end of the week

thursday morning i took a morning stroll around the block. my camera battery was low, so i went back to the hotel for a bit and charged her up. we checked out shortly after that and dropped our bags off at the gershwin.

http://www.gershwinhotel.com/

cool place, funky...but it's really more like a super expensive hostel.

from there we stopped into a vintage clothing store before hitting the empire state building. the views of course were amazing. i got a little vertigo after i stepping out the door. new york has so many layers, i love it. we hopped on the subway at some point and got off in the financial district. had some pakistani food at this tiny place, i don't even remember what or where exactly it was. but it was tasty goodness. on we got to the wtc site. the plans for the memorial seem appropriate. i was expecting to feel some energy there but i didn't. maybe the energy from all the tourists was distracting.

we walked down wall street. so icy down there in the afternoon. we got some coffee and hopped back on the subway to brooklyn. walked back to the island over the brooklyn bridge. it was getting late and dinner time so we got back to our hotel and then headed over to little italy through chinatown for dinner. there's this little stretch on mulberry in chinatown of two or three funeral homes, a florist, and a funeral product store. i'd never seen anything like it. we ate at benito one. it was okay. i had steamed mussels and egg drop soup with spinach. we headed back on the subway, it was the most entertaining subway ride to date. this dude, 18-22 years old got on at the same time as us. his fly was down and totally exposing him in the fly region. at first i wanted to tell him, and then i thought maybe he was creepy and doing it on purpose. my camera was sitting in my lap and i took a couple of snapshots hoping he wouldn't notice. these two women were sitting across from me. he turned toward them, and i waited to see if they would notice. they did. we made eye contact and shared some laughs. a train wreck. i think he may have had a couple of drinks, peed before he got on the train, and just didn't notice. it was hanging out when we jumped off the train. bizarre.