New York | Travelogue
First time in New York City. We were there for four days, mostly in Manhattan. Like most would agree, that was not enough to explore the pace. We took a 4-hour train ride from Providence to New York. Arrived there at around 10:30am, stepped out of Penn station, then: Chaos.
That was my first impression of the place. I didn’t think of it as a bad thing, though. I mean, it’s just like how it is in the Philippines. Chaos is order. That’s their system and everyday life. The fast-paced walking of the locals, bicyclists whizzing here and there. And also a swarm of honking cars, some drivers translating their rage and impatience into speed despite busy, crowded streets.
It was every man for himself. But I did enjoy walking around. There was so much to see. At the time, I was also thinking about color-patches, having recently read something about seeing.
Color-patches everywhere, and light. So I focus on seeing. I gaze at the buildings, billboards, signs with flashing neon lights, people; pretty much everything. I let my eyes spread and unfix. I tried not to carry and use my camera too much throughout the trip, so I can focus on seeing.
But it was hard. I kept on wanting to frame what I was seeing, to capture the scene through the lens of my camera, for remembering in the future. But I knew what I was trading it for: It was at the cost of truly missing out on the moment I was intending to preserve in the first place. I wanted to see as much as I could through my own eyes and not through the lens of a camera. So that’s what I tried to do most of the time when I was there. Of course, I still ended up taking a lot of pictures. Like I said, it’s hard to resist.
There was a time I went on my own, as my dad kept on pushing us to move along, adding challenge to the already tricky business of seeing and being present. I bought a cup of coffee and sat on one of the benches at Rockefeller Center. I sat there, trying to take everything in – the tall, steel and glass buildings, the trees, the blue sky and the people. I did not stay there for long. But I’m glad I had that time. That night, we watched the Broadway show Wicked. It is aptly named. It was a wickedly good show.
One late afternoon we went to the Top of the Rock to wait for the sunset. We took pictures, and waited. There was this girl who caught my attention. She had this cheerful energy about her as she ran around the perimeter of the rooftop, camera in hand, taking pictures.
At first I thought she was just taking pictures of the view, trying to get the whole 360 degrees of it. But when she came close to us, I found out she was with her family. They were at the level below us and she was enthusiastically directing her family to pose here, and pose there, trying to get a good picture of them and the view. There was something about her – her energetic cheerfulness. It radiated from her, and I think I may have caught a bit of it. I think also, part of me was a bit ashamed and at the same time a bit envious of this girl. Here we were, probably both experiencing that place for the first time, yet somehow she glowed of genuine joy more than I did.
I was grateful. She became my reminder to enjoy the moment, all the while being cheerful about it, too. We did have fun up there – me, my sister and my dad. We were up there for 2 hours!
On our train ride back to Providence, I wrote down in a sheet of paper the list of things we did and saw during our stay there, so I wouldn’t forget. The trip was tiring and fun. A lot of walking, and waiting too. There’s still so much to see and explore. Hopefully we get to come back!
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