Points, prizes, and elephants

 I used to base myself around Times Square when in New York. 

Then I branched out to a few other venues.  The Waldorf Astoria, when I still had points make prizes, and I could get invited out of the checkin line to the special checkin with champagne service. Sadly the Waldorf looks like a building site at present - undergoing renovations, which include reducing the number of rooms. Sounds expensive.

Then there's the Pierre, up by Central Park. Another old-school ritzy type of venue, where I was fortunate enough to be placed in the spacious Presidential Suite - with its own manned elevator. I was fronting a group of high rollers on that occasion, but came out as the top banana. I still remember hiring a ballroom and the $38,000 bill (not just for me, I hasten to add). I asked for the bill to be printed and received about a foot of fan-folded paper (which had certain blackmail potential).

Subsequent visits have been more modest but I was still able to stay at (for example) The Soho Grand, which is like an all-night party.

And this time still spiffy on the 10th floor in Chelsea.

So back to Times Square. I've stayed at The Sheraton, The Marquis and the W, from each of which one can tip out onto the bustle of -er- tourists in Manhattan. My stay at any of them would be courtesy of cashing in  loyalty points. 

The thing about Times Square is its busy-ness. Nightime cab tail lights aglow and everyone walking in the road. 

We decided to see a show on Broadway and the criteria was a musical not already in London. 

We picked Water for Elephants. which was playing along the busy part adjacent to Broadway, yet is reminiscent of a building site. London's West End is certainly tidier. 

Oculus

 

Different visits to New York have seen the area around the World Trade Center redevelop. Now it incorporates the transport hub known as The Oculus. 

It's a structure that shouts 'photograph me!' and its size is enormous. My picture shows One World Trade Center in the background and the mega-structure of the Oculus in the foreground. 

Peek inside and it's a transport hub underground, with a massive Westfield shopping mall at a convenient shopping level, complete with all the usual suspects. 

Between the shopping Mall and the new World Trade Centre are the two ominous black squares and the monument where the original twin towers stood. 

High Line ramble

 

The High Line is quite an attraction, leading along the old train tracks from Chelsea Village up into midtown. 

At various places the original tracks are still visible, where freight trains used to chug along the edge of the Hudson River, until the the line was closed and then saved from piecemeal redevelopment. 

Instead it became a linear park dotted with cafes and stalls. It turns inland to midtown behind the Hudson Yards where Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) trains are stored to support 200,000 daily passengers. 

The midtown end settles close to W 34th Street, which flourishes Penn Street Station, Madison Gardens, Macy's and the Empire State Building. Decidedly walkable with the wild flowers contriving to make it seem not a lot slower than a taxi.

Industrial heritage becomes mindful.

The view from the 67th floor.

One of the well known views in New York on my iPhone. From the Rockefeller Center facing towards the Hudson and with the Statue of Liberty in the distance. Oh yes, and One World Trade Center in the distance and the Empire State Building prominent in the foreground. 

Skew

Oh yes, there were red baseball caps on sale on street corners. 

The TV channels were mostly polarised. Fox vs MSNBC. Choose your rhetoric. 

Curiously it was similar with the Olympics coverage. The US channels seemed to only feature America, except when Frenchman Leon Marchand won the swimming - but even then they found the story that he had been trained in the USA. 

Lunchtime Paris 2024 cafe society at the Rockefeller Centre

Constitutional

The very first time I ever visited New York, on a stopover from Charlotte, NC back to the UK, we had about 10 hours in the city. We took the Staten Island Ferry (25cents) to pass the statue of Liberty, We travelled up to the top of The World Trade Centre, and also to the top of Empire State. We grabbed a fast lunch in Times Square and took some time around Wall Street and then Greenwich Village and South Sea Port. I guess taxis must have been involved, and I even brought back a New York Snowman - melted of course.

I can't really believe we did it all in a single day, but somehow, we did. 

Nowadays we'd do some of those sights in depth and take a whole day, like on this trip we did my first ever trip to the Statue of Liberty and to Ellis Island.  I've flown around them in a helicopter previously. Both are interesting, although they don't really tell you about the very long queues to get the ferries. And we were queueing in a New York heat wave. 

I've hidden the 4th July proclamation being held up in Liberty's other arm. I'm  not sure how well it is stacks up at present. 

As PJ Harvey's soundtrack says:

"Can you hear them 

 The helicopters 

 I'm in New York 

 No need for words now"