Liberty Wasted
Bit of an irony for me to be knocking at the gates of Liberty when the heart of the East Coast is in the throes of nationalization. I'm talking about the severe panic-itis gripping Wall Street. I went to visit a friend who works in the Financial District, and the only chatter I heard was about bailouts and bankruptcies and nationalization of banks. The irony part was watching the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry, and all I could think of was that NYC no longer deserves to host Lady Liberty here. The French, for all their faults, at least didn't nationalize that bank after that Kerviel guy pulled the rug out from under them.
Anyway, as expected, the waterfront in NYC is nothing worth swooning over, and the Coney Island beach was actually a bit garish and tacky. The environment, I mean. Not very beach-like. The Waterboard Thrill ride, on the other hand, was very funny, even if a bit, shall we say... Tasteless. With Astroland closed, the only thing to do was wolf down the Frankfurters at Nathan's Famous and poke around Coney Island in the hope of bumping into something enjoyable. NYC is probably the only major Coastal City which hasn't had a beach figure in the nation's top 10 beaches at one time or the other. But then, I suppose with all the things to do in New York, not to mention the natural splendor of the NJ shores closeby, its not that big an issue.
The sand may not have been that attractive, but the water definitely is. Waterfalls, to be more accurate. To be even more precise, the NYC Waterfalls by Olafur Eliasson. They were even bigger than I had expected, and much more enjoyable in person than it is in the pictures, especially the one at the Brooklyn Bridge and Pier 35. Also went to the Wolfman Rink in Central Park. David Blaine was hanging upside down from a cable there, and he's going to be there like that until Wednesday. Hope he can make it. NYC sure is a wacky place.
I had to buy some stuff for the family, and after some shopping in the West Village, puttering around in Brooklyn checking out some new eateries, and spending the evening in the Meatpacking District, I'm planning to take in a show. Or maybe I'll just go to Madison Square Garden. Need to check out some Shack burgers anyway.
