JOURNALS 1 - 4
1. IMPRESSIONS OF NEW YORK
People often refer to New York City as just "The City". That's because it is THE city. It's the only city that matters. Nothing can compare to it. To me, there is no better feeling than the one you get when upon exiting Penn Station onto the streets of Manhattan. As much as I am a Long Island girl, I have an itch for adventure and am curious about culture, What better place to experience all of that than New York City? New York has so much to offer even to those who think they already know all of the ins and outs. There are always things to explore. New York is the old and the new simultaneously. There is so much to learn about its history and how it came to be the amazing place it is today while new things are occurring as we speak, maintaining the city's uniqueness. I couldn't put my finger on just one reason why I treasure New York City.
2. QUEENS
Our first class day was the longest day of my life. But, it was so fun and such a great experience. Most of the stops along the way were new to me. Between the new sites, the new information and the new food, I couldn't complain. My energy level was high, due to the excitement of the day. Our first stop was in Corona, where we walked through Flushing Meadow Park, learning about the World Fair. I've driven past the park many times and every time my Dad would say "look Jay! I was there, at the Worlds Fair!" Every. Single. Time. As interesting as that story could have been, I didn't really care too much to ask for details. After yesterday's class, I realized what I was missing out on. I actually wished I could have gotten to be there while the Worlds Fair was happening. The Unisphere was not only impressive to look at. I was impressed by the challenge it took to build it and the meaning of the globe itself. It is considered to be the largest globe structure in the world, weighing 900,000 pounds and 12 stories high (ENY, pg 165). The symbolism behind the globe was "Man's Achievements on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe" (ENY, pg 162), which I thought went well with the idea of the World's Fair since it was an event to bring people of different countries together. At the Queens Museum, we learned more about the Worlds Fair and actually got to see what it looked like which was really interesting. I liked the picture that was in color so I could really envision what it was like. The Queens museum had other interesting exhibits to see as well.
My favorite part of the Queens Museum was the panorama of the 5 boroughs. I've seen it before in the movie "New Years Eve" but I never knew where the panorama actually was. Unlike the movie, we were not able to walk around on it. Though that would have been cool, we were still able to see the entire thing, with our guide and Mike pointing out specific places and sites on it from afar. I enjoyed learning about the grid system, created in 1811 (I REMEMBERED!!!), and seeing how much smaller Manhattan actually was when it was first created. I also found it interesting that Wall St got it's name due to the fact that there was a wall built there to keep the Native Americans out. I also liked learning about the bridges. I've always known the names of the bridges, which, by the way, I will not call the Queensboro/59th street bridge and the Triborough bridge by their new names. But, now I know what each of those bridges connect to.
Afterwards we headed to lunch where we had Indian food. It wasn't my favorite but worth a try. I figure, this class is all about exploring and experiencing new things, so I might as well try it. We hopped on the subway and headed to Astoria. I've always known Astoria to be predominantly Greek, but as of recently I've heard it was much more of an up and coming community to young, hipster type people and what a great place it is to live. Having heard this, I was excited to finally visit Astoria and see what it was all about. We headed to The Museum of the Moving Image soon after we arrived. That was probably the most fun part of the day. I really enjoy movies so seeing how all of it worked and artifacts from movies was pretty awesome. We had the best time doing voice overs for movies like "The Wizard of Oz" and "Babe". It was interesting to find out that movies and shows were filmed right next door, such as "Sesame Street", "the Cosby Show" and "Men in Black" (ENY, 169). At the end of our time at the museum, my feet were ready to be chopped off. Although I was still anxious to go explore more, I didn't think I could bare any more walking. But, on we went.
Off to Long Island City, a place in which I knew nothing about. All I knew of it was that my friend works there full time with her Dad over the summer, leaving her unable to do anything fun during the week. So, I was anxious to see what this place, that was consuming all of my friend's time, was all about. Once we arrived, I didn't really see what all the hype was about this place until we turned a corner and saw beautiful brownstone apartments. I was intrigued. We continued walking along, feet torn up and all, and we saw the MoMA PS1. Originally, this building was Public School #1, dating back to 1893 (ENY, 170). I found it so interesting that there were two separate entrances; one side for girls and one side for boys. "Out with the old, in with the new" seemed to be the trend as we walked towards the East River to Gantry Plaza State Park. The views from that park were amazing. Even with the storm clouds rolling in and the lightning flashing, the view of the Chrysler building and the Queensboro bridge were perfect. The apartment buildings looked brand new as they stood in that modern looking park. But, there were still touches of old, historic character. For example, the Pepsi-Cola sign, a landmark I see constantly on drives back from the city. The sign has been maintained by Pepsi since 1936 and it is kept as a symbol of Long Island CIty's industrial past (ENY, 171).
The storm was coming in faster and faster, lightening brightening the sky, so we figured it was time to call it a day. At that point, I could hardly walk back to the train. I would have rathered to have just sat there until the pain stopped. But, we hopped on the train, back to Penn. Casey, Nicole and myself treated ourselves to a large beer each and the best slice's in Penn. We hung out in Rose's Pizza until the first off-peak train. Once I finally got home, the exhaustion set in but the excitement lingered. I cannot wait for our second day of class!
My favorite part of the Queens Museum was the panorama of the 5 boroughs. I've seen it before in the movie "New Years Eve" but I never knew where the panorama actually was. Unlike the movie, we were not able to walk around on it. Though that would have been cool, we were still able to see the entire thing, with our guide and Mike pointing out specific places and sites on it from afar. I enjoyed learning about the grid system, created in 1811 (I REMEMBERED!!!), and seeing how much smaller Manhattan actually was when it was first created. I also found it interesting that Wall St got it's name due to the fact that there was a wall built there to keep the Native Americans out. I also liked learning about the bridges. I've always known the names of the bridges, which, by the way, I will not call the Queensboro/59th street bridge and the Triborough bridge by their new names. But, now I know what each of those bridges connect to.
Afterwards we headed to lunch where we had Indian food. It wasn't my favorite but worth a try. I figure, this class is all about exploring and experiencing new things, so I might as well try it. We hopped on the subway and headed to Astoria. I've always known Astoria to be predominantly Greek, but as of recently I've heard it was much more of an up and coming community to young, hipster type people and what a great place it is to live. Having heard this, I was excited to finally visit Astoria and see what it was all about. We headed to The Museum of the Moving Image soon after we arrived. That was probably the most fun part of the day. I really enjoy movies so seeing how all of it worked and artifacts from movies was pretty awesome. We had the best time doing voice overs for movies like "The Wizard of Oz" and "Babe". It was interesting to find out that movies and shows were filmed right next door, such as "Sesame Street", "the Cosby Show" and "Men in Black" (ENY, 169). At the end of our time at the museum, my feet were ready to be chopped off. Although I was still anxious to go explore more, I didn't think I could bare any more walking. But, on we went.
Off to Long Island City, a place in which I knew nothing about. All I knew of it was that my friend works there full time with her Dad over the summer, leaving her unable to do anything fun during the week. So, I was anxious to see what this place, that was consuming all of my friend's time, was all about. Once we arrived, I didn't really see what all the hype was about this place until we turned a corner and saw beautiful brownstone apartments. I was intrigued. We continued walking along, feet torn up and all, and we saw the MoMA PS1. Originally, this building was Public School #1, dating back to 1893 (ENY, 170). I found it so interesting that there were two separate entrances; one side for girls and one side for boys. "Out with the old, in with the new" seemed to be the trend as we walked towards the East River to Gantry Plaza State Park. The views from that park were amazing. Even with the storm clouds rolling in and the lightning flashing, the view of the Chrysler building and the Queensboro bridge were perfect. The apartment buildings looked brand new as they stood in that modern looking park. But, there were still touches of old, historic character. For example, the Pepsi-Cola sign, a landmark I see constantly on drives back from the city. The sign has been maintained by Pepsi since 1936 and it is kept as a symbol of Long Island CIty's industrial past (ENY, 171).
The storm was coming in faster and faster, lightening brightening the sky, so we figured it was time to call it a day. At that point, I could hardly walk back to the train. I would have rathered to have just sat there until the pain stopped. But, we hopped on the train, back to Penn. Casey, Nicole and myself treated ourselves to a large beer each and the best slice's in Penn. We hung out in Rose's Pizza until the first off-peak train. Once I finally got home, the exhaustion set in but the excitement lingered. I cannot wait for our second day of class!
3. BKLYN
Hello Brooklyn, how ya doin?
Today was our second day of class and I was way too excited for words. I have never in my life been to Coney Island so I could not wait to finally get there. I actually haven't really explored Brooklyn much but I have been on the Brooklyn Bridge a couple of times. I've always wanted to go down below and check out the little park down there but I never knew how to get there. In fact, I really didn't know much about Brooklyn because I've never really explored it before.
When the Dutch arrived they called the island "Conyne Eylandt", meaning Rabbit Island because of all the species there but the British changed the name to Coney which is the english term for rabbit (ENY, 138). Our first stop was to Coney Island. It was quite the long Subway ride, or maybe it just felt like that because I couldn't wait to get there. Once we arrived, the first thing I saw was the Nathan's. I couldn't wait for lunch time. Mike and Damian gave us a quick information session, explaining the history and the vibe we'd get from Coney Island. Then they sent us off to do our own thing. First we hit the Cyclone which I was totally excited for because I love Roller Coasters. But I was a little nervous seeing as how the Roller Coaster was built in 1927, and it somehow survived Hurricane Sandy. After riding the Cyclone, we walked the boardwalk a bit, just checking out the scene. We were thinking of riding more rides but we didn't have as much time as we would have liked at Coney Island. We then decided that we couldn't wait any longer and we just had to grab some dogs at Nathan's. Beside's the fact that Nathan's is the best, I felt awesome being at such a well known hot dog stand that opened in 1916 (ENY, 139). We left after lunch unfortunately but we still had the whole day ahead of us.
Our next stop was Brooklyn Heights. We walked around, pointing out a bunch of different architecture styles such as the federal style row houses and the brooklyn brownstones which were my favorite. We also saw a couple of gothic style buildings and greek style buildings, naming which type of columns each had. As beautiful as all of these buildings were, nothing beat the beauty of the bank we walked through. The high ceilings were beautiful and so were the chandeliers. This building was once the Brooklyn Trust Company Building but is now a Chase Bank. It was modeled after the Palazzo della Gran Guardia in Verona, Italy (ENY, 148). But the best part, IT WAS AIR CONDITIONED! Boy was it hot out. No heat was worse than the heat of the Brooklyn Transit Museum though.
The Brooklyn Transit museum was actually a really awesome place we had a great tour guide who gave us a ton of information. She clearly knew a ton about this subway station. The museum itself is a refurbished subway station from the 1930's (ENY,147). The first part of the tour we learned about how the subway was made. I was most intrigued by the job of the sandhogs. The job sounded thrilling but dangerous. My favorite part of the museum was the part that had all of the old subway carts. In this section we could see how the subway has evolved over time which was so interesting and fun picking our favorite subway carts. After, it was time to go back out and venture around Brooklyn.
As were walking, as if me and Nicole aren't complete goofballs to begin with, the heat was getting to us. When we took a refreshment break, me and Nicole spotted a guy watering plants so we asked him to water our arms and feet to cool down. Little know fact; Nicole's a klutz. We begin walking over to our class and she slips on her flip flop and twists her foot. It hurt but she continued on the long trek ahead of us. (Ultimately, she sprained a muscle in her foot and had to get a cast) We continue on to Brooklyn Promenade. I'd love to live in one of those row houses because that view was amazing. You could see the Brooklyn bridge to the right, downtown Manhattan straight ahead and the Statue of Liberty to the left. If you walk a bit forward you'll figure out the loud noise that you're hearing is the BQE, built by Robert Moses in 1953 (ENY, 150). As we walked along, we ended up at the Brooklyn Bridge Park, which i've mentioned earlier that I've always wanted to go there. I sent a bunch of pictures to my friends to let them know that we'll definitely be going there soon to the River Cafe that looked like a really cute place. After that we continued walking which led us to DUMBO.
DUMBO is an antonym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass (ENY, 151). As soon as I spotted the carousel, I just HAD to go on it. Casey, Nicole and myself got tickets and hopped right on. The carousel was semi-enclosed in this transparent glass that was considered a "jewel box" (ENY, 152). We got ice cream after DUMBO and then finally went to the Brooklyn Bridge. Though I've been there a couple of times before, I always enjoy going to the Brooklyn Bridge because it is just amazing. The bridge is the oldest suspension bridge in the United States (ENY, 152). You could tell everyone was exhausted at this point and wanted to just get across the bridge which kind of disappointed me because I just wanted to enjoy the bridge and mosey my way across. But, either way I enjoyed the views and the 1.1 mile walk across (ENY, 152). At the end of the bridge the whole class had vanished. It's like they couldn't get away quick enough! Nicole, Casey, Griselda and myself were the only ones left along with Mike and Damian. We decided to tag along with them for dinner in SOHO. It was actually nice. We went to Il Corallo Trattoria on Prince Street where we had homemade pasta. I had Capellini Verdura which was angel hair pasta with vegetables and it was so good. After, Mike and Damian took us back to Penn Station and we got Nicole on the train, injury and all. It was such a long day but a really great one that I enjoyed a lot.
Today was our second day of class and I was way too excited for words. I have never in my life been to Coney Island so I could not wait to finally get there. I actually haven't really explored Brooklyn much but I have been on the Brooklyn Bridge a couple of times. I've always wanted to go down below and check out the little park down there but I never knew how to get there. In fact, I really didn't know much about Brooklyn because I've never really explored it before.
When the Dutch arrived they called the island "Conyne Eylandt", meaning Rabbit Island because of all the species there but the British changed the name to Coney which is the english term for rabbit (ENY, 138). Our first stop was to Coney Island. It was quite the long Subway ride, or maybe it just felt like that because I couldn't wait to get there. Once we arrived, the first thing I saw was the Nathan's. I couldn't wait for lunch time. Mike and Damian gave us a quick information session, explaining the history and the vibe we'd get from Coney Island. Then they sent us off to do our own thing. First we hit the Cyclone which I was totally excited for because I love Roller Coasters. But I was a little nervous seeing as how the Roller Coaster was built in 1927, and it somehow survived Hurricane Sandy. After riding the Cyclone, we walked the boardwalk a bit, just checking out the scene. We were thinking of riding more rides but we didn't have as much time as we would have liked at Coney Island. We then decided that we couldn't wait any longer and we just had to grab some dogs at Nathan's. Beside's the fact that Nathan's is the best, I felt awesome being at such a well known hot dog stand that opened in 1916 (ENY, 139). We left after lunch unfortunately but we still had the whole day ahead of us.
Our next stop was Brooklyn Heights. We walked around, pointing out a bunch of different architecture styles such as the federal style row houses and the brooklyn brownstones which were my favorite. We also saw a couple of gothic style buildings and greek style buildings, naming which type of columns each had. As beautiful as all of these buildings were, nothing beat the beauty of the bank we walked through. The high ceilings were beautiful and so were the chandeliers. This building was once the Brooklyn Trust Company Building but is now a Chase Bank. It was modeled after the Palazzo della Gran Guardia in Verona, Italy (ENY, 148). But the best part, IT WAS AIR CONDITIONED! Boy was it hot out. No heat was worse than the heat of the Brooklyn Transit Museum though.
The Brooklyn Transit museum was actually a really awesome place we had a great tour guide who gave us a ton of information. She clearly knew a ton about this subway station. The museum itself is a refurbished subway station from the 1930's (ENY,147). The first part of the tour we learned about how the subway was made. I was most intrigued by the job of the sandhogs. The job sounded thrilling but dangerous. My favorite part of the museum was the part that had all of the old subway carts. In this section we could see how the subway has evolved over time which was so interesting and fun picking our favorite subway carts. After, it was time to go back out and venture around Brooklyn.
As were walking, as if me and Nicole aren't complete goofballs to begin with, the heat was getting to us. When we took a refreshment break, me and Nicole spotted a guy watering plants so we asked him to water our arms and feet to cool down. Little know fact; Nicole's a klutz. We begin walking over to our class and she slips on her flip flop and twists her foot. It hurt but she continued on the long trek ahead of us. (Ultimately, she sprained a muscle in her foot and had to get a cast) We continue on to Brooklyn Promenade. I'd love to live in one of those row houses because that view was amazing. You could see the Brooklyn bridge to the right, downtown Manhattan straight ahead and the Statue of Liberty to the left. If you walk a bit forward you'll figure out the loud noise that you're hearing is the BQE, built by Robert Moses in 1953 (ENY, 150). As we walked along, we ended up at the Brooklyn Bridge Park, which i've mentioned earlier that I've always wanted to go there. I sent a bunch of pictures to my friends to let them know that we'll definitely be going there soon to the River Cafe that looked like a really cute place. After that we continued walking which led us to DUMBO.
DUMBO is an antonym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass (ENY, 151). As soon as I spotted the carousel, I just HAD to go on it. Casey, Nicole and myself got tickets and hopped right on. The carousel was semi-enclosed in this transparent glass that was considered a "jewel box" (ENY, 152). We got ice cream after DUMBO and then finally went to the Brooklyn Bridge. Though I've been there a couple of times before, I always enjoy going to the Brooklyn Bridge because it is just amazing. The bridge is the oldest suspension bridge in the United States (ENY, 152). You could tell everyone was exhausted at this point and wanted to just get across the bridge which kind of disappointed me because I just wanted to enjoy the bridge and mosey my way across. But, either way I enjoyed the views and the 1.1 mile walk across (ENY, 152). At the end of the bridge the whole class had vanished. It's like they couldn't get away quick enough! Nicole, Casey, Griselda and myself were the only ones left along with Mike and Damian. We decided to tag along with them for dinner in SOHO. It was actually nice. We went to Il Corallo Trattoria on Prince Street where we had homemade pasta. I had Capellini Verdura which was angel hair pasta with vegetables and it was so good. After, Mike and Damian took us back to Penn Station and we got Nicole on the train, injury and all. It was such a long day but a really great one that I enjoyed a lot.
4. THE VILLAGE
Today we ventured into Chelsea and The Village. Instead of the usual subway ride into a different borough, we exited Penn Station and began walking. I was excited to walk The High Line today because I had recently discovered it for myself but haven't walked the whole thing and I also just wrote my paper on it. We started with visiting art galleries. Some of the art was interesting while some of it I could see myself making when I was in the 3rd grade. After we finished up in the galleries we walked to the High Line. The High Line was created in the 1930's to prevent anymore deaths and accidents of the train running through the streets. 10th Avenue came to be called "Death Avenue" before the High Line was created (ENY, 106). Each section of the High Line had different aspects. Today was such a hot day, more brutal than our day in Brooklyn so I liked the part of the High Line that had a little waterfall type thing that you could walk on. The High Line had many modern aspects but the Standard High Line Hotel gave it a vintage twist. The building was intentionally meant to fit into the gritty Meatpacking neighborhood that resembled the 1960's (ENY,107). After we reached the end of the High Line we went to Chelsea Market, another place I've always wanted to go to.
Chelsea Market was originally the Nabisco Plant (ENY, 109). When writing my paper I learned the freight train ran through the Nabisco Plant on the High Line. The market was so packed that we couldn't pick a place to eat with the amount of time we had there. At the 9th Avenue end there was an ah-ma-zing Italian restaurant giving out samples. They were giving out raviolis stuffed with cheese and spinach and I was in heaven. After we finished lunch we headed to The VIllage. The Village's official name is Greenwich VIllage (ENY, 110) but us native New Yorkers just call it The Village. I really liked the Village because it was quiet and quaint. By the time we got to Washington Square Park I was exhausted and hot. I just wanted to sit down and drink water so it was hard for me to really enjoy the park. The first thing we saw was this giant tree which was called "Hangman's Elm" which was said to be the oldest tree in the city and apparently was used for public execution (ENY, 117). Though that was a sad thing to think about it was kind of awesome being around something that people hundreds of years ago were at. The Merchant's House Museum was, although extremely hot and stuffy, really interesting. Being that it was the actual house and decor from hundreds of years ago, being in there to me felt so cool. It was an amazing feeling to have known I walked on the same floors and opened the same doors as people from so long ago.
We kept walking of course, it was a long day of a lot of walking. We saw the Cooper Union and other buildings around there. At this point in the day I was basically dead and dehydrated so I don't remember much. We then walked to the Big Gay Ice Cream shop to get some "Salty Pimps". I wanted nothing to do with it though I just needed water. I walked around the block to the convenience store and grabbed a giant water bottle. Then Nicole, Chelsea, Casey, Joe, Muscles, Gina and I headed out to go home. We were so relieved Mike cut class early. It was too hot to go on. We took the subway to Penn then went home. I was absolutely dead by the time I got home but my friends were basically on there way over to my house. This might have been the most brutal day but even so, I can't wait for next class!
Until next time.
Chelsea Market was originally the Nabisco Plant (ENY, 109). When writing my paper I learned the freight train ran through the Nabisco Plant on the High Line. The market was so packed that we couldn't pick a place to eat with the amount of time we had there. At the 9th Avenue end there was an ah-ma-zing Italian restaurant giving out samples. They were giving out raviolis stuffed with cheese and spinach and I was in heaven. After we finished lunch we headed to The VIllage. The Village's official name is Greenwich VIllage (ENY, 110) but us native New Yorkers just call it The Village. I really liked the Village because it was quiet and quaint. By the time we got to Washington Square Park I was exhausted and hot. I just wanted to sit down and drink water so it was hard for me to really enjoy the park. The first thing we saw was this giant tree which was called "Hangman's Elm" which was said to be the oldest tree in the city and apparently was used for public execution (ENY, 117). Though that was a sad thing to think about it was kind of awesome being around something that people hundreds of years ago were at. The Merchant's House Museum was, although extremely hot and stuffy, really interesting. Being that it was the actual house and decor from hundreds of years ago, being in there to me felt so cool. It was an amazing feeling to have known I walked on the same floors and opened the same doors as people from so long ago.
We kept walking of course, it was a long day of a lot of walking. We saw the Cooper Union and other buildings around there. At this point in the day I was basically dead and dehydrated so I don't remember much. We then walked to the Big Gay Ice Cream shop to get some "Salty Pimps". I wanted nothing to do with it though I just needed water. I walked around the block to the convenience store and grabbed a giant water bottle. Then Nicole, Chelsea, Casey, Joe, Muscles, Gina and I headed out to go home. We were so relieved Mike cut class early. It was too hot to go on. We took the subway to Penn then went home. I was absolutely dead by the time I got home but my friends were basically on there way over to my house. This might have been the most brutal day but even so, I can't wait for next class!
Until next time.