So as I mentioned in NYC adventure No1, two weeks after my first trip to New York City I decided to go back. It's almost as if I forgot what it was like.
This time it was Thanksgiving long weekend in Canada so I thought what a perfect way to have an extra day to recover when I come back. Plus my photography friend decided to try it too and talked me into joining him. How could I resist? Decided to take the same bus as last time at 9 pm and hopefully arrive on time by 8 am. I didn't realize how many people go to the states during the long weekends in Canada. The line up at the bus terminal was extremely long, we started from outside of the building. The buses were constantly coming in and loading more passengers all from terminal 1 for NYC. I never thought we would get on. Finally we were the last few to make it onto the fourth bus at 10 pm.
Again it started raining when we were leaving Toronto, just like last time. There was a young boy in the seat in front of me and I found him looking out the window with his reflection there plus the rain making it quite interesting. I quickly pulled out my camera and loaded it with new film, checked the light meter for exposure length and shot my first NYC No2 photo.
By the time we got to the highway my friend fell asleep. For me that's way harder. We got to the Niagara Falls border at around midnight, thinking there was only one bus in front of us it wouldn't take us too long. Not until the driver came back a while later and said we will have to move to a parking lot and wait there for quite a while since there are many buses waiting already.
I tried falling asleep but with no luck as usual. My friend on the other hand had no problem. About two hours later I just dozed off when the bus driver suddenly announced we're next and got ready to drive. Of course when we pulled up by the customs we still had to wait for the passengers from previous bus to go through. I completely lost track of time by then.
We finally got back on the bus with some more drama as some girls decided to change seats. According to regulations passengers are supposed to stay in the same seat as before getting off. Unfortunately these girls had issues with the bathroom odours at the back. So there goes another half hour wasted with no accomplishment. Finally we took off.
As usual I was trying to get some sleep but all I could do is doze off for few minutes and then wake up. Constantly. At around 5 am the bus has pulled over at some gas station and said there was something wrong with the bus so we can't go any further. People's reaction was not the greatest since everybody was tired enough already. By that time I could not keep track of time anymore. I was so tired that everything was feeling surreal.
I have no idea how much later another bus came. Oh if only it was as easy as that. Nope. We needed more adventures. The bus we were boarding was for 52 passengers, while the one we were one carries 53 so one person had to stay behind and wait for the next bus. Of course everybody was trying to get off right away. In a way it felt as if people were escaping for life.
I had to use the bathroom so I told my friend in case if I don't make it onto this bus I'll take the next one as a joke. When I came back he was still in line so we made it okay. I was just about to doze off when some argument woke me up. It was the 53rd person, a woman, who was arguing with the driver. Finally we left.
We did make one more stop for washroom and food. I didn't even get off the bus. Instead I enjoyed the peace in quiet. The only other people who have also stayed were the kids in the row right next to me so I took a photo of them keeping entertained. We didn't make it into the city until around 12:30 pm, way past the time we were supposed to. Better late than never I guess.
The first photos I took in the city were the ones I completely missed the first time, The New York Times building with all the yellow cabs in front of it. After hanging out and shooting a few photos there we walked down 7th Avenue where I was looking to buy a few souvenirs since I didn't the first time.
On the way we passed by a fire department so of course we had take photos there. I actually liked how it came out. With the souvenirs I ended up buying myself a hat and of course a New York shot glass.
We shot photos on the way to the West Village of course. Anything or anybody interesting enough that would catch my eye. After a few hours of walking around in that area we decided to stop somewhere for a bite and a beer.
As we were walking towards a bar my friend usually goes to we ran into an artist working on an ink drawing with lots of artwork aligned along the sidewalk. One really caught my eye, the "Friends" building so we decided to chat and possibly buy. As it turns out it's a Canadian artist my friend has met before, so we chatted for a bit, I bought the artwork and then we took off for the bar.
It felt really good to sit down. The first glass of Guinness just went down within seconds. Had some fries too of course but one beer led to another. Before we knew it it was around 11 pm. Our bus which we were supposed to board has left at 10:45 or so. We decided to stay however long and just take whichever bus with the penalty fee.
We ended up walking up 7th avenue to Port Authority Bus Terminal but somewhere around the 30s streets I realized I have left the drawing I bought in the bar so of course we had to go back. It took us about 45 minutes from the bar to where we were. We took some night shots while walking back so it wasn't anything bad or something to be upset about.
Once we made it to the bar the waiter recognized us and brought the drawing out from the back, we decided to have another beer. And then another. And another. We ended up meeting the owner there who let us have beer free of charge. Really nice of him.
We ended up leaving around 4 am. When we got to the Port Authority Bus Terminal almost an hour later the outside door was unlocked but the inside door was locked. There was a couple of police officers there who told me the ticket booth was right across from them. I must've been either blind or really tired to miss that.
As I started reaching for my purse I realized it wasn't there and that's where all my money, bank cards, credit cards, id's, ticket AND passport was. So I guessed another trip back to the bar. I tried calling them to see if they were still open or if the owner was there but there was no answer.
When we finally reached it the owner wasn't there and it was locked but somebody was there cleaning so we started knocking on the door quite loud since he had earphones in. Finally after a few loud bangs he saw us so we yelled through the glass door and thankfully my purse was there. I guess with all the camera bags I had on me one less thing hanging on my shoulder wasn't a big thing.
Walking back for the third time wasn't as exciting as the first two times. We were exhausted, sleepy and our legs had enough of walking. By the time we got back to Port Authority Bus Terminal it was open and way more alive than when we got there last time. We got the tickets and went to the gate. We couldn't even stand anymore. We were sitting on the floor falling asleep looking dead with our heads hanging down.
Once we got on the bus we both sat in separate rows to have some space to lie down. This time I had no problem falling asleep even on the bus, but my bed is still the place I prefer to sleep.
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