NYC - The opposite direction of Times Square

I am losing track of days lol.

Headed the opposite direction today - as far from Time Square as our feet would take us!  😂 not exactly true - C had found a museum he wanted to visit - Merchant House - so we signed up for a tour.  But we left ages before we had to so we could take our time and explore on the way.   Definitely a more appealing experience outside of tourist central - lots of smaller green spaces and some gorgeous architecture.   

As good a place as any to write a blog post

We’re sitting in Washington Park rn - C commented that he liked it better than Central Park cause fewer people.  Usually that would be a driver for me too so it took me a second to realize that the reason I don’t like it as much is the noise.  Part of my love for parks is quiet, and here there’s still all the normal big city noise but compounded w competing jazz bands at top volume, v loud people, and few to no nature sounds (shocking).  Central Park was big enough that if you made your way in far enough you wouldn’t hear much if anything of the city, there were a ton of birds and little critters, and no extraneous sounds.

There were some lovely places to escape for a few minutes

I’ve also come to realize locals in NYC don’t seem to know headphones exist?!?!  This one isn’t the tourists - every time I’ve seen someone with something obnoxiously loud on speakerphone it’s been - to the best I can ascertain based on attire, intent, behaviour, etc - a local.  And let’s be honest, I’m usually pretty good at that game ;).  So maybe those who love NY love noise and do their best to contribute to it ;).  Fair enough - pick your thing and own it.

Fewer obvious street sleepers than I’d expected to see.  I’d be curious to know if they’re doing something useful to help people experiencing homelessness that we could learn from or if they just make it so miserable that those people have located to be homeless somewhere else.  Worse traffic and driving than I was expecting - and since I was expecting pretty bad, that is saying something.

I’m becoming the queen of traffic composition - by that I mean, the ideal photo location is in the middle of the road, so I have to snag it from the crosswalk when the walk sign is on.  Which means I’m composing what I hope will work from the corner and then basically trying to point and click and hope for the best when I get to about the right spot.

Kind local saw C and I looking for an address and stopped to help us out.   We would’ve managed eventually but I still loved that he went out of his way to assist.   Also - I continue to love university vibes.  The area around NYU is the most comfortable I’ve felt yet 😂.  Same as in Toronto - UofT campus is amazing. 

The garden of Merchant House;
The inside was pretty much like every house museum ;)

We found our way to the house and had an almost-private tour.  Not quite what C had been targeting but good and interesting for sure.  The house was bought by one person and then on his death passed to his daughter while NYC grew up around them.  On her death a cousin bought it and turned it into a museum - complete with all furniture and artefacts as is.   And in so doing, captured 100 years of NY’s history.  

Not shockingly, the place was packed

Lunch we found Katz’s for smoked meat sandwiches.  The line was v long but moving super fast.  Unusual setup - they give you a ticket on the way in, any food you get is written down on it, pay before leaving, show tag on exit.  Many lines depending what you wanted - about 6?!?!  were just sandwiches, 1 for non alcoholic drinks, 1 or 2 for appetizers, 1 for all non appetizer food that wasn’t a meat sandwich. 2 for paying w cc, 1 for cash, etc. With 2 people this was fabulous - C stood in line for sandwiches while I got drinks and table.   Alone it would’ve been a very long process.  Food was expensive and huge but tasty.  And, well, expensive and huge is pretty quintessential NYC ;)

We subwayed our way back to time square and secured tickets for a show tonight: New York New York.  Know nothing about it 😂.  But none of our top choices had availability so this seemed a good one given the trip ;)

Hydration stop then back to the hotel to refresh before dinner and show.   High line is closed till 4:00 every day for construction so either before dinner today or tomorrow - since it’s after 3 now, I’m assuming tomorrow…