck pillow for my bus ride back home. I took the top berth of the double decker bus back home, as it has a transparent ceiling through which you can see above. As we headed back west in the night, I looked up at these man made wonders, promising myself that I’d be back, hopefully the next time with more than $10.