New York: Day 7

My last full day in NYC. I still had plenty to do, so I was up and out of the hotel by 9:30am. I took the subway to Broadway and 8th and walked through Washington Square Park on the way to Greenwich Village. I was there pretty early, so most of the shops were still closed, but that was ok because I didn’t see any that I wanted to go into anyway. I walked up and down many streets in the Village and just looked around, not too exciting but at least I saw it. Once I had enough of window shopping, I headed east on Houston. I ended up walking through SoHo, saw a French Connection clothes shop and thought of Ritchie and his FCUK sweatshirt. I ended up at my second destination, Little Italy. There wasn’t much to see here either, the light poles and fire hydrants are painted red, green, white... There were tons of Italian restaurants though, but it was still too early for lunch. So I kept walking to my third destination, which was Chinatown.

I’ve been to plenty of Chinatowns in my day, and this one was no different. It does amaze me though that they cling to this way of grocery shopping. It seems so dirty and smelly and disorganized, I wondered if they’ve seen the way we do it? And if so, why stick with this method? What possible benefits could this way have over the supermarket way? I’m not one to usually think my culture’s way is better than another’s, but I couldn’t help think it about this stinky mess... It was fun though, being the only white guy on the street. Just walking through, watching, listening, smelling, experiencing, and thinking...

It was nearing noon, so I headed back to Little Italy for some lunch. I found a place and ordered Rigatoni Bolognese. Now I’m not a big fan of Italian food, it always tastes alright, but it never seems very special, y’know? Like, I always feel like I could make the same thing at home, no big whoop. But this stuff was delicious! The plate was huge, but I kept just stuffing it down because it tasted so good! After lunch, I started waddling back toward my hotel. I had planned on taking the subway back, but since my sightseeing had taken less time than I expected, I decided that I’d just walk all the way back (which was a little over 3 miles). As I walked back, I saw the Empire State Building up close! I thought about going up to the observation deck, but I decided that I didn’t care enough to actually pay for it. All along the way, I kept stopping in tourist shops to see if I could find a gift for Kara. The people that worked in the shops all appeared to be the same nationality (I’m not quite sure which it was though) and they were all WAY too helpful. I just wanted to look through the store, but they would walk through it with me and if I showed even the slightest interest in something they would start talking about it. It was weird, so I’d just leave and hope the next store’s attendant would be a little more easy going.

When I got back to the theatre district, I stopped by the Wicked box office to see if they had any single tickets for tonight’s show. They didn’t, but they recommended to check back sometime between 5 and 6. Sounded like a plan, but I was tired so I went back to the hotel and took another nap. Got up at 5:30 and hurried back down to the box office. Signed up for the Wicked lottery and also checked for tickets to buy, still nothing but there was a cancellation line that I got in, so that if/when people cancel, we’d get first dibs on those tickets. The lottery went as expected, my name wasn’t called. But, the cancellation line went as I didn’t expect it, as I got an awesome seat just off center toward the front of the orchestra section. But, this was no half priced ticket, this was the full $100 deal, so I was really hoping the show was as good as everyone was saying it was.

It wasn’t. It was utter crap. Seriously, the story was absolutely stupid, I knew where it was going WAAAAY before it got there. The songs were totally boring, they added nothing to the show, and there was hardly any dancing, etc. I honestly don’t understand what all the hype is about, this show was just terrible. And I paid 100 bucks to see it, argh! At least I got to see a bunch of good shows at good prices, but seriously don’t believe the hype on this crapfest.

After the show, I got a hotdog on the street and headed back to my room. The hotdog only made me more hungry though, so I headed back down and got a sandwich from one of the European cafes.

And that’s it, that’s my New York vacation. My flight leaves tomorrow at noon, and I am taking the subway and bus to the airport. I had a ton of fun here, and it feels like I stayed the perfect amount of time. I’m not bored of it here yet, but I also don’t have anything else I really want to do while I’m here. I’d say that vacationing on my own was a successful experiment. It would have been nice to have company, but I was never lonely or miserable. And so I go home tomorrow, sated on exploration and adventure. For how long? We’ll see...