What can i say other than…I WAS IN NEW YORK CITY!!! I am still in shock, after all the hype, late night discussions of going that fell through and other false starts - I finally got to visit NYC. And all i can say is, HOLY CRAP!

I don't even know where to start. I'm now thinking I should change to a locked online journal so i can post some of the 200+ photos i took :). I want to respect privacy of my friends, so you won't see any pictures here (of this trip, or from other adventures from summer 2004 -sorry!). If i do decide to switch, I'll be sure to post an email address to request a password to get in. Anyway, here are some highlights of the trip.

My trip to NYC was totally spontaneous, because I didn't even know if i'd be going until the night before. We had a friend who works at the airport, so we scored SUPER CHEAP standby tickets. The severe drawback was that we didn't know if we could go until a day before! We had to get hotel reservations and other details in one day. I wish i had more time to organize the trip, but to be honest, i'm pretty happy with our "let's just decide when we get here" attitude. Sure, i had some general ideas of where i wanted to head, but it was more based on word-of-mouth and however we felt.

Touristy Crap
Yeah yea, I did a few touristy things. I hate them with a passion, but c'mon, you HAVE to see a few of the major sights. We went to the Empire State Building (costing US$12 each just to go up!), on the first night. The line up to go there was brutal. Just when you thought you made it to the top of the building after lining up and putting your bags through airport-type security, the elevator takes you 3/4 of the way up. You're then fed along a designated path where you MUST take a cheezy photo w/the Empire State building backdrop. Only after can you go back up the elevator. And after passing the barrage of souvenirs and everything ESB, you can see the sights.

Even after all that bullshit, i have to say it was worth it. Seeing the city at night was spectacular. I have some killer panoramic photos to prove it! :P It looked like Toronto on speed! So many buildings, so much pollution, so many lights, so many sights, so much to explore!! I was pumped to see the rest of the city, yet already sick of being crammed amidst a mass of tourists. On our way out, you're reminded of the cheezy mugshot they forced you to take when they pass you a developed photograph of your shot. Boy, was it ugly! And they were security stickered, costing US$15 to purchase! I took a shot of the photo with w/my digital camera, just to spite them. After passing the photograph security section we were finally allowed to go back down...

Needless to say, we both agreed that we paid enough dues with severe touristy buildings, and for the rest of the trip we tried to keep these things to a minimum.

SOHO
I have heard tons and tons about the SOHO area, and so we spent a late afternoon scoping out the scene. It was INCREDIBLE! It was one massive Queen street in toronto! What a sight, i can tell you that. It was super trendy, and even though there were a few places that were quite pretentious (e.g. the Armani Store with its pompous classist salespeople - don't worry, on our way out we did say a few words :P ), over all it was totally cool. And get this, ENTIRE FLOORS DEDICATED TO MEN'S CLOTHING! Yes, not just some shitty corner at the back, but full floors and sections of great men's clothing. We had a great time playing "what not to wear" on Bloomingdales :). Nothing like wearing $1000 outfits! heh.

The icing on the cake was running into the Apple Store... YES, the Apple store!! It was totally by accident -- When i saw it, the city noise around me went silent. I could hear a faint V7-I cadence chord in the background, and a subtle ominous glow surrounding the store. It's 8-ft high glass doors swooped open, i slowly walked through the gates of.. THE APPLE STORE. I can't totally describe the experience with more than "I felt home" :). Total free range use of the entire apple line of products - from iPod/iPod Minis, PowerBooks, iBooks, iSights, G4's, G5's, even digital cameras hooked in for workshops - all for free use by the public. We used a G5 with a 23” monitor to surf the net for a place to eat that night and took some hilarious pictures/videos of us in awe at the store. Wicked. Damn wicked.

I also got to enter an American Apparel, which was a first for me. I don't know if they have a store or any distribution in Toronto, but for those of you know don't know American Apparel is a socially responsible clothing apparel company. They have proven that you can be socially and environmentally responsible AND profitable in the clothing apparel industry. I've gotta say it was inspiring how they could afford a store in the expensive SOHO, with promising growth for the future! I would love to work for them one day, perhaps in marketing or sales (or somewhere I can add value to their business). It's quite inspiring and exciting to see more and more of these businesses cropping up AND sustaining themselves as a viable business to be reckoned with.

Bah, enough with my rolling social rants, and back to the trip!

Wall Street / Statue of Liberty
Wall Street was loaded with security and had an errie silence to it. I could feel the money being made and lost within the trading floors inside the NYSE building. I know of a few people who work there, and man, it's intense. It was here where we finally saw some white people walking around. I found that Manhattan is more socially polarized than Toronto, where you've got super rich white guys who own everything, or working class Blacks/Hispanics, who keep the city afloat.

We walked by an area that allowed you to see the statue of liberty from a distance. It was nice. Moving on...

Chinatown
I HAD to hit the Chinese Area and check where my dad used to hang out. It was what I expected, from jewelry stores, tons of restaurants, street merchants and Chinese women trying to sell illegal movies (hand cam jobs!) for $5. It was great! We were CRAVING dim sum, so I cornered some cute looking New Yorker ABC (american born chinese) girls and asked them where a cheap place would be to grab some good cheap dim sum. Their recommendation was great as the place we went to provided some good old Chinese Grub for $5.50 total each!

Chelsea
Ok, so we've been to NYC and haven't hit any of the queer areas yet. We decided to check out the scene, expecting a rocking party. This was NOT the case. After talking to a few of the locals, we found that although there are a lot of the queer clubs/bars, they are quite scattered from each other. It's not like church st., where everything uber queer in JAMMED into one area. We almost passed the infamous STONEWALL bar. Even when we saw it, we were questioning if it was it. heh. So much for "quintessential part of gay history"!

We did try and hit a few of the bars/gay clubs, but the cover was RIDICULOUS (some where $30 each). We weren't really there to club anyway, more like check it out and see what it was like. Was it worth $30-60 for may be 1 hour of clubbing? Nope. What can I say, i think i've lost some of that drive to do that kind of stuff other than with my SBF... hey, if i was going to stay for 6 hours it would be worth it, but not an hour.

Other sights and thoughts
We also hit places like the U.N. building, the MET Museum and Central Park. These were all places that we wished we had more time to explore. I wanted to have a picnic in Central Park, but we couldn't find a damn grocery store to get anything! There were only convenience stores in the area, and it was so hot and muggy by the time we got there we just wanted to lie down and rest in the park. Still a good time though :). There were also tons of police there for the National Republican Convention, which added to my enjoyment as we saw tons of friendly protestors! It was great! I loved reading their signs, cheering with them, and more importantly seeing so many against BUSH. Let's keep our fingers crossed on the election eh? Oh, that reminds me, i guess i stand corrected about the only white people being from Wallstreet --- let's not forget seeing all the Republican Delegates that were also visiting for the convention! :)

It was shocking how almost noone in NYC is from the area. Most of the people we asked for directions gave an answer like "Oh, gee, I SHOULD know this, but i don't".. Bah! Everyone commutes into the city, and it seems like they just work and leave. I don't blame them, given how expensive everything is in downtown Manhattan! WOW. Well, except for public transit, which was great value ($21 for 7 days unlimited! I even got to ride it to and from the airport, which was a $50-$100 cost saving right there.)

And man, NYC had some intense August heat and gross pollution. You think Toronto is bad? Ha. You could peel off the pollution from your face each day in NYC! I wanted to take showers twice a day! I know that it being August was a factor, but still, it was ridiculous. And the subways? No words can describe the intolerable roasting hot cesspool it was underground. It was so dirty and disgusting, i was getting queezy and dizzy. At least the subways were mostly new and airconditioned! It was well worth riding those than taking taxis though, since the transit system can take you basically anywhere in Mahattan!

So there's some highlights from the trip. It was JAM packed as we were only there for 4 days. It was intense, and the next time i go i'll be able to focus on a few things more deeply. I’d love to check out the other parts of NYC besides Manhattan.. Like Harlem, Brooklyn or even the Bronx. It's a great city, but i have to say, after those 4 days i was ready to go back to Toronto. T.O. is a great for my city needs, and I'm appreciating it the more and more i travel.

Take care,

RE

"eat drink and be merry"