Harlem in Flip Flops
Trip Start
Jun 29, 2010
1
5
28
Trip End
Ongoing
Brooklyn, New York
Sunday, July 11, 2010
The game was fun with everyone in the bar getting into the spirit of the game and after a nice afternoon drinking and watching football I headed back into Manhattan.
I was originally thinking about going back to the hostel but on my endless tourist quest I decided to catch a different subway to the site of the World Trade Center. It was strange thinking that the last time I was in New York I was up at the top of the World Trade Center, which is sadly no more. The building work at ground zero is well underway at the site and there are a few memorials around to commemorate both the rescue workers and the people who died in the buildings.
After WTC I wandered over to Wall Street then through China Town ending up in Little Italy. Little Italy was quite busy and I found a table outside to sit and watch the people go by. The food was average (but it was a cheap looking place after all) but I'm not really that fussy especially when I just want something to fill me up, but at least the singing waiters were entertaining.
After finishing dinner I decided to head back to the hostel, however there were quite a few building works going on in the subway system which meant that several subway stations were closed including the one near my hostel. In addition to that I happened to catch an express train which misses out many subway stations anyway in addition to those which were closed for building works. So eventually I get out at some station much further uptown of where I was staying. I saw the direction of Central Park so thought I needed to head away from it because normally Central Park is to the east of where I was staying, however unknown to me I was actually north of Central Park and walking north instead of west.
As I walked along the streets in my flip flops I was thinking to myself why there were so many black gangster types sitting on the steps outside of these houses. It turns out I was heading through Harlem in the opposite direction of where my hostel was. Perhaps walking through Harlem at night in flip flops is not the best idea particularly when considering my gadget-laden pockets. Anyway rather than grabbing a taxi I always consider things an adventure so I instead decided to use "the force".
As you may already know "the force" can always be relied upon to find your way home wherever you happen to be in the world, and sure enough after meeting many "interesting" people along the way and strolling along various unfamiliar streets, I ended up back at the hostel. I popped down to the cinema room where the classic "Dumb and Dumber" happened to be playing so naturally I had to stay and savour this legendary movie epic before heading to bed.
