My solo tour started from Grand Central Terminal at 8:30 AM. I was at Madame Tussaud’s at 9 but had to wait until 10 for the museum to actually open. I had a blast there and took dozens of pictures of wax statues of people I admire; think Gandhi, Malcolm X, Hugh Grant, Lenny Kravitz, Bob Marley, Scott Fitzgerald, Oprah, Morgan Freeman…

While the statues were very well finished, they still looked pretty statue-like. I was really surprised though by some of the people represented there. I mean I had no idea Hugh Grant was that figuresque, or Shakira that not-so-chubby, or that Julia Roberts was as bald as I always said she was. I took tons of pictures that I cannot possibly upload and make available (at least not for free!) but here’s a quick glance at my “The Faces” gallery:

From New York

(clicking on New York will take you to my Picasa album where I keep all the shareable pictures of this trip)

After Madame Tussaud’s I went to Bryant Park and sat there for a while. Then I walked towards Greenwich Village and I really walked a lot, I think for a couple of hours. I reached Union Square and saw so many fruit and vegetable stands just like we have in simple places in Amman.

I finally got to Astor Place and then saw Minetta and The Cage, where there was a game of basketball going on and a crowd of men cheering and yelling. I stopped for a minute and watched the game, then realized that the weather was too hot and moved on to find myself glancing up some tall NYU buildings.

I walked on until I got to Washington Square Park, in the heart of Greenwich Village. There was a Jamaican drummer and an exotic performer with him, and groups of students discussing things and walking their dogs. I sat there for a while to rest.

Now the reason why I wanted to go to Greenwich Village is that I really liked the place when I went on a bus tour in the city. It is so original and beautiful and real. It’s bustling with energy and life and it’s really inspirational. I will buy me a place there one day…

After Washington Square Park, I decided it was time for lunch. I saw a McDonald’s and I was almost going to go in but then figured that I’m there so I should try something new. I normally never experiment with food, it’s the only thing I don’t experiment with really, but the setting was as I said inspirational and I thought what the heck and went to the first place I saw.

As I walked in, a young man held the door open for me and asked me what I was up to. I took the iPod earplugs out of my ears and “Wha? Oh, the shirt!” — I remembered that people actually read what the shirt said and secretly cursed myself ten times and mumbled ‘nerd’ under my breath. He even asked if I was a spy, at which point I put the earplugs back in my ears and walked to the farthest table.

The place I had lunch in, French Roast, is owned by a Cuban man. I am obviously guessing here but he had a fine Cuban air to him, or I imagined it all. I could see he was riding the waiters’ backs all the time. The food was OK, the best part was when I first came in, sweaty and hot and disgusted by the weather, and the non-English speaking waitress poured me a big glass of very cold water. I also really liked it when I discovered that the restaurant was recommended in the life-saving and very valuable city guide I had with me.

French Roast looked out on the Jefferson Market Library, which was a really beautiful building to look at. At that, Greenwich Village is so gorgeous and it has a lot of beautiful buildings and small tacky shops that sell antiques and old clothes and costumes and all sorts of other things I never knew I needed so badly.

After lunch, I decided I wanted to go back up 6th Avenue and go home. That meant two hours of walking back up to where I started off, and so I walked. On my way up I bought gorgeous necklaces and earrings from a cheap accessory stand operated by an African guy.

Then I came to Manhattan Mall and decided to go in and find a place to sit down. I went in and bought rings and other things and completely forgot to sit down.

Eventually, I arrived at Grand Central ten minutes before my train. I dragged myself inside and just closed my eyes. Twenty minutes later, I dragged myself out of the train and headed home. That ended the most amazing day I’ve had in a really really long time. Next time I will go to East Village :)

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 at 7:42 am and is filed under Explorator. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.