RWA and NYC
Our airplane landed in Queens, we hailed a cab, and got our first taste of New York traffic. Our driver was adept at weaving through the crush of vehicles, but someone kept beeping their horn. Irritated, Chuck called through his window, “Shut up! Where do you think you are, LA?”
Our driver said, “Oh, that’s me.”
We soon learned that horn honking is part of the cacophony of NYC.
The RWA Convention was at the Marriott Marquis on Times Square. We had a view of that famous location from our room on the 37th floor. On television, Tames Square looks large and the crystal ball huge. In real life, to my disappointment, the square of concrete is squeezed between towering old buildings. The crystal ball and clock are tired looking. Rubin Johnson said this part of town used to be the worst section of the city. Now it’s full of people rushing up and down the sidewalks, miles of traffic, mostly yellow cabs, end to end in three lanes honking their horns.
Theaters line this street, Broadway. Chuck checked ticket prices for The Lion King. Per person is $250. We didn’t go. I’ll read the book.
Be careful where you eat. We stopped at a corner restaurant/bakery and bought cinnamon rolls. That evening we opened the bag in our room and prepared to enjoy our treat. They were so dry I suspect they were three days old. Their lunch and dinner menu looked inviting so we returned the next day for lunch and ordered a T-bone steak to share, staying away from the pastries on display. The T-bone steaks I’ve had in the past are served with the bone intact, the top loin strip on one side and the tenderloin on the other. Ours came without the bone and without the tenderloin. Cheated again.
On the other hand, Chuck’s nephew, Johnny Roller, took us to Grigino, an Italian restaurant on the Hudson River and the food was superb. Also dinner at the Marriott Marquis was marvelous.
Johnny lives in Bronx and for two days ushered us around town seeing spots we would have missed otherwise. The Cloisters Museum and Gardens in Manhattan. Art and Architecture of medieval Europe 12th and 15th Century featuring 5,000 works of art. Every block of stone hauled over from the old country and reconstructed onsite.
St. John the Divine, the magnificent fourth largest Christian church in the world. Designed in 1888, opened in 1941. We passed the Intrepid on our tour, drove through some of the Burroughs, viewed a Buddhist Temple, and visited a friend of Johnny’s who lives in a $2 million penthouse.
On our own we visited Central Park by bicycle, pedaled by a young man from Russia. Always pay in cash. We used our credit card and somehow an extra $100. was added to our bill. Chuck caught it and our bank erased the charge. We strolled into Strawberry Fields in the park funded by Yoko Ono and admired a mosaic lying on the ground titled “Imagine”. A young man was singing and strumming a guitar, the guitar case open for tips.
Toured the amazing and beautiful Grand Central Terminal. We embarked on a boat tour on the Hudson River (after being search like boarding an airplane) and had close-up views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Security was tight even on the water. Chuck saw a boat with guns drawn approach a pleasure boat when it got too close to shore. We drove by the Empire State Building, and also viewed the new Tower of Hope glistening in the sun.
The pools at the footprint of the Twin Towers are awesome. The area is landscaped with trees. One special tree was transplanted from the Twin Towers footprint. Two square pools have replaced the base of the Towers with a waterfall on each side of each square. On the parapet of the walls of the pools, 75 bronze plates are attached and inscribed with the names of 2,983 victims of the day the towers fell. (Wikipedia.org)
Oh yes, and the RWA convention. There were too many workshops to visit every one of them so RWA put them on a flash drive for a small fee. Also, after arriving home, workshops were offered online, pick and choose those of interest or missed and download. All in all, the convention was well organized and of value.
It was a wonderful trip and although we saw a lot, we missed even more. Go back? Maybe.
Wittier Word Weavers 
August 24, 2015 at 2:01 pm
What a delight! Funny and colorful. And you got to be a literary maven as well as a tourist.
August 24, 2015 at 2:40 pm
Many people love and loved Times Square. Good or bad, it had excitement. It’s still the hub of the theater district. Not so many decades ago, it was the red-light district. For some people, that would make it a pretty bad part of the city. In the 1990s, it was transformed into something more PG.
August 24, 2015 at 4:08 pm
Thank you Naomi. That was a good tour around New York. You reminded me of all the nooks where I lived after my arrival in the States. I stayed in a women’s residence on 32nd street, if I remember right, walking to my job on 44th Street. Times Square and Rockefeller Center where I spent quite a few lunch hours. were close. You revived a lot of memories with your descriptions. New York was already overcrowded then. I can imagine what it is now.
August 25, 2015 at 8:40 pm
Thanks for taking me on the New York tour. You painted a great picture of the traffic and crowds, I’ll consider it if I ever decide to experience New York. I may just go to Las Vegas and take the hotel tour.
September 6, 2015 at 7:29 pm
Really enjoyed your blog, Naomi. So the cabbies laying on their horns like in the movies is true.
Johnny Roller sounds like a good name for a character in a gangster novel!