Archives
11:59:00 AM EST
Feeling Chillin'
Hearing TV News
Want to Take a Trip?
Where Italy adjoins China -- two cultures side by side in Chinatown and Little Italy, NYC.
In her journal entry Wanna Take A Trip?, fellow blogger Memes121 posed this challenge:
If I were coming to your house for a visit and I have never been there before, what is one place near you that you would take me to see? Find a website about the place, put up photos if you have them and come back and leave me a link. Leave a note in your journal and tell everyone that when they visit a journal and leave a comment, put Wanna Take A Trip? in there with the link to your destination. Let's all go around the world together.
Okay, I'm game. I love it when out-of-towners visit here, especially those from far away. While I suppose there are sights to share right in my backyard here in NJ, it's but a short hop to Lower Manhattan. Love it or hate it, New York City is one of the most exciting and cool cities in the world. And it's perfect for taking folks on what I call Jackie Tours of the City. I rarely hit the typical tourist spots, but prefer to stomp around the Bowery and other places not quite on the official tours.
A fascinating journey is to hit both Chinatown and Little Italy. We can eat the best dim sum in town on Mott St. or Pell St., or even Bayard Street or Bowery Street! There's a plethora of choices to behold! Then we'll tour the open street markets where live frogs and eels are in barrels and the vendors are shouting the only phrase they know in English, "Red snappa! One dollah!" We'll step in the small shops where unfamiliar spices and remedies, and perhaps even Gremlins (remember the movie?), are sold in darkened interiors. To walk down the streets of Chinatown it to pass into another culture, a hustling bustling fast-paced one to the tune of Cantonese and Mandarin. We'll drop by Columbus Park where men gather to bet on dominoes, practice tai chi, women tell fortunes, then we'll hit Confucious Plaza. We'll stroll over to Canal Street to fill bags with bargains!
Ah, but is our jaunt over for the day? Nuh-uh! I promised you two foreign lands. We'll walk over to Mulberry Street to enjoy fine pastries and the best coffee in the world in an outdoor cafe in Little Italy! Who knows? With all the fantastic Italian restaurants, maybe we'll even do dinner! Perhaps a man strolling with a violin will come by to play the theme from 'The Godfather' for us... that happened once when I was entertaining a friend from the UK. It was just the right touch! We'll watch men in suits and fantasize that they're mob-related; we'll listen as young men with lots of gold bling and muscles talk the talk. Perhaps one of the 'Law and Order' franchise shows will be on a shoot nearby! (That's happened, too.) We'll gaze through the windows of Umberto's Clam House hoping to see Robert DiNiro enjoying his dinner and remember the 1972 rubout of Crazy Joe Gallo. (Note, it's changed locations since that time, but it's still notorious!)
Then, after a whirlwind of country hopping right within a small area of Lower Manhattan, we'll head back under the river home to Jersey.
All pictures here were indeed taken by me. :-)
Written by upseted Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
-
Wonderful! I enjoyed that so much! Now, go around spreading this entry to every journal you read with the title wanna take a trip. This is fun!
-
Oh this is fun...I'm in. When are we meeting for dinner?
Betty -
You're such a nice tour guide. I like taking people through what people consider the "hood". Like Brownsville, where the mafia originated. It's fun to see their looks.
I am evil.
11/2/05 3:23 PM
http://journals.aol.com/nhd10