Day 9: Saturday November 13, 2004

I've problems sleeping through the night, and I just resign myself to the idea that I'll just be sleeping in short spurts on this trip. It's like eating small meals several times a day, rather than I big meal, I tell myself. The busy street noise doesn't help, as I hear everything, including garbage pickup. But I manage to catch about 6 hours in total and get up around 9am to start getting ready. Around 10am, I head down to check out the hotel breakfast. It is a dismal array of coffee, orange juice and cold bagels. I have a cup of coffee and juice and leave the hotel. I'll get my own breakfast elsewhere.

Since the Empire State building is right there, I think it would be nice to go up to the observation deck and take a look. After the horrid rain and cold of yesterday, it's turned out to be sunny and beautiful today, and the view would be great. But as I walk by I see a huge long line stretching for at least a block outside, and decide to pass on it. I walk towards the direction of Central Park, and stop at a place called "Moonstruck" for breakfast. What catches my eye is the opalescent tile in shades of blue and purple. Therese calls as I sit down and we agree to meet at 1pm at Columbus Circle where the Samsung Experience is. I order a vegetarian omelet and coffee. The food is only OK, but the tile everywhere is great!

Hip hopping in Times Square
After breakfast, I keep walking uptown and find myself smack in the middle of Times Square. As seedy and touristy as Times Square is, I like going there at least once on a visit to New York - I find the hustle and bustle of the place invigorating. I stop at the ESPN Zone, a place Rick had wanted to visit on his one and only trip to New York last year (but was severely disappointed to find it closed for a private party at that time). This time it's open to the public and I go in and enter the gift shop. I buy Rick a T-Shirt and motorcycle license plate with an ESPN Zone sign with flames on it. I take a peek around - there are TV sets everywhere, sports displays...I suppose guys think it's really cool here, but there's nothing that interests me, so I leave.

I keep going but stop where a crowd has gathered to watch some street hip hop dancers. They've got a boombox blaring and pick some kids out of the audience to be part of their act. The kids are thrilled, and I'm not exactly sure what they're going to be doing, nor are they. They line a couple of them up in a row - one of the street dancers is making some moves, the other is asking us for our tickets (ie. money) before they do their big stunt. People start putting bills in the bag...they have the kids bend over and hold their knees, one of the dancers joins them...there are 4 of them lined up in a row...then the other guy comes running and jumps over them, clearing all of them...everyone cheers! The bag of money comes around again, people stuff bills in it, and the crowd breaks up. The show is over!

As I leave Times Square, I pass by huge billboards for a new HBO movie about the life of Peter Sellers, and Billy Crystal live on Broadway. I pass Carnegie Deli which has a long line waiting for lunch, and finally get to Columbus Circle. Therese and I have agreed to meet at the edge of Central Park, and I'm a little early so I walk around a bit. There are several street vendors selling some framed photos of New York, and various movies and Broadway shows. There are some nice shots here - I especially like the winter ones. But I don't buy anything and I spot Therese and we head off to the new Time Warner Building, which houses the "Samsung Experience."

The Time Warner Center just opened about a month before, and they're still doing construction work outside on what looks like it might be a huge fountain. But inside it's bustling with people and as we enter we are greeted by huge bronze sculptures of a naked man and woman - Adam and Eve flanking the escalators. They must be about 12 feet tall! Therese recognizes them as by Columbian artist Fernando Botero. We head up the escalator to the third floor and find ourselves outside the Samsung Experience!

The Samsung Experience
The Samsung Experience is not a store; you can't buy anything from there. Rather, it is a showcase for Samsung products - some currently available in the US, some in Asia, others, perhaps in the future. I'm familiar with Samsung mostly from their mobile phones, which have always struck me as very user-friendly and feature-laden. But there is so much more than phones here. Upon entering, I am first struck by a display of large and thin TV screens arranged in a circle. They are 3-D looking and show different views of a stage in a jazz-looking kind of nightclub. As you walk around the screens, the view angle changes. You can also spin the screens around and watch the images move. It's difficult to describe, but very cool to look at. In fact, the whole place is full of cool technology. There are mobile phones, digital cameras, camcorders and printers, computers, a huge monitor which you are able to rotate 90 degrees, and mp3 and video players. As much as I love my iPod, I am impressed by their selection of mp3 players, one of which is about the same size as a lipstick holder. I stop and listen to one of the players, and make note of what music is loaded on it, as I always find that interesting. I remember a few of them which I find unusual - Nina Simone's "I Put a Spell on You" and "Icarus" by the Paul Winter Consort, an instrumental jazz piece I love and remember from the early '70's.

My favorite section is in the back though, where they feature a home of the future, that is fully networked and controlled through a small touch-screen panel. From the panel you're able to turn on lights, appliances like the washing machine and dishwasher, set time and start the coffee maker or microwave, open and close a motorized roll screen...all the literally at the control of your finger tip. In some ways, this reminds me of the Buckminster Fuller Geodesic dome I saw back in Detroit, being a "home of the future", just like the dome was back almost 60 years ago. I start to shoot a movie, but they tell me there is no photography in this section. Little do they realize I've already shot a photo, not to mention the rest of the video I've shot in the store. Therese and I spend some time wandering around, playing with the new technology. I used to think I wanted to work at an Apple Store, but working at the Samsung Experience would be even better!

As we head out to leave, we stop at the postcard kiosk by the front door. You can make digital postcards and email them as well as print them out right there. A digital postcard kiosk for vacationers is an idea I thought of 6 years ago on a trip to Hawaii, and I'm intrigued to see what a place like the Samsung Experience has done with it. You start off on a touch-screen computer. From there you select a template (which are all based on different parts of New York). I pick the Village. You then pick a theme, mine's is "Restless". You type in your name and can input up to three email addresses to send a digital postcard to. Then you can print it on their color printer. Cool! The guy at the kiosk comments how quickly I've grasped the concept and am able to go through it. Of course, I did; I'm a mouse potato! I am eager to see how the postcard comes out when it's received. However, I later found out no one I emailed the postcard to actually received it! Maybe it went into the SPAM folder, maybe it looked like junk mail and wasn't opened, or maybe it never got delivered. Whatever it was that failed, it shows a failure on Samsung's part to thoroughly test and QA that product. Hey, if anyone from the Samsung Experience is reading this...make sure you figure this out! I know if I had actually opened my postcard kiosk, I'd make sure people were getting their postcards!

We head to the basement of the shopping center. It is a gigantic Whole Foods with a huge take-out section. Therese and I decide on some boxed sushi and pick out some bottled iced teas. We search for a spot to sit as it's crowded in their eating area. We find a spot and squeeze ourselves in next to a young French couple. The sushi is good! We scarf through our lunch and ponder what to do next. I tell her I'd like to check out the Museum of Television and Broadcasting which is located on 52nd Street. She's game and we head off. We stop in Columbus Circle where the street vendors are selling their framed photos. I really want to get one of the New York photos, but they're so many of them and it's hard to pick, and they're rather large and I don't feel like lugging them around with me. So instead I settle on two small framed photos of scenes from The Godfather I & II. At $5 each, how can you go wrong?

It's late afternoon now, and we head down to 52nd Street where the Musuem is. On my walk up, a small shiny black vinyl "I LOVE NY" purse had caught my eye as a good Christmas present for my 11 year old niece, but as I puruse the street vendors, I don't see any. I stop and ask a vendor if he has one, but he says he's out and offers me a selection of other bags with New York scenes on them. They're all hideous and I pass on them. We get to 52nd Street and notice several blocks of it have been closed to traffic and it's taken over by a street fair - food, clothing and other vendors line the street. Cool! Many of the vendors sell the same things, and we see cashmere scarfs for $10 and plenty of mock designer bags. I notice, with much amusement, the knock-off Prada bags that say "Pagoda" instead. Therese and I look at scarfs, wallets, bags, ponchos...so much to see...But it's past 4:30pm already and the musuem closes at 6pm. We decide to put our shopping on hold temporarily.

Museum of Television and Broadcasting
We find the museum located behind a street vendor selling New York sweatshirts and T-shirts. We go in and go to the counter to buy tickets. They ask us if we've been here before and we say no, and they tell that there are no displays here, but that admission gets you into a screening room where they show old TV shows and selected movies, or that you could also select something from their library and view it privately. Whereas this could be pretty cool, this isn't at all what I expected. Therese and I look at their schedule of what is playing this afternoon. The Wallace and Gromit movie "A Close Shave" is playing right now, and although Nick Park is my favorite animator, this isn't exactly what Therese and I had in mind. We decide to pass on going to the museum, but I do want to take a look at their gift shop. It's a small shop and they sell a lot of CDs, some books and posters. I pick up the book "Radio Waves" by Jim Ladd, former jock of Los Angeles' KMET-FM. Jim Ladd was an icon of Los Angeles radio during the 70's-80's, and KMET would constantly rule the rock ratings. Whereas I was never a huge fan of "the Mighty Met" - prefered KROQ and KLOS myself, I'm sure Jim Ladd has plenty of stories to tell, and I think both Rick and I will enjoy reading the book. I also see some mugs that catch my eye. One says "On the Air" in big red letters. Another has illustrationss of many different microphones. I ask how much for a mug - the woman says $12. I ask to buy one, and she says, no you have to buy the entire set of 4 mugs, which is $12. What a deal, I think, and I get the set of mugs and the book and we leave the museum.

Shopping on 52nd Street
We head back out to 52nd Steet and proceed to do some more shopping. Therese and I both pick up cashmere scarves for $10 each. I spend $5 on a pair of black chenille gloves. We find socks at 4 pairs/$10 and split them. The street hip hop performers are back - this time they're 4 of them and we take a break from shopping to watch them. One of the street vendors has boxes full of retro steel signs - and I choose one of a red and white Italian scooter, and Speed Racer for $16/each. Therese gets some glass flowers - they are only 2/$3 including a big box. I also find a pink "New York" hoodie for my niece for $10. Street shopping, just like street food in New York is amazing! Why didn't I do all my shopping on this street?

It's dark now, and the vendors start to pack up to close for the day. We pass by a newspaper vendor and I catch the NY Post headlines which reads "Frey Scott!" and "He's Toast!" We catch the subway back to the Hotel Metro where I drop off my purchases. Therese tells me she prefers the Washington Square Hotel, and so do I. We decide on dinner at a diner that is not too far away. It's not exactly the way I imagined it from the book's description, but it's still decent, although not in my favorite neighborhood - on the far West side, where it feels seedy. But the food is good, and so is the company, so we're content. After dinner we head back to the subway station near my hotel and Therese and I bid goodbye.

I'm not quite ready to call it quits for the night - after all this is my last night in New York. My last chance to do something on my trip. It's about 9:30 now, and I decide that it would be cool to go up to the top of the Empire State Building. I remember visiting it once late at night before, and enjoying it at night, and besides it's right there and the wait can't be long, I figure. I find my way to the building and go downstairs to where you queue up for your tickets. Although there doesn't seem to be much of a line to buy tickets, one of the security guards warns us that it is a 1.5 hour wait to get to the top. I remember that there are a series of elevators and different lines to get through before going to the top. I don't feel like spending the next 90 minutes here, so I decide to forget about it and leave the building. Maybe on another trip to New York, I'll make it back up to the top here again.

I stop at a Duane Reade drug store and pick up some ear plugs! After the noisy sleepness nights I've had, I need some rest before I go home! I head back to the hotel and finish packing. It's a good thing I've bought that duffle bag as I fill it up with all my heavy items - including CDs and books. I set two alarms for 5:30am, not wanting to miss my flight home. I take a bath and set out my clothes for the next day. I get everything ready so that all I need to do in the morning is brush my teeth, put on my clothes and get going. When I'm finally done, I put in my ear plugs and go to bed. It's 2am.

Next > Day 10: Going Home