Wow. What a day. We walked over 12km. Warm and sunny day. The weather has been great. A day of rain and only a couple of really cold days.
We start our day by heading to Chinatown. We start at Tiger Square and immerse ourselves in the area. Despite only being 15 minutes by subway from midtown it’s like we are in a different country. Chinese restaurants line the streets, mostly enter by going down stairs and underneath an apartment block. There are ample grocery stores specialising in traditional Chinese ingredients. Even the souvenir stands offer a selection of English and Chinese keyrings, t-shirts and assorted knick-knacks.
We turn into Mott street. We are looking for Wo Hop. New York’s oldest Chinese restaurant. Some say its best. Well time will tell on that.
The architecture in this area is much plainer, there are no skyscrapers and the streets heave with locals. The buildings, once called tenements, are stark brick structures divided into tiny apartments. The gilded age hasn’t visited here. We wander Mott St and arrive at Wo Hop.
For the very observant and fans of the TV show Billions Wo Hop was featured in one of the final episodes of the series. We wait in the queue, we are also meeting Bob and Cathy. They arrive a couple of minutes later and we are invited in by the busy waiter coordinating the queue and tables. It’s a busy little space, no bookings and a New York institution.
We are shown to a corner booth. The walls are lined with photos and dollar bills. Quite literally completely covered. Perhaps the dollar bills were ideal for Billions which was all about money.
The menu is extensive and the tiny crowded space is noisy with the lunch time crowd. We make a few selections. Pork, shrimp, chicken. Some dumplings and rice.
It arrives pretty quickly.
We all agree it’s not the best Chinese food we’ve eaten. It’s ok. A little bland. Mardi and I have found a lot of food lacks salt. Maybe in Australia we are a little more addicted to salt!
Anyway the important thing is the company and lunch time conversation. Bob and Cathy are always keen to hear about what we do and where we go. New York isn’t so much a holiday for us but an annual way of life. We just blend into the city and fill our days with a variety of fun and interesting things.
We sit for a couple of hours and chat and then around Chinatown a little.
Post lunch we plan to visit a Poster museum. We bid farewell to Bob and Cathy and wander a little more before catching the subway to the Poster museum on 23rd street.
We enjoy the exhibits. The museum is another example of accessibility. I tell the ticket selling woman about my eyesight and she immediately talks to me about their accessible website, large print cards and iPad I can borrow. Wow. She also offers us discounted tickets.
The commitment to accessibility in New York on this trip is profound and so refreshing. We could do so much more in Australia.
I opt for the accessible website on my phone.
The exhibits are interesting and a look back at how the style of the time governed the design of posters. Art Deco being a key theme. From selling cars to broadway shows each poster while different shared design elements.
We then look at posters through the ages focused on climate change, fossil fuels and humanitarianism.
Since the 1970s and before society has battled with our future in an industrialised world. It seems we aren’t listening. There are still so many people who just won’t accept that we all need to play a role in safeguarding our future.
The earth will recover, it’s humankind that is in trouble.
We finish the exhibit and decide to head to Harney and Sons for some afternoon tea. So back down town on the subway.
Harney is quiet and we grab a corner table and sit for an hour or so enjoying a cup of tea and some scones.
It’s good to relax for a little while.
It’s after dark by the time we finish. Mardi makes a quick visit to Sephora and we then head home.
We plan to go out tonight and see the Rockefeller Christmas tree. It was lit up last night, which we avoided. We are hoping the crowds tonight won’t be as bad.
Beforehand though, we head out for some dinner. We find a local soup dumpling place a few blocks away. Joe’s soup dumplings. It seems Joe has all types of food. There’s Joe juniors burgers. Joe’s pizza. And now Joe’s soup dumpling.
The dumplings are delicious. Rich, warm and soupy. Yum.
After dinner we walk along 5th Avenue in the Saks and Rockefeller area. The windows are adorned with Christmas themed decorative displays. Christian Dior is the sponsor of the window treatments. Each window features something iconically Dior. There’s the Eiffel Tower, the building headquarters of Dior and bags, fragrances, shoes and clothing.
Once we finish looking at the windows I cross the road and Mardi stays at Saks. The crowd closer to the tree looks daunting. As I cross the road I am swept up in the rush of the crowd like rubber duck going over Niagara Falls. It heaves forward, lurches this way and that and if I steer correctly I will be taken closer to the tree.
I eventually reach a good vantage point and some how pull myself out of the current of people.
The tree is standing there in the centre of Rockefeller plaza above the ice skating rink. More than 50,000 lights adorn the tree making the area feel almost like day time. People are craning their necks and twisting this way and that trying to take selfies with the treat in the background. In some cases you’d think some people were the only two people there. They are trying to take photos leaving a gap
Between them and the tree. Each time the gap is filled with passers by. Others just hog space in large groups with selfie sticks. I lean in for a few photos and then free space for others to grab a good vantage point. Everyone is in a good mood, high spirited and wants a photo, but boy it’s crowded.
I then head back up the plaza and cross the road to meet Mardi. We wander back to the hotel and turn in for the night.
