new york: part 2

there are good things and bad things about staying in hostels.

the bad things are that you have to sleep in a room with millions of other people, with no space, in bunk beds, with acrylic blankets and often pretty festy bathrooms. but the good things are that they are (usually) really cheap, often in great locations, and you meet great people such as these...



that's paul, tim and pete, 3 lovely english boys who'd travelled to New York for their friends' wedding. but not just them - the bride, groom and everyone else all travelled from from england, crazy! sounded like they all had a brilliant time.



and that's carly, kellie and paul again - just after he came back from the wedding held at the very swanky rainbow room. carly and kellie were visiting for a few days from florida, kellie has plans to move to ny permanently in a while.

i caught the train along the Hudson river to visit the Dia Gallery at Beacon, its an old biscuit factory converted into a vast gallery space, very serrrious modernist work, absolutely amazing exhibition space. the train ride was great too, beautiful autumn colours



i love train stations in general, but this one relay takes the cake - Grand Central Station - its just breathtaking.



as was the Chrystler building...



had dinner at the famous Katz's Deli, a brilliant Jewish deli/cafe opened in 1888 that serves the best pastrami and pickles around.



here was my corned beef sandwich - was huge - this is only half of it! brett, the pickles are for you haha...!



after your sandwich you can "send a salami to your boy in the army" - this is for real! you can actually get them to send a whole salami to your son/husband/whatever serving in the forces wherever in the world



next day i spent with Martin, lovely dutch guy also staying at the hostel. we walked up through central park and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.



here's Martin in a very familiar pose!



the Met has an absolutely amazing Egyptian collection, so fasctinating and really well displayed.



the Met building also gives a great view over central park to the Manhattan skyline



never get sick of the squirrels, even though they're everywhere! so incredibly cute - here's us trying to coax one close enough for a photo...



then we caught the subway down to lower manhattan island and to the financial district and wall street. this is the NY stock exchange. again, not shy of displaying the flag



this is ground zero, site of the former World Trade Centre towers. its really spooky down there, eerie. there's still just a big hole in the ground, no-one can decide to do with it i think. we went to the memorial exhibition place, which was very moving. it had artifacts and all sorts of things recovered from the site, lots of stories from those involved, films and stuff - but i did wish that the exhibition wasn't so emotive, and that it was left to speak for itself.



at sunset we walked over the Brooklyn bridge and back again, great views back to the lower manhattan skyscrapers...





tbc...

new york: part 1

Ok strap yourselves in ladies and gentlemen, this is gonna be a big one, just can't seem to edit this big fat city down!

The first couple of nights in New York I stayed in Brooklyn, one of the 5 boroughs just over the East River from Manhattan. In the past Brooklyn was pretty much a place to be avoided, so I understand, but now its becoming gentrified.

I was in Greenpoint, staying at the YMCA. Breakfast was provided by a diner just down the street. If you imagine what a diner in Brooklyn at breakfast on a Saturday would be like, this is it. Big eggs, bad coffee, huge hair, women yelling at each other in the broadest Brooklyn accents… it was brilliant! Ordering at a place like this is certainly an art to be mastered. The whole experience was a little confusing, but fascinating. This was my waitress…



And across the road, John C. Deere's handy law van should someone decide to sue someone else during breakfast…



Corner Manhattan and Nassau Sts, Brooklyn…



My first NY dinner, a slice of pepperoni pizza



Moved over to Manhattan after a few days, this was the view when I first emerged from the subway…yikes!



i love the snack carts that are everywhere



here's the hot dog i had in Times Square, not really that remarkable, but authentic



next stop, Museum of Modern Art





That place is seriously huge, and has an amazing (perhaps greedy) collection, all the big guns are there. The museum building is very new, absolutely immaculate white walls, each gallery is named after its private benefactor (all private money, very little public – has interesting implications I think).

This work by Arthur Young is a helicopter suspended about half way up in the gallery



There are lots of windows through MoMA so you get great views of the surrounding buildings



not a bad apartment to have i'd say



Just wandering the streets of New York is enough to keep you entertained for hours… this is the Hershey’s shop in midtown.



Amercans seem to be mad for chocolate/peanut flavoured things – and for those who really just can’t get enough, chocolate-peanut flavoured lip balm...



Classic NY street view, complete with crazy speeding cabs



tumbled across the Rockerfeller Centre one night, where they set up a skating rink over the winter. They also don’t mind a bit of the American flag





They have just installed this work by Anish Kapoor, called the Sky Mirror. Its a massive concave stainless steel mirror, leaning back towards one side so it reflects the sky and tall buildings on one side, and the street scape on the other. (10 points if you can you spot me...)



tbc...

matt banham this one's for you...

london part 2

becky and i decided to catch the ferry down the river - unfortunately it was a bit of a rainy day (i know, sooo surprising for london)...



under the tower bridge...



got off down near the tate britain to visit the current turner prize exhibition, then caught the special damien hirst decorated boat back to the tate modern. they've just installed the new work in the huge turbine hall, by carsten holler - its a series of covered slides that you can actually ride on! i was actually bouncing up and down like a 7 year old when i walked in and saw this...



and can you imgine the extreme pouting looks on my face when told that there were no more riding slots available that day. i was leaving the next day, so no chance to go back! i begged and pleaded but to no avail, those london gallery people have no mercy BOOOOO!!!!

so we were left to watch all the other people having the time of their life...



holler says in the catalogue essay that one shouldn't assume that to enjoy the work you need to actually ride on the slides. bollocks!!! well maybe not, it was still cool watching the people's expressions as they shot off the bottom. As the catalogue ssays, "For Carsten Höller, the experience of sliding is best summed up in a phrase by the French writer Roger Caillois as a ‘voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’".

then walked back up towards soho...



never get sick of the cute squirrels... here's one i staked out - think its just busted me.



and here it is running away from me...



can't decide if this is the best or the worst name for a pub ever...



drinks at the pub (with food but no chef) to farewell becci from london...



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london part 1

and then I hit big ole’ London town...



went to camden town with becci, we were given tickets to be in the audience for taping of a tv show at the mtv studios nearby.



our excitement was dampened somewhat when we realised that it wasn’t a mtv show, but a uktv show – which is the old folks tv station. We were the youngest people there by about 30 years. The show was excrutiating, oh well, you win some…

afterwards wandered towards soho, past the theatre where the queen musical is playing. Hmmm I think I’ll pass on that one.



Then we discovered this brilliant little original 50s café in soho



The menu was a copy of the original 50s one with scribbles and things crossed out all over it.



Dinner was incredibly yummy. I had veal escalope, becci had the cheesiest cannelloni ever, in a really good way. Dessert was steamed treacle pudding.



Went to Brick lane on Sunday for the markets





Apparently if you run an indian restaurant, it helps to have had either prince charles or posh and becks visit for a quick curry.





This glass box was the entrance to an underground club, the ground was absolutely thumping – at about midday on a Sunday.



Every now and then some extremely trashy people would emerge from below and stumble out of the doors. All the people standing around in the pic were trying to get in, but the bouncers would have none of it. The guy on the right spent the whole time bashing on the glass yelling at someone inside trying to convince them to let him in.

Later went to the Frieze Art Fair.







(that’s Jake and Dinos Chapman painting people’s portraits)

Brekkie with Becky, Dan and Jeff – I have been staying with Becky at her wicked flat in Greenwich – have to say a biiiigggg thanks! Also massive thanks to Nora for putting me up at her equally wicked flat in Kentish Town! You ladies rock!



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