The Big Apple – a Pictorial

That stunning song Alicia Keys performs so well make me think of New York every time I hear it. Elsebie has been to New York, or Manhattan a few years ago for work. I have never been there but the song for me makes me think about scenes of old cigar smoke-filled bars clad in beautiful dark wood and antique leather sofas and art deco buildings.

It is been a tough few months for our family with my mom passing away. But at last, things can go back to normal for all of us. Things are still going to be difficult for us to deal with but as the old cliche goes time heals everything.

What happened to us in Manhattan is again a testimony of why the travelling, overlanding and adventure riding community are so special.

While settling into our budget accommodation in China Town, I got an invitation message through ADVrider from David who is also on TentSpace to go stay with him and his gorgeous wife Francine.  They are also the couple behind the Mobius trip report on Advrider.  Hit me with a wet dead fish, I never have given a thought looking at Tentspace for a place to stay in Manhattan.

That is one of the new wonders of our social media world, again we got the opportunity to meet and befriend such groovy cool people. Ye, ye it is all about the bike and the world but most importantly for us, it is also about the people. It is magic for us, we love telling people that to this day, our most treasured experiences was with the people we have met on our journeys.

There are people with serious skills in this world. Jamie Oliver and that other bloke, what’s his face screamer cook, I believe has nothing on David when it comes to creating food magic. He sends us a ‘Whatsapp’ saying he felt like eating Ravioli. We immediately responded “Cool! We will buy some and come over.” Nope, he said we will make it and proceeded to made Ravioli from scratch in the time it took the water to boil! Without blowing smoke up his arse, it was the best damn Ravioli I ever had.

South Africans, for the most part, grew up with an American, European influence. So we got all the Miami Vice, Magnum, Friends- type sitcoms and music as well as about everything to do with the Western world. Having seen so many sitcoms playing out in NY and the beautiful apartments it was so cool to hang a few days in one of those beautiful apartments.

“McSorley’s Old Ale House, generally known as McSorley’s, is the oldest “Irish” tavern in New York City.  Located at 15 East 7th Street in the East Village neighbourhood of Manhattan, it was one of the last of the “Men Only” pubs, only admitting women after legally being forced to do so in 1970″ Wiki

The bartender asked us:  So what would it be?
Us: What do you have?
Bartender:  Beer
Us:  What do you have?
Bartender:  Dark or light

We duly quaff away one of each 😉

David took us to his local pizza & pasta joint, Aroma Kitchen & Winebar. Enjoying some tapas al fresco at such a restaurant was a quite a privilege.
Without David and Francine we would never have seen or experienced some of these non-tourist authentic places in Manhattan.

I think Francine told us there were some 15000 restaurants in Manhattan or NY.  It is amazing, and just the few we visited had really great food. One funny thing we noticed was that there were very few fat people around. Maybe because most people walk in Manhattan or it’s so damn expensive people are going hungry.

I will be the first to confess we loath cities and we stay de hell away from them as far as possible. But that said, sometimes there are the ‘must-sees’ and some cities worth visiting. Manhattan turned out to be one of them. There is the working everyday part and then the tourist part.

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Me:  “I am like so excited and all like I can’t handle this!”

The tourist areas, of course, are the typical girl/boy dragging the black wheeled suitcase with all their fancy clothes and accessories in the one hand and a selfie stick, Starbucks, water and Ipad in the other.

“Tony Matelli‘s underwear-clad sculpture of a sleepwalking man was at the centre of controversy on a college campus in 2014, with outraged students launching a petition for its removal. Now, the eerily lifelike figure of a man in white briefs wandering in his sleep with outstretched arms is coming to the High Line as part of the group show “Wanderlust.” ArtWorld

New Yorkers don’t call it the “Big Apple”, not even “New York” or “NYC”
It’s “The City”.

Lombardis

I remember the day 9/11 happened, I remember driving home and a friend called to say I must check the television as there was chaos as if world war 3 started! Even after all this time I still could not anticipate the feelings and emotions I had when we got to Ground Zero. 

Manhattan has a very groovy personality, it is loud, busy and crowded with generally helpful no-nonsense people. It’s one of the coolest cities in the world by far. The people living in New York and Manhattan is what makes it special. Giving Manhattan it’s larger than life character.  New York is not like other cities.