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Sunday, June 12, 2011

You are a tourist (part 1)

And if you feel just like a tourist in the city you were born then, it's time to go. And you find your destination with so many different places to call home.

Welcome to the three part series of Occasionally Leah... that I like to call "Braving the streets of New York with one lone can of pepper spray" or "I feel 100% more Asian / Jewish while in Scarsdale". One would assume that I would start this series in sequential order. 1. Scarsdale > 2. Soho > 3. Brooklyn, but just to shake things up around here I thought I'd start with number two.

I warn you in advance. Your internet browser is going to want to commit suicide after loading all these pictures. My most sincere apologies (unless you use Internet Explorer).

My train left this morning at 9:17, which meant I arrived at Grand Central roughly around 10:00. Miwa if you're reading this, sorry for the abrupt goodbye (come visit me). AND THE TICKET WAS DOUBLE THE PRICE ON THE TRAIN. Who knew... Anyways the day started off pretty slow as stores and whatnot don't open until 11:00. Here's a tip for anyone traveling to the city; don't look like a tourist, don't look lost, and absolutely DO NOT PULL OUT A MAP OR DIRECTIONS. Unless of course getting raped/mugged is your thing. Some people are into that... To say that I looked pretty lost would be the understatement of the year. I knew where I WANTED to be, but as I mentioned before everything was shut down. "On the outside looking in" that was me. It must have been a pretty pathetic sight seeing me ogle at all the inviting clothing in the window displays because someone working in the store would always shoot me a pitiful look. Alas after what seemed like hours UNIQLO opened up. Uniqlo's a Japanese run company that sells both Men and Woman's clothing. Their "Barbie" collection had just come out, hence the pictures. I was five years old again.


From that point on it was pretty smooth sailing. I wandered into a couple boutiques, and bought some really nice things. I remember my parents giving me a credit card before I left. They said something about "emergency... situations", but that information's all fuzzy to me. I believe I spent one hundred dollars in Soho. It's going to be such a funny story when my parents get the monthly credit card bill.


Around 12:35-40 I took the subway back to Grand Central. I was paranoid because I had to meet my father by 1:00, and as my luck would have it... I was on the wrong subway. Mine was going downtown... and by using your deductive reasoning skills I think you know what one I should have taken. I took that subway to the last stop, and thankfully it turned around taking me in my desired direction. Because "MOST PEOPLE" tend to get off when the intercom goes "this is the very last stop", I had an entire car to myself. If you've ever been to New York, you would know that an "empty subway car" is unheard of. This was the defining moment of my trip where I thought I was going to die. This is it. A pedophile is going to waltz right in this unattended subway, abduct me, and no one would even be there to witness it . It's been real...


Thankfully I made it back exactly at 1:00. I met up with my father, and we set off for Brooklyn (which in its entirety is its own post). Until then~


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