A layover in New York City

Growing up in Connecticut, I was in and out of New York City quite a bit. Being that it was only about two hours from where I spend the majority of my life, I took occasional day trips there. My sister moved there when I was 14, so I would visit her on my school breaks. As I got older, more and more of my friends began moving, there, and I would drop in and see them when I could afford a weekend out of town. NYC is typically a pretty hit-or-miss place for me. Its can be a hit, because its a very energetic and exciting city with so many beautiful boroughs full of tons entertainment options, as well as some of the best food in the world. But it can be a miss, largely in part because its so expensive, its ALWAYS a hassle to get in and out of, its crowded, and New Yorkers are stereotypically very hostile and rude. On this night in particular though, NYC was a hit.

I was on a layover with another flight attendant about my age named Ashley. After a long day of flying around the country, we got into the city around 4 pm, and decided to relax, nap, and freshen up, for a while. Our hotel was deep in queens, close to the La Guardia airport. We bought $8.00 metro cards from the hotel gift shop, the equivalent of 24 hours of unlimited rides on NYC public transit, and headed into the city around 6pm. We took the Q 33 bus for about twenty minutes to the closest subway station at Roosevelt and Jackson Heights/74th St. We took the 7 train to times square, since Ashley hadn't been before, and its worth seeing.

Times square was congested as usual. There were tons of people around, “oooh-ing” and “aaahhh-ing” at all of the bright lights and billboards. Lots of people came that night from all over the world to see the sights and say “its looks just like it does on TV and in the movies!” in their native tongues.

We ran in to one familiar face. Elmo, of Sesame street fame. Ashley wanted to get her picture taken with Elmo. I whipped out my camera phone and told Ashley to “VOUGE!” I snapped a cute shot and we were on out way. Until Elmo hassled us for money, and told us he charged $2.00 per picture! $2.00? Really Elmo? Maybe I would pony up for Big Bird or Oscar the Grouch. I was ready to keep walking, but Ashley, being the sweet Midwestern gal she is, caved in and gave Elmo a couple of bucks.



After our “Hustle- me- Elmo” encounter, we walked deeper in to times square. In the middle of the road, there was an esplanade with a bunch of bleachers piled high. Ashley and I raced to the top of the bleachers, dodging the hundreds of other people who were taking a pause from the hustle and bustle of the city, or taking a break from shopping, or people watching, or just simply taking in the sights. I do have to admit, the view was pretty spectacular.



We walked back towards the 42nd St. Subway station and hopped on a train to Union Square. I was in the mood for the East Village that night, and Ashley mentioned she was craving Falafel, and I knew just the right place to take her. We got off the train, slightly disoriented as to which side of the square we were on. This always happens to me. But I usually look for the big ticking digital timer to re-orient myself.



We headed down 3rd avenue towards St. Marks place to the best falafel place in town, Mamoun's. Mamoun's is a family owned and operated Middle Eastern restaurant. It is the oldest falafel restaurant in New York and one of the first Middle Eastern establishments in the United States. Mamoun's currently only has three locations: two in NYC and one in New Haven, CT.




It just so happens, Mamoun's holds a very dear and special place in my heart. When I was a freshman in college, I worked as a waitress at their New Haven location. My status enabled me to try every single menu option, multiple times. I have not yet found another Middle Eastern restaurant in the United States that comes close to being as delicious as Mamoun's.

I was telling Ashely tales of Mamoun's waitressing peril as we approach the St. Mark's location. We were greeted by a very long line of a college aged crowd on a tight budget, anticipating nourishing themselves with healthy and in expensive middle eastern treats. The line moved very quickly, and before we knew it, it was our turn to order. I ordered a Chicken Kabob sandwich, and Ashley got the falafel sandwich she had been craving.

We waited against the wall of this tiny establishment, in hopes that one of the three tables inside would free up quickly. It took a good ten minutes or so, but we were finally able to grab a table and sit down and enjoy our sandwiches. We really took our time and savored every bite. Mid munch, we noticed a two other folks waiting for a table to free up. We each slid over and invited them to join us at our table. They thanked us immensely, and declared that we MUST be from out of town, informing us that New Yorkers are never that considerate. We confessed that we were good hearted mid-western based flight attendants, on a work layover from Kansas City.

We spoke with them for a good while. They filled us in on their lives. They were a couple. The guy was a Media Studies graduate student originally from Syracuse, New York. The woman was an anthropology professor and working artist as well, originally from Nicaragua. We exchanged stories , and after a good while, realized that we had all finished our meals, and more than an hour had passed. There were a bunch of people waiting for a table to free up, so we decided it was time to go.

Our new friends invited us to join them for desert at one of their favorite spots in the village, The Whole Earth Vegan Bakery on St. Marks place, in between Avenue A and 1st. During our stroll over that way, I got a feel for the scene on St. Marks, and the heart of Alphabet City and The Lower East Side of Manhattan. There were lots of young people out on that chilly Saturday night. Many were donning cutting edge fashions, slightly more mall friendly and generic looking than their couture Brooklyn counterparts. This was St. Marks place after all, obviously not Bedford Avenue. They were wandering in and out of the up scale vintage shops, cheap sushi places, and under ground bars. Literally, you have to walk down a staircase in order to access these bars. Which can be confusing, since they usually share and address with their upstairs street-level neighbors. And there are signs on the sidewalk outside, highlighting specials, though it is confusing as to which place is featuring what drink special. It seems though, the underground hot spots are less likely to disappoint.

We made our way to Whole Earth, another spot with limited seating available. We each ordered our vegan goodies. I had a Vegan chocolate chip cookie that cost almost as much as my sandwich from Mamoun's. It was ok- it tasted very earthy and grainy. I prefer stick to regular dairy filled chocolate chip cookies. However, our tour guides for the night insisted this was a true NYC gem, and perhaps, I would appreciate it more, had I made the lifestyle choice to be vegan. A fair enough claim, I suppose.

They noticed that I was less than satisfied with their beloved vegan bakery. Being true New Yorkers, eager to show a picky out-of-towner their version of New York, and leave a significant impression on me, they suggested that we try another place for vegan dessert. We headed over to 6th street, and in between avenue A and B we found Lula's Sweet Apothecary. There is no sign outside indicating we were at Lula's, so we just had to sort of peek in the window and assume we were there. What gave it away was the groups of young, wealthy looking NYC hipsters, smiling and giggling like little kids in side of a candy shop with large trust funds to blow.

I have to say, the staff at Lula's was remarkably friendly for any east village establishment I had been to before. The man behind the counter was very cartoon-ish and animated. He had large frame glasses and a larger than life mustache that curled at the ends. He encouraged me to try every flavor of ice cream they had, before committing to one. He was quick to let me sample every flavor that they made. I decided to keep it simple and go with a chocolate and vanilla soft serve swirl. They made the chocolate ice cream with almond milk, and the vanilla ice cream with coconut milk. It tasted incredible. Better than any dairy ice cream I had had in ages. Ashley ordered their peanut butter ice cream, and our new friends shared a vegan banana split. (http://www.lulassweetapothecary.com/)



I talked to the mustache man behind the counter. He was playing some really old-timey sounding blue grass and folk music. I complimented his music selection, and inquired as to why he chose to place that stuff on this particular evening. He told me he has a ton of music, and that he likes to play that particular stuff while he is working because it puts him in a good mood, and gives Lula's an old fashioned feel, like the candy shops in the olden days where everything cost one cent. He reminded me a little bit of the candy man in Willy Wonka. I was hoping he would burst into a jubilant sing along to one of his songs while we were there.

The four of us sat at our stools against the counter of Lula's. I noticed again, how limited the seating was in this place, as well as the other two places we had eaten at earlier that night. It is disappointing that seating in so limited in these places, and is probably one of the big contributing factors as to why New York City always feels so crowded to me. But then I thought that perhaps the seating is so limited because it fits in well with the lifestyle and pace of New York City. People are always on the go in New York- in and out of work, moving in and out of apartments, and different boroughs of the city, in and out of the subway trains, in and out of the city itself, and in and out of each other's lives.

We bid farewell to our new friends, and headed back to the hotel since we had to be up early to work a flight to Milwaukee the next day. They were kind enough to walk us to the closest train station, and made sure we got on the right train back to Queens, and wouldn't get lost. We thanked them for being so generous, and dashing their Saturday night plans to show around a couple of out of towners, and made plans to keep in touch. To them, it was just another spontaneous New York night, like so many others before it.