So Mr M informed me of some typo’s in yesterday’s post. If you saw them, just give me a little of a break. I’m jetlagged 😛
So yesterday I did the bus tours. I wanted to get the lay of the land. The first tour was the Uptown Loop. Willy, our 21 year old tour guide, is a student who attends NYU. He is 3 years into a 4 year Bachelor’s degree who lives in New Jersey. He proudly pointed New Jersey out to us across the Hudson River. You see he only makes $7.25 an hour, which is minimum wage. So he relies on tips because his tuition is $35,000 a year of which he has a $30,000 grant but that still leaves a lot of coin to pay back. I seem to know a lot about Willy right? I thought so to.
He had a penchant for saying, “forget about it”. A. Lot. Dude thinks he’s Donnie Brasco.
Uptown tour consisted of Upper East Side, Harlem, Upper West Side. Upper East Side and Upper West Side certainly seemed a lot less crazy than Midtown, where I’m staying. Upper West Side is the second most expensive part of Manhattan beaten only by the Upper East Side. And Harlem well, you know when you’ve entered Harlem. Willie tells me that only 75% of the population is African American compared to 95% in the 90’s. The area is going through urban gentrification so with rents going up, the poor are going out.
Only 2 million people actually reside in Manhattan while 3 million come to Manhattan every day to work. Willy tells us that you need a $300,000 annual salary to live in an average neighbourhood, like Greenwich Village, Soho, Chelsea; Downtown Manhattan basically. Rightio. Jersey it is then.
So we drove past the Dakota building where Yoko Ono still resides where Willy had no qualms about telling which window belonged to Yoko. I’m sure she’s appreciative of that.
Downtown is definitely funky looking and somewhere where I’m going to spend more time. But there is a lot of scaffolding around the city. Everything is getting done up.
Last night I ventured back into Times Square and into the Theatre District to watch Memphis. C’mon, songs written by David Bryan. Being a Bon Jovi fan, how could I not? It was good. And I’m not biased. It has won a swag of Tony Awards.
And the crazies were certainly out in Times Square. People dress up in costume, like that photo I took of Woody and Mario, so people can have their photos taken with them for tips. Well one lady who was well into her twilight years was wearing nothing but a pair of undies, and not granny pants, and had stars and stripes painted on her other bits. She was playing a guitar, which kind of shielded everyone’s eyes, but not enough. Please somebody give that lady some money.
So much happened yesterday that I couldn’t possibly write it all down. And I realized that it’s been 2 days since I’ve had a proper conversation with anyone. It’s weird. Even though I’ve said that I enjoy my own company it’s kind of bizarre. It doesn’t mean that I’ve been thinking less. Maybe I’ve been thinking more.
With that, I’m off. My feet are already sore and I’m sporting some awesome blisters. My $120 Skechers aren’t doing their job.
