Winter in New York

Hi. Margarét here. Usually my boyfriend, Michael, is the one who describes our adventures, but in December 2010 I took a journey by myself, leaving Michael behind to guard the fort back home. I was on a mission to explore the Big Apple and afterwards, to go visit my brother and his family in sunny Florida.

Going solo isn’t always easy, especially if you hate airplanes and then your flight gets delayed by a day. After (hardly) surviving my first day in New York, down and out from sheer tiredness, things started to look better. In fact, they started to look wonderful.

Once you understand the main directions — uptown, downtown, Brooklyn and Queens — getting around on the subway in Manhattan is not all that hard. Tons of commuters use it every day and although it once had a reputation of being dangerous, I felt safe enough using it after dark. You have to use it after dark if you want to get anything done, since, in December, the sun goes down before the workers of the financial district even get to clap their high heels on the pavement on the way back home. The trains suddenly get very small inside during rush hour, not only because everyone is in the same place at the same time, but because every person sports a giant jacket, scarf, head gear and gloves. I was told that I would see a lot of fat people in America, but I couldn’t really tell. Everybody looked like the Michelin Man, all huge and round. Myself included.

This may sound clichéd, but while in NY I ate a sandwich, a hot-dog and a pizza. And cheesecake. That’s it, besides the Frosties and bagels I got at the hostel for breakfast. Oh, did I mention I had Starbucks coffee? We don’t have Starbucks in South Africa.

Seriously though, if I could afford it I would much rather have eaten Michelin starred food at Le Bernardin or Per Se. Trust me. We also don’t have Michelin stars in South Africa.

I also would have maintained a more balanced and exotic diet if it wasn’t for the fact that a single portion in NY seems to be big enough to feed 2 hungry men. The cheesecake I had mentioned was my breakfast, lunch and dinner for Tuesday. It was too big to finish in fewer than 3 sittings, yet too good to discard in some urban dustbin. I just took a deep breath and (reluctantly?) kept on eating. On Wednesday it was the sandwich. I actually did end up ditching the few remaining bites that I couldn’t finish before midnight. This was a real shame, since it truly was a special sandwich.

I had decided to go eat at Katz Delicatessen even before I got to America. This place has been around through the Wars and the Depression, in fact, it has been around for the last 113 years. I had seen it on Anthony Bourdain, but you may also know it from movies such as When Harry met Sally (“I’ll have what she’s having…”) Donnie Brasco, Across the Universe, Enchanted, etc. It’s famous. ‘Some say’ they serve the best sandwiches in the city. ‘Some’ might be right. Not that I would know, I didn’t exactly sample many. All I know is that my super-expensive pastrami sandwich was yummy-delicious and that the entire experience inside the deli was from another world — from the bizarre ticket system for ordering food to the elderly Argentinian pastrami station attendant who struck up a lengthy conversation with me about his hometown, to the owner who personally came to chat to me while I ate.

I loved New York. It was bitterly cold and mostly dark, but in the 4 days I was there, I managed to go for a walk in Central Park twice. To me, that felt like quintessential Manhattan. I mostly wandered the streets just looking at buildings and people; caught lots of trains to different view points; walked the Brooklyn bridge; walked along the banks of the Hudson; walked on Columbia campus; sat around Times Square; walked around the highly caged-in building site which is Ground Zero. Yes, I walked and walked. It was the cheapest and most rewarding thing to do.

I did do a few typical tourist things like visiting museums and watching West Side Story on Broadway. The one thing I didn’t really do, was shop. Unusual, you might think. But I just didn’t have time. There were two exceptions. I had to go check out the famous B&H Photo and the glass-roofed Apple Store on 5th Avenue. Besides, I managed to do a good bit of shopping in Florida afterwards.

Would I go back to New York in winter?
No, probably not.

Would I stay in a hostel again, constantly locking my every possession away, with 5 other girls sharing my room?
Uhm, unlikely.

Do I want to return to New York and spend some more time soaking up the friendly/busy, no-nonsense culture?
Definitely yes. I couldn’t get enough.