Where on earth..?

Lower East Side, Manhattan

As Raine left back home, I made my move from upscale Upper west side to one of the cheapest hostels I could find in the city, on the Lower east side (LES). Accomodation in NY is expensive, so I didn't expect much for my $35/night, but the place is among the nicest I've stayed in. Though my room sleeps 8-16 (depending on the amount of spare mattrasses on the floor) I was lucky and got a bed in a corner with curtains around it. Much of the time it's almost like a studio within the dorm. Having lots of people around me also helped when I missed Raine bad the first days. Slovenian, French, Australian, Swedish, Spanish, Swiss and Belgian people live there with me.

The hostel is within walking distance from Chinatown, Little Italy, Greenwich willage, East willage and Soho. It's also close to the deli where Meg Ryan faked the famous scene from "when Harry met Sally". You either know what Im talking about or you dont ;) With time also LES is getting a little gentrified, but mostly it's a grim mix of immigrants, warehouses, traffic, odd nightclubs and cheap food joints.

The main purpose of my stay is dancing, I do approx five classes a week (8 hours), which is about as much as this old body can cope with now. The rest of my time I try to relax, which is proving to be hard as there is so much to do. Like shopping. Everything is so cheap so now I have a very ambitious list of things I wanna take with me from here. Including a new bag to carry the things in... And walking. Manhattan is great for walking. But it always takes me much longer than expected to get anywhere, simply cos I need to stop in a million places to see everything on the way.

Manhattan does get hectic at times, especially in summer with all (the other) tourists. But there are ways to cool down. A trip to Central Park is always relaxing, it keeps amazing me how clean and nice the huge park is kept. Everyone carries their picnic waste to the bins. Or spend an afternoon reading books in the mega bookstore Borders, where you can take any book or magazine to the cafe with your latte. Or see a film. A few blocks from my place Sunshine cinemas shows non-Hollywood films of a more artsy kind. Irish music film "Once" was so amazing I had to buy the soundtrack. Or visit one of the many museums. As long as you avoid the area around Times Square, Manhattan can be very homely and is definitely the most varied city I know.

Studying mainly jazz dance in the middle of the theatre district, it wouldn't be right not to see a play or two. We saw "Mamma Mia!" with Raine which was very very good. In the same-day-lottery I won a cheap ticket to "A chorus line" and I still plan to see the play "The Year of Magical Thinking" with Vanessa Redgrave (also known as elderly teacher in the Harry Potter films).

There is always something going on. I accidently walked upon a master dance class by Nick Lazzarini, winner of "So you think you can dance". One day carrying my deli salad for a picnic in Bryant Park, mid-Manhattan, I found the park filled to the brims with people securing a place for the free Monday night movie. 5000 people with picnics and wine bottles showed up for a black-and-white 60's film! The city never stops amazing. You would think 3 weeks is enough to see it all and a bit more, but with my need also to relax before going back to work, some things will be left for the next time. And there certainly will be one.

posted by Carina @ 1:23 AM