Roaming the NY streets
After a morning of work (and heartily berating myself for not having completed the work before I left), I set out for a little exploring. David was off at CUNY, soaking in his fair share of syntactic processingy goodness. I thought I’d check out the Greenwich Village first, as I’d heard it was a good shopping neighbourhood. However, not checking my subway map closely enough meant that I ended up on an express train bound for the Brooklyn Bridge. Not in any particular hurry to get to the Village, I decided to explore the Financial District a bit first. Upon exiting the station, I was immediately greeted by the sight of some fabulously ornate buildings–very reminiscent of Paris–which I believe were the New York Surrogate’s Court and other municipal buildings. I started walking in the general direction of Century 21, a discount department store akin to Nordstrom Rack. It was quite a beautiful area to walk around. The Woolworth Building, apparently one of the United States’ oldest skyscrapers, was particularly impressive.
It wasn’t long before I came across the World Trade Center site, under heavy construction, with long lines of tourists waiting for a glimpse. Having seen the twin towers on my last visit to New York, it was saddening to stare into the space they once occupied. I soldiered onwards to Century 21, and after a dizzying romp through aisles and aisles of discounted apparel, I decided to head north to the West Village to find some lunch. I hopped onto the appropriate train and got off at 8th Street and Broadway. I meandered my way through the relatively quiet streets, catching sight of the famed Washington Square Arch, and over through the Village. I popped my head into a few shops before coming a cross Risotteria, which I couldn’t pass up (risotto + me = happy camper). I downed an impressive amount of mushroom risotto before setting off again. I got the distinct sense of neighbourhood walking up through Christopher and Hudson Streets, a surprisingly intimate feeling for being part of such a huge city.
The weather was cool (enough so that I picked up a scarf at Urban Outfitters to ward off the chill), and as the light began to fade, I decided I’d had enough wandering and headed back to the hotel. Having finished up at the conference for the day, David and I toured around Union Square, a bustling hub of activity, before settling on the Heartland Brewery. Unable to resist the opportunity, David tried their beer sampler, which had a number of solid choices, while I opted for my usual white wine. It was absolutely packed with a lively throng of folk, and we loitered for a time, not minding the din of their revelry, planning out our next few days.
