We arrived at John F. Kennedy airport Friday night. Our first encounter with a New Yorker – our taxi driver – was an unpleasant one as he cheated me out of my change. He insisted I had given him a $5 bill instead of a $50, which could not have been the case as I only carried $20s and $50s on me…. When I told him he must be wrong, he answered: “Ma’am, you must be very tired.” In hindsight, I think I should have gotten out of the cab and yelled for the police across the street to set the matter straight. In this respect he was right: I was too tired to pursue it. Lesson learned: Count out your money with your companions witnessing the transaction. At the hotel I called 311 to report this fraud to the New York City “complaint” department. The fraud charge could not be pursued as I did not have enough information on the guy. But at least I got it off my chest. Oh well, we had a rough beginning, but the rest of our time was excellent!

The New Yorkers are such a chatty bunch of people. No matter where we went, people would always strike up a conversation and have some pleasant things to say. Wherever we walked – not including very crowded Times Square – there was a sense of village atmosphere, where people knew each other and treated strangers kindly. This was the biggest surprise.

Friday night we had dinner next door at a Korean restaurant and got to bed by midnight.

Early Saturday morning I stepped outside in front of the hotel to listen for the sounds of the city that never sleeps. It was still dark at 5:30. The trash pick-up stopped near the door, and dressed-up people walked by, which made me wonder if they were coming home from a late night out or going to work….

Then a homeless person, whose friends call him Charlie, came by and approached me for money for a cup of coffee. Instead of fishing out some change, I invited Charlie out for breakfast. I followed this stranger around the block to Dunkin’ Donuts where we chatted a bit. I saw his hands were gloved in hygienic wrap, he added a gum to his apple juice for his dental hygiene. I knew his brain was a bit fried as he posed some questions repeatedly and he could not have been any older than me.  Then he showed me his cell phone (I assume this classifies him as middle-class bum) and asked me for my cell phone number, which I could not give, because I have no cell phone. Then I asked whether I could take his picture and he declined. Nevertheless, it was an interesting meeting.

Later on, still in the early morning we hit the department store Macy’s first.

My sister in front of Macy’s -  and this guy appeared out of nowhere!

All foreign tourists were offered a special coupon of 11% off on any purchases. Combine this with most everything being on sale 50% off, and we were in a real shoppers’ paradise.

Sale signs galore!!

We bought lots of clothing for my daughter at the world’s biggest department store. That morning we only worked our way up to the 7th floor and then had to take a break…

Daughter Margo in shoppers’ delight at Macy’s first floor

In the afternoon we shopped on Broadway and took in almost every accessory/gift shop along the way. My goodness, there was no end to it!!! But it was nice to get in from out of the cold as Saturday was very cold and windy with iced-over sidewalks in the early morning.

Walking to Times Square

Times Square

We reached Times Square, which is a very buzzing place. By then we were loaded down with shopping bags, and an empty stomach is no good companion,either.

We walked through the Diamond District, looking for a restaurant in one of its side streets. We found an excellent Turkish restaurant: Akdeniz on 46th Street, between 5th and 6th Ave.  This restaurant serves marvelous food and the best wine. I had “Sultan’s Delight”, an Ottoman dish of chicken and carrots served on a bed of eggplant puree. This was an unforgettable meal.

We worked our way home with heavy feet, heavy bags and a light head from this Turkish wine. I think my head hit the pillow at 8:30 that night.

Tags: Akdeniz in New York City, arriving at J.F.K. Airport, breakfast with a homeless, Macy's Department Store

Some other posts you might like to read:

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 9:21 pm and is filed under New York. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.