In Transit From Maryland
May. 18th, 2009 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maxcelcat(See lots of pictures here.)
I arrived in New York on Friday local time, in the afternoon, at Penn Station. The train from Maryland - Baltimore/Washington International Airport Amtrak station to be precise - was a mighty relaxed affair. I also discovered that my years of weight lifting have been of use, when I managed to throw my entire 20 kilo suitcase into the overhead rack!
The train passed through Baltimore, parts of which looked really beat - ruined and burnt houses, neighbourhoods with trash all over the streets. It also passed through Philadelphia, and several towns in New Jersey. I tried to take some pictures of the passing country side, but inevitably the view I was trying to capture had slipped out of sight before I could get my camera ready. Or was behind trees etc. So I took lots of blurry shots of passing foliage!
Like everything else in New York, Penn Station is Huge. There must be three or more different train lines that meet there. I managed to drag myself out of it on to some street, which was as busy as I had been lead to expect in New York. I queued to get a cab over to the UNICEF building to pick up the key from my host Amanda. Whilst I waited in the lobby, a chap with a sniffer dog checked out my luggage!
Then I caught a cab all the way across town to West 74th Street. The cab driver I had was very apologetic about how hard it was to get across town, suggesting that we try 66th street, which passes under Central Park. I said whatever, you have a better idea than me! It was actually not a bad cab ride, about what I expected for New York.
After I dumped my stuff, I decided to go for a wander around the area to orient myself. Which took about two seconds - New York, at least at this end, is easy. It's a long thin island oriented north-south, with the Hudson on one side and Central Park in the middle. I wandered down to Broadway, which runs the length of the island, and then over to the Hudson where I came across some interesting piers and old machinery.
Finally, I dragged myself back to the apartment where I'm staying, and met more of my hosts - Vincent and Yasmeen!
I arrived in New York on Friday local time, in the afternoon, at Penn Station. The train from Maryland - Baltimore/Washington International Airport Amtrak station to be precise - was a mighty relaxed affair. I also discovered that my years of weight lifting have been of use, when I managed to throw my entire 20 kilo suitcase into the overhead rack!
The train passed through Baltimore, parts of which looked really beat - ruined and burnt houses, neighbourhoods with trash all over the streets. It also passed through Philadelphia, and several towns in New Jersey. I tried to take some pictures of the passing country side, but inevitably the view I was trying to capture had slipped out of sight before I could get my camera ready. Or was behind trees etc. So I took lots of blurry shots of passing foliage!
Like everything else in New York, Penn Station is Huge. There must be three or more different train lines that meet there. I managed to drag myself out of it on to some street, which was as busy as I had been lead to expect in New York. I queued to get a cab over to the UNICEF building to pick up the key from my host Amanda. Whilst I waited in the lobby, a chap with a sniffer dog checked out my luggage!
Then I caught a cab all the way across town to West 74th Street. The cab driver I had was very apologetic about how hard it was to get across town, suggesting that we try 66th street, which passes under Central Park. I said whatever, you have a better idea than me! It was actually not a bad cab ride, about what I expected for New York.
After I dumped my stuff, I decided to go for a wander around the area to orient myself. Which took about two seconds - New York, at least at this end, is easy. It's a long thin island oriented north-south, with the Hudson on one side and Central Park in the middle. I wandered down to Broadway, which runs the length of the island, and then over to the Hudson where I came across some interesting piers and old machinery.
Finally, I dragged myself back to the apartment where I'm staying, and met more of my hosts - Vincent and Yasmeen!
