Montréal

Well, I made it. I'm finally back in Canada. The train was stinky because of the restrooms, but I survived.

The East Village

I did end up buying that camera from J&R, a retail store near City Hall. I had a $10 discount coupon from my free map of the city, so the camera ended up being around $350 after tax, included a 2GB Sandisk Ultra II Memory Card, which I decided to get since it was on sale. It was likely a lot better than I would have gotten had I bought it from a camera salesman.

I immediately set out to waste the rest of the near-empty stock battery on a final stint of sightseeing in New York. My first stop was the West 4th Street Courts, colloquially known as "The Cage". This is one of New York City's most well-known locations for the clichéd street basketball games you see on TV and in the movies.

After watching the game for a short period, I headed over to the East Village. This is the real New York. Forget the busy tourist meccas of Times Square and Broadway, the East Village is one of the places to be to experience the true Manhattan lifestyle. The buildings are old and yet retain their character from years past as trees sprawl all along the sidewalks. A plethora of small cafes pack with people sitting outside, enjoying the sun instead of the city lights. People in general seem a lot more laid back in this part of town. It was a great vibe that I wish I had discovered earlier in my stay.

One of the main stops I aimed to find in the East Village was "Physical Graffiti Corner". This was the name given for a small section of St. Mark's Place where the cover for Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti was shot. It was also supposedly where Jagger was hanging out in the music video for a Rolling Stones song. I really would have loved to have stayed longer, but I didn't want to stay out taking photos for too long, as the battery was still new, and I needed to sleep early for my train anyway. Thus, I made my way back to the hostel, had a bit of dinner at the corner pub and enjoyed a beer for the last time in New York, then went to sleep.

To the 5 boroughs

I technically did visit all five boroughs of New York City. The first borough I saw was Queens, when I landed in La Guardia airport on Tuesday, followed shortly by Manhattan, where I spent most of my time. I was on Staten Island for a couple of minutes when I caught the free ferry there and back for the view of the Statue of Liberty. I went to Coney Island on Thursday, which is in Brooklyn. Today, as I left Manhattan, the Amtrak train I was taking to Montréal traveled north, passing through The Bronx, completing my makeshift tour of the five boroughs.

Naturally, the Amtrak train was delayed. I was quite confused as to where to go for the train, and was directed to the ticket office by the person baggage check-in desk, who also informed me that there would be no checked baggage for the train. After lining up for about 10 minutes at the ticket office, they informed me that I didn't need to be there, and that there was a separate area for people already ticketed. They looked at me like I was an idiot, so they obviously didn't know how it worked in other places where you need to first show your ticket to get a boarding pass before heading to the waiting area. But anyway, I went to the right area (finally), and got my ticket stamped with a stamp saying "Canada" and waited patiently for the train, which ended up arriving about 15 minutes late. I got on the train, chucked my luggage in the luggage area, and sat down, knowing that by the end of the day I will be in Canada.

Despite the difficult time I had dealing with rogue traders, I did love my short week in New York. Things I regrettably missed out on were Flushing Meadows (home of the US Tennis Open) Yankee Stadium, the 59th Street Bridge, the UN Building (which would have been cool since it is technically on international territory), the Empire State Building... oh, and I guess a few hundred more stuff. However, that just gives me more reason to come back to this great city, and when I do, I will claim my "I (Heart) NY" shirt because I do love the place (side note: the only reason I didn't buy that $3 t-shirt was because I was lacking space in my bulging backpack).

New York City overview

Days spent: 5
Population: 18.5 million
Ripoff merchants: Unlimited
Theme song/s: Simon and Garfunkel - The 59th Street Bridge Song

Mock postcard: New York City

Pictures from New York and Chicago

Le Sous-bois

The train trip wasn't anything of note, except for the stinky toilets. For some reason they wouldn't flush, and so the smell carried on into the cabin. I ended up spending most of my time couped up in the snack car where the smell didn't reach.

When the train finally arrived in Montréal, I was far too brain dead to attempt to speak my limited French to the people, so thankfully all reports were correct in saying that most people spoke English here. I caught a short cab ride to my hostel, Le Sous-bois, an odd little place (I'll try to elaborate on that in my next post), then grabbed something to eat.

I didn't realize that today was St-Jean-Baptiste Day, a national holiday for Quebecois. Consequently, all shops were closed, barring some food joints (not that I got here early enough to shop anyway). Apparently it's gonna be a big party tonight. I'm considering going out despite my near vegetative state.