Trip to New York, Day Four

Yesterday was a bit more relaxed than day three. As noted previously, I woke up on a couch that was too small for me. Not having a remarkably comfy bed to sink into, I woke up early, at about 9am, considering that I went to sleep at about 6am. The other three people in the apartment slept surprisingly late! Not that I minded. It gave me plenty of time to write on here and Yelp.

Once people were up and about at about 2:30pm, we went across the street to Tasty Thai, which was remarkably lacking in the taste department, at least for my red curry dish. My friend and I then made our way to 5 Pointz, a huge building covered in some excellent graffiti. I took pictures, of course. That was neat but there is only so long you can look at something.

Unfortunately we had our bags with us which was a little bit of a pain, but we forged onward nonetheless. The next stop was Strand Book Store near Union Square. This is a spectacular place with mostly used books but also rare books and discounted new ones. I picked up a book called The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse for 48 cents. The text from the back is as follows:

A boy named Jack sets out to seek his fortune in the big city, but when he finally gets there, it is Toy City, formerly known as Toy Town. There is a serial killer loose upon the streets. One by one, the old, rich nursery rhyme characters are being brutally slaughtered. The Toy City police are getting nowhere. Bill Winkie, Private Eye, has also mysteriously vanished, leaving only his sidekick, Eddie Bear, to take care of business. But Eddie is ready, and when he teams up with Jack, the two set out on an epic adventure, not to mention a lot of heavy drinking, bad behavior, fast car chases, gratuitous sex and violence, bizarre toy fetishism and all-round grossness of a type not normally associated with Toy Town.

It sounds like an enthralling read.

We didn’t browse for as long as I would have liked to, on account of the bags and also the fact that we had to get to our respective sleeping locations. But that didn’t stop us from first dropping by Coffee Bar, which I can’t find a link for, for a couple of drinks and some cheese fries.

Off I went to the Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn. I arrived at this spectacular old building that was now being used as housing in the form of lofts. The naked guy was indeed there, but everyone else was clothed. Honestly it didn’t really bother me. He was otherwise a pretty normal guy. After a few hours of rooftop revelry, I went to sleep on a sleeping bag located on the floor. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as I would have imagined, but certainly not that comfortable either! Joining me in the loft were four people that actually lived there and six other couch surfers, if I am counting correctly. I like it here. It is a very festive and communal environment. I’ll be here for the next two nights as well.

Today I am going to probably get lunch with the guy that ditched me in Harlem the other night; I really don’t think he meant to so I won’t hold it against him. And then I want to check out Revolution Books. For dinner I am meeting people in Brooklyn for pizza. After that is open.

I am still having a great time.

• Yeah, the Strand owns pretty hard. I’ve been meaning to check out 5 Pointz ever since I got here, but haven’t managed to drag my sorry carcass to Queens yet. Sounds like it was well worth the trip out there.

  Something else I thought of after you mentioned the “clothing-optional” place: I wonder if the naked guy is normally naked that much, or if he just does it to mess with couch surfers?

  Also, if “meeting people in Brooklyn for pizza” is referring to me, it’s not in Brooklyn. 😛

• Yeah I think I assumed it was in Brooklyn, which is why it was good that I looked it up before I got on the subway.