New York Miscellany

Back from New York and into the loving arms of London. It seems like the holiday was over in a trice, no sooner get there than count down the days and try to fit as much in as possible. This was my least travelled trip around New York, with only one journey on the subway (to see Buffy), everything else being within a mile or two of the hotel and walkable. That might be why I ate so much. Endless food and lots of it. I soon walked it off. On my first morning I just had an omlette and coffee. That wasn't enough so breakfast became omlette and bagel. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper... and still wake up hungry the next day (greedy pig).

Food

O yes, lots of it, but not the enormous American portions you might expect. With the sad demise of the Art Cafe on Broadway (now a Duane Reed, and yes, I know that's spelt wrong) my official favourite diner is now The Red Flame Diner on West 44th near 6th Avenue. It was the staple for breakfasts (lovely omlettes) and for evening snacks (bagels and a smear, ie cream cheese).

Other eateries of note are the Pigalle restaurant on 9th Avenue, a visit there is mandatory, and the Chelsea Grill, also on 9th but higher up, and it serves draft Guinness and most delicious pasta sauce. Yum.

The Algonquin Hotel

We stayed in the historic Algonquin Hotel on 44th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, the oldest hotel in New York. The rooms are small, as they are in most older hotels in the city, but the location is perfect and the lobby simply reeks of history - or that might be Matilda the fluffy gray cat who rules the roost. When we arrived, Euan Morton (who played Boy George in 'Taboo') was the cabaret turn in The Oak Room (tickets were $65 +$30 table charge, so he doesn't come cheap). Mind you, it served long JD & cokes in the lobby, along with a range of cocktails, which was most civilised.

The wallpaper upstairs was made up of newspaper cartoons featuring the Algonquin in some respect with witty quotes framed outside each room door. I didn't find any of them particularly funny but, hey, that's probably just me.


Streets

I've never seen a cop car chase like the one on Monday down 5th Avenue. About 20 cop cars with flashing lights and sirens speeding down the avenue, After a short break another troop of cars appeared, followed by another, all heading in the same direction. No idea what the trouble was or where, but it was a weird sight out of every New York cop show ever made.


Street scenes are fascinating, the noise of traffic (and occasionally the rattle of subway trains underfoot), the locals busy about their business and tourists everywhere. Wide streets and avenues with tall buildings either side, heavy shadows one side of the street and bright sunlight on the other. It rained, a light drizzle, for most of Monday, with the cloud so low that it hid the Empire State Building. I never used my iPod outside at all, much preferring the sound of the city to music.


Imagine having the money of Rockerfeller and just deciding to build a skyscraper and a plaza to set it off. The ice rink is still there with the shrieks of children whizzing round the plaza and a plastic-looking light fountain as a temporary art installation (I wasn't keen on it). And, of course, Radio City Music Hall next door.


And, of course, Times Square, one of the archetypal places of New York and America, all lights and busy-ness, endless streams of people and traffic with Broadway cutting through it.


So that's New York 2008 for me. All done.