And Just Like That Its Over

And now, almost as quickly as I decided to come, it's time to leave.  By September, I'll be in Denver.  

A friend asked me, once, about the state capitol building in my hometown, "Do you think it's attractive or ugly?"

"I don't really think anything of it.  I live here, it just... is."

I still can't get used to walking down the street and seeing the Chrysler building.  When I was 16, I went to Montana and thought, "There are people wake up every morning and see the mountains?"  

I'm going to be one of them, but I'll never have to worry that I'll take them for granted.  I'll figure it out.  I figured New York out, which really means I can do anything I want.  

And there's a million things I haven't done.  

Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, Please

The New York City subway is not the oldest, cleanest, most on time, or largest in the world.  By some metrics, it doesn't even hold the top spot in US subway systems.  It is not superlative, except in one regard: there are always trains running.

It is accurate that they may not be the most convenient combination of trains, or running at a reasonable interval, but every hour of the day, every day of the year, the system is at work.  This is, of course, also the underlying reason the system frequently doesn't work.

To ride the subway is to learn the territory.  Train direction is designated by borough, stations are tied to streets and landmarks.  Sort of.  There are six stations across three boroughs with Broadway in the name:  none of them refer to Midtown's theatre district.  Only one of the five lines running through three separate Canal Street stations is convenient to tourist-centric Chinatown.

Demographics are tied to geography- Asians get off at Chambers and Bowery in Manhattan.  Indians at Jackson Heights in Queens.  Now that baseball season has begun, the 7 train is full of Mets fans.  Hipsters get on and off at Williamsburg.  Russians near Coney Island.  Elderly white people wearing clogs and dragging enormous suitcases going north on the A/C are invariably going the wrong way to JFK.  The weirdest looking people on the trains are generally on the West Side- rich people with more money than sense who live in Chelsea. 

Geography aside, it's also a cultural experience.  Panhandling on the train is illegal and varied.  Performers are common on the 4/5 and M.  Talented performers appear on nearly any line between 14th street and Columbus Circle.  People on the J/Z are typically mentally ill or religious.  The most successful panhandlers, without exception, are churro women.  What they're doing is also illegal, and most frequently prosecuted, but they bring their churro cart on the train, or stand in the stations.  They say nothing, but people buy churros from them. 

When open gangway cars get introduced in the next couple years, this means that the entire train will have the dubious honour of hearing musical performances, donation requests and appeals to praise Jesus for the entire length of the train, rather than merely the few minutes between stations.  Maybe it will stop tourists from giving, when they finally realise that every one hears this multiple times every day- it's not unique, and the people with the most talent are probably the least in need of help. 

After learning the subway, it's possible to learn about the rest of the city. 

If You See Something, Say Something

I tend to see New York by accident.  The very first thing I did when I came to New York was visit Houdini's grave.  It's one of the few times I planned to go, went and saw exactly what I intended to see.

I've wandered into the main public library and stumbled across Winnie the Pooh and a special exhibit of Jefferson's copy of the Declaration of Independence.  Both times I've visited Met museums it's been because I was wandering around a park and had to go to the bathroom.  I didn't see the Statue of Liberty until I was on a train down in Brooklyn to go see an apartment and happened to see it out the window.  The first time I saw Ellis Island, I was on Governor's Island and briefly assumed it was a casino in New Jersey until I Googled it.  I went to Coney Island because I was looking for a wrecked submarine (which I never found because I walked in exactly the wrong direction for ten blocks and the sun went down).  I ate a Nathan's hot dog and considered the irony.

I would say that this is something that happens because I live here, and then I remember days in Toronto by myself were spent similarly.  I'd get lost and wind up someplace I didn't intend to be but relatively glad I went.

I find this funny because when I was married, I would plan itineraries and follow them to the letter, whether I was with the ex-husband or the ex-nephews.  We rarely got lost.  I don't remember much from those trips.

Regardless, every time I go out, I wonder how I would plan an itinerary for this city.  I see Reddit posts of tourists saying. "Where should I go that aren't the usual places," and New Yorkers write back, "What is that even supposed to mean?"  But I know.  I see those same Facebook posts directed at non-New Yorkers, "I'm going to New York, what should I see?" and you hear the same places, "9-11, Statue of Liberty, The Met, Central Park."  These are "the usual places," and maybe people should see them.  I've seen several of them.  The only thing that was absolutely disenchanting so far was the Brooklyn Bridge.  Don't go up there.  Just don't.

Where to start to see New York?  The museum I work for has a slogan, "Where New York Begins."  They're nearly right, but you have to understand a lot about New York before that means anything.  OK, so, we can't start with the distant past without dealing with the present.  Same with starting with Trinity Church, it's a part of New York's history, but you have to grapple with New York as it exists today to get there.

The first thing you have to see is the New York subway.