In hind sight, coming to New York after being on night-shift wasn't a great idea. I woke up again completely exhausted but I refuse to snooze my morning away. I packed up my things and got ready for the day. I had to move to my second air bnb that morning.
Unfortunately there wasn't a train line that would get me there, and as always, the traffic was completely grid-locked. In fact the ETA of walking was actually 5 minutes faster then driving. So I dragged my suitcases down 10 blocks and over another 5 blocks to my new place. Along the way I tried to take some pictures with a self timer, but they all turned out like this --- so I just gave up.
Once I dropped off my things I started to walk towards Central Park. It was pretty chilly out that morning, so I decided to pop into TJ Maxx to see if I could find some leggings. By time I came out of the store it had warmed up significantly! I decided to walk over to Times Square to see if I could get a picture with the "Naked Ladies" who paint themselves and pose for pictures. While I was walking to their usual spot I got distracted by some street performers doing the same act that I had gotten pulled into a few days ago! I stopped to watch the act when two pedestrians approached me. They spoke so softly that I could barely understand what they were saying. The older one asked me if I had a boyfriend, trying to dodge the question I just pretended like I didn't hear him and started clapping for the performers. Unfortunately no one else was clapping.. so my diversion didn't work. The guy reached out and grabbed hold of my hands, he proceeded to ask me again. I told him no, that I don't have a boyfriend. He asked if he could be my boyfriend for the day.... I giggled and said I really should get going. I pulled my hands away from him and walked away quickly. I ducked into a souvenir shop to wait it out. When I was sure the coast was clear I popped out of the store and sat down at a small table. Wouldn't yah know, my pedestrian friends immediately came up and sat down with me. I glanced up, making eye contact with one of the naked girls, she shot me an eye-roll directed at my pedestrian followers. I once again got up to avoid the pedestrians when the naked girl called me over. She complimented my dress and asked if I knew the two guys who had sat with me. She then flirtatiously asked me if I was single, and if I was open to girl-on-girl. I had to control myself from bursting out laughing, people in times square can be so blunt!! I lightly giggled and told the naked lady no, I was not open to girl-on-girl, but I was more than happy to be friends! We exchanged phone numbers and I walked back up the square to break a bill so I would have tip money for my picture. As I was walking away I heard someone yelling my name. I looked around confused wondering who in times square knew me by name! I noticed my pedestrian friend weaving through people on the sidewalk, he was gripping his pants to keep them from falling off as he ran towards me. Turns out that him and his brother needed some money to buy drugs, he asked me if I could spare any cash. I quickly told him no and walked away. After breaking a bill, I walked back to the naked ladies to get a picture. As I posed for my picture with the girl, I was completely surprised when she turned and kissed me!! The square was PACKED with people, and in that moment it felt like they were all watching us; some of them even cheered in the background. I was completely embarrassed!!! I could feel my face immediately begin to go bright red, I fumbled with some change and handed to her. I thanked her for a "memorable" experience and walked away.
As I walked to Central Park multiple street vendors attempted to approach me, by this point I was getting fed up with all the attention I was getting; I'd raise my hand and quickly walk past. It was pretty rude of me but I was getting tired of the meaningless small talk before people would try to sell me something or ask for money.
As I walked to Central Park multiple street vendors attempted to approach me, by this point I was getting fed up with all the attention I was getting; I'd raise my hand and quickly walk past. It was pretty rude of me but I was getting tired of the meaningless small talk before people would try to sell me something or ask for money.
I strolled through Central park admiring all the people out and about on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. My feet were absolutely killing me at this point so I sat down to give them a rest. As I was sitting on this pretty bench I took some selfies as the lighting was absolutely perfect!!
As you all know, sometimes it takes a lot of tries to get a good selfie. As I was sitting on the bench snapping pictures of myself with my selfie stick, a gentlemen approached me and asked to sit down. (The last picture is the exact moment I smiled and welcomed him to have a seat) He was astonished by my selfie stick and told me that as he was walking by he had a distinct feeling that he was near someone extraordinary. He told me that he sensed it might be me and asked if I didn't mind having a conversation with him. He was so incredibly polite and sweet, I told him I would be thrilled to have a conversation with him. His name was David. He asked me about my life at home, what I did for a living, about my family and my spiritual beliefs, and of course; why I had decided to come to New York alone. David told me stories about his upbringing in Brooklyn and how he had dropped out of school at a very young age. Later in life he began working in the music producing business and had been very successful. He pointed to a very tall apartment building on the edge of Central Park, he lived on the lower penthouse which had a large balcony that wrapped around the building. David also told me about his family and how proud he was of their wonderful individual talents. He told me of the family gatherings they have at his house in the Hampton's during the summer. We were talking about the experiences in our lives that had shaped us into who we were today, when suddenly he proclaimed that I must meet his nephew. Immediately he dialed him up on his "flip" phone and handed the phone over to me. I chatted with his nephew on the phone for a few minutes before giving him my travel phone number so he could reach me on his own. By this time a few hours had passed and my feet were no longer throbbing. I swapped numbers with my new friend and said goodbye, promising to keep in contact.
Since it was Sunday I decided to walk over to see the Manhattan LDS temple
To my surprise this temple is not like other LDS temples, contained in the same building is a meeting house and a distribution center. Luckily I was just in time to hear the sacrament meeting talks for the Mid-single adults ward! I walked around the lobby listening to the talks while looking at the beautiful art work that hung on the walls.
After sacrament meeting was over I walked back to central park to explore. I FINALLY found a tree that was mostly red!! Immediately I asked a couple if they would like me to take a picture of them together, in return I asked if they wouldn't mind taking my photo as well.
I pulled up a "Central Park Movie Locations" map on my phone and proceeded to follow it around the park.
As I walked down the steps to the fountain I was immediately approached by a Chinese man doing massages by the fountain. I was more then happy to get a massage after the amount of gallivanting around the city I was doing, so I happily followed him to his massage chair. BEST $20 I have spent on this trip thus far. I hadn't realized how sore my back was until he started massaging me. I felt completely rejuvenated afterwards and quickly texted my family to tell them about my experience!
I had been thinking about the joke the entire time I was getting my massage, and dad played into it perfectly!
I continued walking around the park exploring the hidden treasures. Every turn I took uncovered a new and exciting part of the park.
The sun was starting to set and it was time for me to head to Wicked!!
Words cannot describe how much I loved this play!! It was incredible. The actors and actresses were amazingly talented and I adored the story! I sat next to an adorable little 6 year old girl, she sat up in her booster seat intently watching the play. Her mom was so excited for her to be attending this play, she looked over at her sweet little girl with tear-y eyes as she sang along to all the songs. Wicked will forever more be one of my favorite musicals; you could even say that I have been changed for good.
I called Mom to thank her for suggesting I go to the play, we talked about our favorite scenes and songs. As I walked towards Times Square to head back to my airbnb, I called my dad to tease him about his reaction to my joke earlier. I've also noticed that if I am talking on my phone people generally won't approach me. Dad asked me what else I had planned for the rest of my trip when suddenly I remembered, I still had tickets to go up the Empire State building! I immediately hung up on dad so I could find a train station.
No less then 2 minutes after I hung up the phone I was immediately approached by a gentlemen trying to sell CD's. Without looking up from my phone I told him I didn't have any money to buy his CD, I tried to keep walking but he stepped in my way and asked if he could have a hug instead. At this point I was just frustrated and wanted to get to the Empire State Building. I quickly hugged him and tried to pull away when he grabbed hold of both of my hands, and asked if he could have just one more hug. At this point one of his (much better looking) CD selling friends had also walked up and gave me a slow up and down creepy look. The gentlemen holding my hands quickly lead me away from his friend and asked me for another hug. I told him fine but after that I really needed to go. When I hugged him the second time he hiked me up over his shoulder... I was wearing a dress, and it was windy. I'm sure you can probably figure out what happened when he threw me over his shoulder without me having to type out my embarrassing moment. When he finally put me down I tried to walk away when he grabbed my hands again. He then began asking me if I had ever "been" with a black man, as well as telling me that if I chose to come home with him that I might not be able to walk for a few days... I was completely shocked. This guy was 43.. 20 years older than me. Gross.
The gentlemen had told me that the Empire State Building was close enough to walk to and I didn't need to take the train. I picked the brightest building and started walking towards it. I called K on my way to tell her about my crazy day! I walked into what I thought was the Empire State Building and asked the security guard where the entrance to the observatory deck was. He told me there was no observatory deck and walked away. Turns out I was at the Chrysler Building! Whoops. Luckily the Empire state building was only a few blocks away. My feet were extremely sore so I decided to just take a train.
The views were incredible!!! I stood in awe staring at the bustling city below, I will never grow tired of the glowing lights. Unfortunately it was extremely windy up there, and I was in a dress. I had just mooned hundreds of people in Times Square, and I wasn't about to do it again. I spent close to an hour walking around inside looking out the windows and reading about the construction and history of the incredible building. I loved looking at the lights so much that I didn't want to leave, but I was getting hungry and it was getting late. I walked back towards Times Square to get some Juniors Cheesecake one last time, before leaving. The streets were dark and fairly empty, I was getting rather scared. There was a few scaffolding "hallway's" along the way.
Luckily I got a phone call from my roommate which distracted me from the scary walk home. I told her all about the "forward men" in New York and how I had never been asked out by a stranger until I came here. Ironically enough as I was telling her this, a man stopped me on the street and asked me out to dinner. I declined and kept walking, laughing with my roommate about the crazy things that had been happening to me. As I was looking up directions to juniors a woman came out of no where and immediately began screaming at me. She called me stupid and pathetic and other things I won't repeat. I stood there completely confused. She thought I was taking pictures of her on the street corner while I waited for the crossing light to change. I apologized and kept walking, she continued walking on the opposite side of the street, still screaming incoherently at me. Unfortunately by time I had got to Juniors it was closed. I walked down the street past the mounds of garbage sitting outside of the stores and restaurants looking for a decent place to get some late night supper.
I made it to my airbnb unharmed and very cold. I crawled into bed and quickly fell asleep.
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**** Step Count 29,718 ****
