Staying way out in the south of Brooklyn, it takes a while to get into central Manhattan. There’s a 20 minute walk down Avenue U to get to the subway, and then the Q train takes around 45 minutes to get into the city. There’s not much to do apart from people watch and wait for the brief glimpse of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan skyline as we cross from Brooklyn into Manhattan.

As is the case with most mass transit, there’s always going to be the crazy person. You see them everywhere - even up in Sheffield on very rare occasions - but they’re most visible in the big cities. New York is right up there at the top of the list. There was a guy on the subway just the other day who stank of alcohol, and loudly complained to anyone in his proximity about the crass commercialisation of the holiday season. For a busy train, there was a large open space around him! Another guy was sitting with several empty seats around him. When someone tried to sit down across from him, he yelled something sharp and incoherent, and thumped the window with his fist. The other guy moved as if something had bit him. The crazy person started muttering to himself, rubbing at his face, taking off his glasses and putting them back on again over and over, picking his nose, and scratching his cheeks. Everyone studiously ignored him. Eventually, he started rustling through a plastic bag, finally pulling out a book. I had to suppress laughter when I saw the title: ‘The Lexicon of Stupidity’.
When me and Chris got up for our stop, the crazy guy stood up too and started pacing the floor of the train, back and forth. For a minute, we thought he was going to get off to, but apparently not. I often wonder what their stories are.

Chris and I were up late today. I think our jetlag is finally easing off, and we’re not waking at 6am or earlier. Instead, we woke late enough that we didn’t get out the door until around 11.30am. For the first time, it was raining. We decided that visiting the Top of the Rock wouldn’t be that good if visibility was reduced with the poor weather, so we settled on Times Square instead. We’d passed through it on the subway several times, but hadn’t actually gone above ground. When we did - well, it’s insane. You see it on tv and movies all the time, with the bright lights and the bustling people, and so on. Seeing it in person is amazing. Everything is aglow, all neon lights and noise and traffic and people. It’s kind of sensory overload, but it’s also so fantastic. Whilst we were wandering around gawping like the stereotypical tourist, we got stopped by two guys selling tickets to a comedy club show. As the Broadway theatre shows are closed because of a strike, there’s a lot of people avoiding Broadway, and people are selling discounted tickets to other things, like the comedy clubs. We paid $20 for 4 tickets to the Broadway Comedy Club show on Wednesday. Moving on to find something to eat, we found we were overwhelmed with choices. In the end, our feet hurting, we picked the next one we came across, which turned out to be Planet Hollywood. Good grief, it was loud in there. 360 degree screens advertised forthcoming movies, notable clips from films, music videos, and loads of other stuff. It was almost hard to hear one another. Thankfully, the food was decent.

Deciding that the weather kind of made things a bust, we decided to go to the cinema. Chris wanted to see Beowulf, and we found an AMC theatre just around the corner from Times Square. It wasn’t until we got in there that Chris realised the film was CGI-animated. He was a bit put out. The film was ok - nothing brilliant. However, the trailers were excellent - The Golden Compass, Cloverfield, and a forthcoming sci-fi film called Jumper that had me oohing and aahing excitably. I do like a good sci-fi film, so I’ll be looking out for that one eagerly.

After the movie, we made a beeline for the Rockefeller Center. I discovered that I’m actually getting to grips with the layout of the city now. The grid system takes a little bit of getting used to, but I’ve got my head round it, and I made it from Times Square (Eighth and 34th) to the Rockefeller Center (Sixth and 49th) without having to look at the guide book once. I was very pleased with myself - up until I had to check the guidebook to find the subway. Thing with the subway stops is that a stop called 42nd Street could mean Times Square (7th avenue) or Bryant Park (8th avenue), so you have to know exactly which line you need. Confusing! Thank god for the subway map in our Lonely Planet Guide. Chris bought himself a game at the Nintendo Store, and we headed back to the subway to catch a train back to Brooklyn, stopping briefly at a Subway’s to get some sandwiches. These long days are wearing!

Tomorrow, weather permitting - the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.