Day 2 - New York City

Two days have passed since our arrival in New York City, and Monday was our first proper glimpse of a thriving city "that never sleeps". The weather was colder today, but surprisingly, the sun was still up despite the forecasts predicting snow and clouds.

Sadly, I woke up at 7:30am to the distant cry for help from the bathroom, where Kat had just been sick. This marked the pattern for the day, with Kat having to purge whatever remnants of yesterday's food was in her system. She was bundled into bed, where I made her rest for the entire day.

While Kat slept (she's still sleeping now), I decided to do my best to plan our remaining days and venture out on my own briefly...

My first quest was to find Kat some wholesome food, so I went to the corner deli (you really have to use GOOGLE STREET VIEW to appreciate the prime location of our hotel - it's a one minute walk to the subway, or a five second walk across the street to the nearest deli, with ANOTHER deli underneath the subway). I picked up two wholesome apples (the size of a very large green pepper back home) for $1 (that's R8... quite pricey here), a 1l bottle of Coke for $1.69, and oats for $3.99. Again, everyone I dealt with was a Spanish American (even the hotel staff at our hotel have all been Spanish Americans).

The oats worked out rather nicely, and I mixed some for Kat and sent her back to sleep again, with some coke in her system and some generic non-dairy oats (assuming she has food poisoning, I'm working her on the system that usually works for me). I spent the rest of the time plotting our movements for the remaining three days in NYC since time is running out and we've lost a precious day.

Later on in the evening (around 6pm), I decided to make a move outside of the room, with Kat's temperature having subsided to 37.5C and her need for more sustenance (I have adopted a role akin to a mate foraging for food). After spending the early afternoon on Google Maps, I decided to put the FIND DIRECTIONS feature to the test, and boy is it useful in a country like this - it told me the quickest and cheapest TRANSIT route to a supermarket, which I had earmarked as a C-Town supermarket. I took the journey outside (having had to return a minute later to arm myself with thermals and a scarf - wow the weather changed overnight to a much more frigid winter day) and hit the subway.

Foolishly, I took the train to ASTORIA instead of MANHATTAN, which set me back one stop, but acting cool (and nowhere like a tourist) I calmly stepped off the train, waited for it disembark, searched the nearby phone booths for change, and boarded the MANHATTAN-bound train. Hopping off, I took a transfer on the 7 and landed up at my destination. Not knowing which way was WEST, I took a stroll, and eventually found my way to the desired destination. Along the way I had a moment of caution where I thought maybe I was entering a dodgy part of town, but then I remembered this is NYC, not Durban or JHB, and I was pretty safe here.

I took my time at the store plotting my purchases since I wanted to be sensible; in the end I opted for a shopping bag that reached $15.30 - there was a Croissant with smoked turkey and swiss cheese ($6... I planned to share this with a recovered Kat), Lipton green tea ($2.79... they don't have rooibos!), Saltines ($1.79... salticrax equivalent, and a must-have when food poisoning is suspected), antipasto salad ($1... my supper), plastic cutlery ($0.67... the hotel didn't have any cutlery to lend us), yoghurt ($3 for 5... I took a good mix, vanilla with buttercrunch toppings, strawberry with granola, strawberry with M&Ms, strawberry and banana with granola, mixed berry with granola - the great thing about these yoghurts is, they work out at R5 each and you have the luxury of choosing the plain or the topping). I SAVED $2.77 on sale items!

I walked back to the train on a different route, and snapped up a few pictures of the wonderful neighbourhood (albeit in very low lighting so the pictures aren't wonderful). I find the contrast of a bustling manhattan and a sleepy suburb fascinating, and moreover, the architecture is breathtaking. I am rapidly falling in love with the place, and I can see why I've wanted to come to NYC so desperately. I really am enjoying every minute in NYC - it's AWESOME!

 

Kat is still unwell, but has had some food and more coke - I am starting to wonder if it really IS food poisoning if she doesn't have diarreah. At any rate, no matter the cause, her bed-rest seems to be paying off for now. Also, as usual, this place is loaded with more foreign types than native caucasians, but when I consider the actual history of NYC, I can understand why, and I am ashamed at my stereotypical opinion of NYC.

Please keep us in your prayers - for me not to be sick (the weather is deathly cold and I came back to the heated hotel with an almost completely frozen face), and for Kat to recover! Thanks guys!

Oh, and one more thing  - my nose is constantly bleeding here! I have no idea why! Any tips or ideas, let me know, please :)

Some pictures from the day:

Christmas decorations

Some units have "garden" decorations too;

some of these are more elaborate than others!

This street fascinated me, and with good reason too -

it's a preserved Victorian Middle Class 1880's suburb!

I love it! Two separate entrances, with the "garden" also a dump.

One such garden had a bike parked on it (not chained up).

Almost all the units had their own rat population...

I love the contrast of 1880's sophistication and modern development.

Fancy and not-so-fancy Christmas decorations.

PS) I may have forgotten to mention this little tidbit, but it would appear that one of the most popular past-time for New Yorkers waiting for the subway trains is to lean over the side, look for the train, and then spit. It's really weird, but this ritual is more common than I initially thought. It's like we're in New York Spitty!

PPS) BrYan's travel tips of the day:

1. 
   
   While you're flying over, grab as many complimentary drinks as you can (half-pun intended)... you'll be able to carry these around with you in your backpack (I suspect the security guy was trying to score free stuff, but in JHB I wasn't allowed to bring on board the fruit juice I got from the domestic DBN-JHB flight, but once in the US there was no such trouble) and it will save you a bit of money for more important things. After all, you've just paid +- R14,000.00 for your return ticket, you may as well get what you paid for!
   
   
   
2. 
   
   Bring an empty backpack in your luggage so you can use it to stroll around the streets and fill it up if you buy more than stuff you can fit in your luggage on the way back.
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Keep an eye out for the neighbours that use room service in your hotel; if you are good with your timing, you can score freebies from their trays when they're left outside to be collected by staff - I scored an unopened (AKA sealed) Heinz ketchup bottle! Woohoo! SCORE!
   
   
   
4. 
   
   There's no shame in saving money... so if you want to take (3) to the extreme, ride the elevator to each floor and go to each door and see what you can score before room service arrives to collect...