Archive – Day 8
Saturday, April 17, 1993
Looking Back...
Another day in Manhattan. I mention the “landmarks” we saw, but I don’t actually talk about what they were or what I thought of them. I’m pretty sure going to Times Square and the top of the Empire State Building were some of the things we did that day, but apparently I couldn’t be bothered to write about that. We took a ferry ride around the island too, but will you find that here? Oh, no. Had to save room for all this introspective crap.
We are sitting in a deli on 60th Street, eating pizza. We are across the street from F.A.O. Schwartz and right at the corner of Central Park.
We have been walking around midtown Manhattan, and I have been enjoying it. But we are about to leave, though, so I will have to close up for now.
We’re now in Eddie’s Cafe, a back place on a back road in Greenwich Village. It’s a nice place, with complementary popcorn, but I have yet to try the food. Vegetable soup and chicken tenders.
This place is full of college students. Liberals. I use that term derogatively, but it’s all a joke. I haven’t decided if I am liberal or conservative yet, so I can’t make any judgments. But still, liberals are an easy target.
The street this place is on is full of little eateries, cafes, and delis. And over the stores are five or six stories of apartments, most of them with lights on. But, it’s only a quarter past nine, and time to eat!
The food at Eddie’s was marvelous. This is a place that I would gladly return to. Good food, and lots of it, is what the name Eddie’s means to me now. I can see why this place is full, even now at ten at night. The college kids — that’s just a side effect of it being located in the Village. I think this restaurant could be popular just about anywhere you put it. As for the rest of the Village, we will leave that to tomorrow.
Home at last. Well, not home, but a reasonable facsimile. Home away from home, it might be called; home of a friend, mi casa es su casa. And so we are home.
Spending the day in midtown Manhattan made me realize that the imagination is often deceiving. We ran into many famous “landmarks” and found that their appearance in real life was much different than the images that I have created from various influences. So now, my impressions and thoughts of these “landmarks” are forever altered. This trip has been a learning experience in finding out what New York is really like. My misconceptions have now been shattered, hopefully with positive results. But now New York has lost all its magic and mystery, the undiscovered country has now been discovered. The intrigue has gone out of Manhattan, and it has been reduced to the ranks of other cities I have visited.
But still I find that I don’t dislike New York, and for a city it is actually quite pleasant. I wouldn’t mind living here (in Brooklyn) for two or three months, but after that I think it would reach my limits of endurance. But like I said, this lifestyle, the small town life, is quite appealing to me. And what bitter irony that I should find it in “The fourth largest city in the U.S.” But, it’s only a vacation.
I have been sticking to my vow fairly well, of ignoring my problems at home, and I find it to be so relaxing. In fact, when I return home I may not want to pick them back up again, but rather choose to leave them lying and let them work themselves out.
But, it is now time for idle time in that I must sleep and be well rested for tomorrow. See you then!
