Dazed in NYC
So I sprint at LAX to make it to my connecting flight from San Jose and make it by three minutes - unfortunately my checked bag was about seven minutes behind me. So I arrive in NYC with only this Powerbook and some Altoids.
Flying from West to East you kinda skip a night so it was 7am when i got here, but I'd only had two hours sleep after taking a 4 hour flight, leaving LA at 10.30pm. So weird. I arrived at my hotel right, smack in the middle of Times Square and got a couple more hours of sleep. Then i stumbled down to the concierge to ask where the best coffee she knew of was. She looked at me like I was a crazed maniac, asking me "Don't you like Starbucks?" (there are TWO Starbucks in the hotel itself). I said "well kinda, but at home, like, the Italians make great coffee. Something smaller or.." (I did't really know how to convey E Cucina). She said "Ah! You'll like Juan Valdez, it's Columbian". So I took the lift downstairs and stumbled out into mayhem.
Times Square is such a bizarre place to walk out of your hotel into - the Half Tix line is bustling all around the building, the advertising is screaming at you and there's this wacky mashup of buskers fighting for aural supremacy.
But this guy, Juan Valdez, sounded pretty cool. I was picturing a skinny little bar with Juan the barrister, messy newspapers, cigar iconography, chatty old men and dark, rich coffee. Nope. It was an exact replica of Starbucks, except with a Columbian guy in the logo. Still, I can't expect every country/city to place the same reverence on the bean as Melbourne. And i did get to watch a fiesty, Cuban protest outside of Gap while I drank my "coffee". The NYPD don't look at tough as the LAPD we saw, although they could do some damage if they swung those well-fed guts at you.
I walked around (probably in circles) for a couple of hours.
Hope my suitcase gets here soon. I might go eat now - can't remember what time or date i last did.
NB: Please forgive shocking grammar in this post.
Flying from West to East you kinda skip a night so it was 7am when i got here, but I'd only had two hours sleep after taking a 4 hour flight, leaving LA at 10.30pm. So weird. I arrived at my hotel right, smack in the middle of Times Square and got a couple more hours of sleep. Then i stumbled down to the concierge to ask where the best coffee she knew of was. She looked at me like I was a crazed maniac, asking me "Don't you like Starbucks?" (there are TWO Starbucks in the hotel itself). I said "well kinda, but at home, like, the Italians make great coffee. Something smaller or.." (I did't really know how to convey E Cucina). She said "Ah! You'll like Juan Valdez, it's Columbian". So I took the lift downstairs and stumbled out into mayhem.
Times Square is such a bizarre place to walk out of your hotel into - the Half Tix line is bustling all around the building, the advertising is screaming at you and there's this wacky mashup of buskers fighting for aural supremacy.
But this guy, Juan Valdez, sounded pretty cool. I was picturing a skinny little bar with Juan the barrister, messy newspapers, cigar iconography, chatty old men and dark, rich coffee. Nope. It was an exact replica of Starbucks, except with a Columbian guy in the logo. Still, I can't expect every country/city to place the same reverence on the bean as Melbourne. And i did get to watch a fiesty, Cuban protest outside of Gap while I drank my "coffee". The NYPD don't look at tough as the LAPD we saw, although they could do some damage if they swung those well-fed guts at you.
I walked around (probably in circles) for a couple of hours.
Hope my suitcase gets here soon. I might go eat now - can't remember what time or date i last did.
NB: Please forgive shocking grammar in this post.
posted by Dave King at 7:01 AM
2 Comments:
Mate - you're spot on with the coffee comment. Something’s the American's just can't do, even though they are damn close to where it's actually grown. I hate saying this but if you have the time, head to the Four Seasons and have a Cosmopolitan. It’s on 57 East 57th St and it’s where they were invented and still (apparently) where they are the best.
Something to tell the kids about.
I dont know the Columbian coffee sounds pretty sweet. Very jealous of your trip Dave.
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