:: Bazzooka Network ::: North by Northeast Pt. 4: New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down

Feeling:Thirsty...for water
Current Love:Nobody Lost, Nobody Found - Cut Copty

My legs are sore. probably from the 20 or so collective miles I've walked the past 2 days. I had a mini road trip down to New York. Overall, I thought my trip planning was pretty successful. Initially, I planned on taking the Amtrak from Hartford to Penn station, but after some research and talking with friends, I realized it was kind of a ripoff; $33-$47 for a single ride. So instead, I looked in MTA's North-Railroad New Haven line. As the name suggests, it's a train line that goes up and ends in New Haven. The fare is only $14, and I've taken the Hudson line before commuting from Newark Airport in NJ to the city, so it was pretty legit. I then found an express bus that ran from Hartford to New Haven during morning and evening commutes --- $4.30 fare. Perfect.
I went down Tuesday mainly so I could check out the Palms Out Sound show. 19+, $5 cover, and loads of good local and international artists. I made it successfully into the city, and stepped out of Time Square Subway stop around 10. It felt great to be in the city again, and I couldn't help but smile.
I walked around Midtown abit and through the Fashion Ave where bunch of hipster students of the Fashion Institute was taking pictures. I met up with Brad for lunch by his place and had a nice chat. Afterwards, I decided to check out East Village.
St. Marks and East Village
I failed to mention when I was in NY last time, I witnessed a totally weird accident walking down Delancey. The two way street is divided by a curb. The right side traffic was stopped at a red light, then out of nowhere, a car that turned into the left side just drove straight onto the curb and hit a van that was just chilling and waiting for the light. Sux to be the owner of that car. What are the odds? I don't know if that car just sped out of control or what, but it kind of was like something that could've been in "The Happening" (Still haven't seen it).
But what I wanted to get to was that I saw another odd thing walking down St. Marks. A window screen on some multi story residential building just fell off from some stories up, hit a van parked under it, and bounced off onto the street; kind of like a not so exciting "What Now?" commercial.
Anyways, East Village was alright. I didn't really walked around NYU campus much, just check out some shops.

Man rushing to the train at the New Haven Union Station. Futuristic!

I arrived at Union Station and took the shuttle to Time Square. Sanrio was the first store I stopped in.

Saw a Muji store in the area and went in. I wanted to check out the non-linear planner I read on Lifehacker. Pretty neat.

Less than an hour in New York and spotted someone famous. Ninja shot. Guess who?

Tasty Crepe dinner and Sangria with Connie.

Oh Snap! at Santo House Party. Even his hit song wasn't too exciting live.

Disco Laser!

Lismore! Short was wayy too short.

--------------
Day Two - Wednesday

Leaving the city. Shot of Grand Central Station.

Even though I went to bed around 4, being tired and buzzed, I still couldn't fall asleep and wasn't sure if I slept very well. I had to wake up at 9 to leave with Connie. We got off at Union Station and checked out the Farmer's Market there. I walked around the city more after Connie left for work, hitting up stores and the interesting bookstore named Strand. I took the 2:33 train to New Haven and bid my adieu to the lovely city. Till another time.
The bus to Hartford wasn't till 6:45. I planned the time to get a chance to go around New Haven, home of Yale University. Fortunately the train station was only a mile or so from downtown. I initially wanted to take the bus in, but I got tired of waiting. I didn't get shot walking into the city, so that's fine with me.
Downtown and Old Yale campus is actually quite small, I would say only a 1.5 miles radius. After a lot of walking and making a purchase at Urban Outfitters on Broadway, I walked over to the bus stop on Church and Walls and took the Hartford bound Dacco bus, where my parents picked me up from Middletown.

All in all, a very enjoyable trip.