New York City

New York City, Day 1 (11/16/09):

I decided to head out to NYC this past week because I wanted to see A Camp perform their final show of the year, also I wanted an excuse to get out and take pictures of stuff. So before I get through the rest of the post let me tell you a couple of good deals if you are heading off to NYC for the weekend.

First, if you are in Boston then definitely consider booking a trip with Lucky Star. Lucky Star is one of those low budget, Asian owned, bus companies that offer daily routes between Boston and New York. The Fung Wah used to be the king of discount service, but Lucky Star has one-upped them with internet rates as low as $1 for a one-way ticket. I ended up spending $16 for my trip ($15 to get to NYC and $1 to get back). Sure you might have to worry about the occasional bus catching fire, and breakdowns can happen (more on that later) but at fares this low you really can’t beat it with anything else.

Second, if you are traveling by yourself and you know you really don’t need to spend a boatload of cash on a hotel room you’ll barely even see then consider booking a bed at a hostel. I managed to book 2 nights at the Hostel International New York hostel, the rate was $26/night in a 10 bed shared room. While that sounds like a lot of people, keep in mind that if you are like me you’ll be out till 4:00 AM and won’t have a problem sleeping when you get back. Make sure to bring a padlock and some shower slippers and you’ll be all set for your trip. The hostel is located pretty far uptown (around 103rd and Amsterdam), and it’s only a block from the nearest MTA station.

I had not been to NYC in over 2 years; it’s an amazing city that blows you away every time you visit it. I’m from Boston, and the scale of the place is just completely different. Boston’s a great town, very tourist friendly and walkable but New York is world class on a different level. Since I had been in town before I didn’t have the rush to explore everything like I did on my previous trip. The MO this time was to see the show, eat at a few top restaurants and check out Brooklyn.

I spent most of the day just walking around and talking pictures of anything that seemed inspiring to me. I honestly felt that the muse wasn’t talking to me on the first day. I try to push myself but I have a log way to go to take my photography to the next level, sometimes the shots just don’t get composed properly or become too cliché. And then other times you get back home and look through everything during processing and every now and then a few pictures seem to leap out at you.

After a few hours of doing this I decided it was time to head towards the hostel and check in. I was determined to check out Brooklyn that night so I wanted to drop off some of the extra gear before the night. On my way to the hostel I saw a French restaurant on Broadway and I was hungry so I decided to check it out. The restaurant was called L’Express and it was decent food. I ordered the Blood Sausage as an appetizer (I grew up in Europe and hadn’t eaten one of those in ages). For the Entrée I went safe and got the Wild Mushroom Ravioli, which was good but seemed a bit under seasoned for my taste. All in all I think my dining experience was about average here.

I started walking up North again on Broadway when lo and behold the next block was one of the Les Halles restaurants owned by Anthony Bourdain. I loved Kitchen Confidential and his show enough to buy the Les Halles cookbook, which has taught me some French cooking. Even though I was practically stuffed I decided to stop in for a quick bite since I was already there. I grabbed a glass of port and decided to order something that I couldn’t make at home, which ended up being the foie gras steeped in calvados. The food was great and it had a pretty down to earth atmosphere, I was getting there right during the after hours crowd but before the place got too packed.

After the meal I continued on towards the hostel to check my stuff and take a quick shower before heading out to Brooklyn. I stopped by Times Sq to take a few pictures before heading north to the hostel.

I was told to take the L train to Williamsburg, as that was a pretty safe and hip area, keep in mind that this was on a Monday so I wasn’t expecting too much craziness. Brooklyn reminded me of Davis Sq, a up and coming part of greater Boston that I’ve been living in for the last 3 years. The bars have a neighborhood feel to them but they are pretty friendly and fun. I went to three bars while in Williamsburg: Cyn Lounge, Spike Hill and The Charleston. Out of the three I’d say the Charleston was my favorite, I liked the divvy décor and the people that were there were the kind of people I could see my self-hanging out with. Plus the atmosphere was just too cool, for every beer purchase you would get a free cheese pizza, also they were playing great music on the jukebox and awesome movies. It turns out I really like drinking a beer with my free cheese pizza, while watching Clue on mute and listening to David Bowie in the background. Good times.