Amy in the City

After some more confused fun with the information in my Lonely Planet, I found the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I thought the Statue was okay, bit underwhelming. (Although, the engineer's daughter in me did marvel that her index finger is eight feet long!) I bought the audio tour, but it didn't add much to the experience- maybe she was cooler when she was her original copper colour?

Ellis Island was much better - this is where immigrants to the US from Europe used to disemark, so had a much more human and historical feel. I took this audio tour as well, and enjoyed it a lot. The Island is fairly self-explanatory - go in here, get checked here, tested here, go here to get your ferry to New York... Most of all, I really enjoyed the weather on the Island. There is a nice garden surrounding the buildings, and the warm harbour breeze brought the aroma of lovely flowers over me whilst I ate my hot dog in the sunshine.

After that pleasant stop, I hurried onwards to Greenwich Village, the gay neighbourhood of New York. My first impressions were that it didn't really 'feel' gay - since I am so new to big cities, I am still more taken back by the numbers of people rather than anything else. However, I started exploring and by the time I had found the StoneWall Pub I was feeling a little queer.

HISTORY 101: The StoneWall Pub is the starting point of the modern gay rights movement. It was here in 1977 that riots broke out against police and mafia brutality towards the gay community, and many people were arrested. Their charges then 'outed' them to the wider community and the closet doors just kept opening. I would like to pretend StoneWall is awesome, but it is tiny, and wasn't serving beer when I got there. Of course, this didn't stop me taking a photo!

From there I visited a few bookshops, and two cool shirt shops. Despite my best intentions (trying on 25 items all together) I just wasn't able to part with my money. StarStruck is a mega store of secondhand t-shirts and shirts, so you can imagine my disappointment. I did notice that there is clearly a market for old concert t-shirts, as these were $75US and more... even the one for New Kids on the Block.

I then found myself at 'Cowgirls' - a bar Jac and Toni had recommended I try. It was a bit of fun, and a good spot to write in my journal and people watch. I had another Tourist Moment when I fumbled with tips, which always makes me cringe - I just want to be better at calculating the percentages etc.

Having made it home quite early, I took a one block adventure round the neighbourhood of the hostel. There are lots of 24-hour chemists, fruit stores and grocery places, but not much else. I stumbled into an actual healthy food place in Greenwich Village, so have brought a salad for dinner, but I think I will supplement it with some cheese-free pizza from the place across the street. Oh, the excitment!

Nevermind, tomorrow is a big day. I want to stay downtown for longer so I can do the Empire State Building, Public Library, and Central Park. Wish my tired feet luck :-)