A Visit to The New York Transit Museum

by Liz Heather in

Some days you wake up and think, “Christ… another day?” and it is on these days that you should get up and do something you’ve always wanted to do. ENTER THE TRANSIT MUSEUM!

It’s absolutely wild that this was the first time I’ve ever been here, it is now definitely in my top three favourite museums of New York. It should really just be called the train museum though because that’s what it is. “Transit” might be the most boring word in the history of language. Also, how cool is it to have the museum itself be inside the abandoned Court Street station?

Can you even imagine riding around in that bus (above)? So f-ing elegant.

Photos of the now abandoned City Hall Station

Those photos (above) are of the now closed City Hall Station that I vow to visit one day. They do tours of the station every few years and I can only imagine how beautiful it would be to see in person. (Yes, I know that you can get glimpses of it if you stay on the downtown 6 train as it loops back around to become an uptown, but it’s not the same. I want to be out on that platform and ROAM damnit.)

On the ground floor of the museum, there are tons of photos and advertisements from old transit ads as well as old ticket booths and replica buses.

And the downstairs area is where it gets really fun.

Trains from different eras line both sides of the platforms and you can walk in and out of them.

If I can be honest here, it feels insane to be able to walk through history. You feel every era of each train. The coldness of the ones from the 70s, the decadence of the ones from the 20s, it’s unreal. The second best part of this place? The subway ads.

There aren’t enough ads these days that scare children into caring about safety.

I can’t recommend this museum enough. With kids, without kids, go high, go after the farmer’s market nearby. Just go. Such a good time.

Open Fridays - Sundays, 11am-4pm, advance tickets required.

My Walk To Manhattan

by Liz Heather in

We are still in lockdown mode in New York City and I feel powerless, numb and useless. I’m an editor with no clients on the horizon and a waitress whose restaurant shut down in March. The days have been bleeding into one another for months and I wanted to change that, even for just one day.

Yesterday I walked for 15.6 miles to get from Astoria in Queens to Soho in Manhattan and back. I started the walk thinking that I’d just walk to Central Park, but that only took me about an hour and sort of ignited something inside of me to keep going. Here’s how it went and why you should maybe consider taking your own wandering walk.

(Sidenote: I had a mask on the entire time and didn’t come in contact with anyone, I’m not an idiot.)

(Sidenote #2: In order to take a walk like this, you have to have amazing bladder control because every store is closed and the ones that are open may not let you use their bathroom. I didn’t go to the bathroom for seven straight hours during this walk because I, ahem, have a fat-ass bladder that I’m abnormally proud of.)

Walking across the Queensboro Bridge

I’ve never walked across this bridge before (I’ve only walked across the Brooklyn Bridge) and it took so much longer than I thought it would, but it was still a decent walk. Not as nice as the Brooklyn Bridge (maybe because it’s not as ornamental and old) but still, who doesn’t love a bridge walk?

Queens on the right, Roosevelt Island on the left

These apartment buildings remind me so much of an old Jack Lemmon movie

The perimeter of Central Park

Despite everything, spring is still happening

Believe me when I say that there was practically no one in Central Park and the people that I did see stayed very far apart from each other. Granted, a lot of areas were blocked off, but still. For moments throughout my walk in the park, there was absolute silence and it felt unreal.

Inside Central Park, looking at The Plaza hotel

I didn’t want to stay inside the park too long mostly because I had my mask on and the sun was shining so it was getting really hot, so I ventured on. I’ll forever love the fact that you can dedicate a park bench to someone. (I just looked it up and it costs $10,000 to “adopt” a bench because of course it does, this city is nuts sometimes, nothing too nice can ever be affordable.)

Regardless of the insane cost, I still love reading the inscriptions on these benches

After I left the park, I walked past Carnegie Hall (which always makes me think of both Home Alone 2: Lost in New York as well as Bill Cunningham) and then headed through Times Square.

Carnegie Hall

The Naked Cowboy alone in Times Square

I’ve never seen an empty Times Square before and it just felt sad. The city has never looked this way before. There are no crowds of people, only massive amounts of road construction going on against the backdrop of empty storefronts. Everything was turned off so fast and so easily, it’s insane to see the leftover realities of that.

Tuesday May 26, 2020 at 12:52pm

I took this photo while crossing 42nd street at 1pm. Lunacy.

From 42nd street, I headed past Bryant Park and down Fifth Avenue.

This library will forever remind me of Ghostbusters

Photo taken in the Flatiron District

At this point I was just wandering. It still blows my mind that the subway closes at night now.

Wild.

Around this point, I was getting pretty hungry so I started heading more south since I had a place in mind. I passed Madison Square Park and kept going down Broadway through an empty Union Square to get to Soho.

Soho, my Adidas shoes

Lovely Day on Elizabeth Street

I got some takeout at Lovely Day (my forever favourite pad thai place) with the intention of eating it somewhere alone, not sure where yet, but I’d figure it out along the way. So I walked along Bowery heading back uptown through the East Village to get to the ferry at 34th Street.

On the ferry headed to Long Island City

I’ve never taken the ferry before and it was refreshing. It felt so nice to be on the water, even if it was only for a few minutes. It took me right into Gantry Plaza State Park where I found a bench chair to eat my late lunch. I stayed there for awhile and no one even walked by. That park is so great because there are a few little hidden walkways with these slanted chairs that are way more comfortable than they look. Then I started my final stretch heading home.

15.6 miles in the span of about 7 hours and here’s my face at the end of it in the lobby of my building.

I didn’t notice until posting this right now that the top of my face is clearly more tan because of the mask (pardon my glistening skin). Incase you’re going to do a walk like this of your own (you should!), here’s what I took in my backpack: a hat (forgot to use), a large full water bottle, a snack bar, my wallet, a scrunchie, my phone charger (which came in so handy, I used it three times at different LinkNYC USB ports around the city) and sunglasses. I also used the free app Map My Walk so I could have a map of the entire journey (shown below).

I took this walk mainly because I just wanted to feel in control of something for the day, since there are so many things that I can’t control right now. And I wanted my body and its capabilities to show me what I’m capable of. It’s becoming so normalized to be hateful of your own body right now and truthfully I’m too tired to participate in this ideology anymore. It’s miraculous that your body does so much for you on a daily basis and yet we still think & say such awful things to ourselves for not looking the way we think we’re supposed to look. To be so critical of something that literally gives you breath is absurd under normal circumstances, but especially right now. I’ve been saying and thinking awful things about the way I look for years and I’m exhausted. I just wanted a day where I wouldn’t be so negative about what my body isn’t and focus more on what it is and the possibilities that come with that. I shouldn’t be so hard on this body sometimes, I wanted to show myself that maybe it’s actually kind of a good body? Not good because it looks like what good should look like, but good because it can do things that make me feel powerful.

August Actions 2019

by Liz Heather in , , , , , ,

Words cannot express… the emotions going on inside me right now.

AUTUMN IS A FEW SHORT WEEKS AWAY. This is absolutely the start of the best time of the year because it’s basically autumn eve. That’s how I treat all of early September. Last year I went a little nuts in celebrating every single day of autumn and… I want to go even harder this year. I sort of winged it last year, but this year I’ve already started planning ways to celebrate the best time of the year. I have a problem. I know. But I’ve come to terms with that, so you should too. So let me tell you what went down last month so that we can fully move into the GREATEST, PUREST TIME OF YEAR.

  • I watched Why Do Fools Fall In Love on Netflix and jesus christ, the dog-being-thrown-out-the-window part? WHY DID NO ONE WARN ME. Will not watch again.

  • I love a good summer shark/alligator/dumb movie, so we obviously saw Crawl and it was very fun. The dog was the best part. (Are you seeing a pattern here? I’M NOT HARD TO PLEASE, HOLLYWOOD.)

  • I forced Maya to come to a sunflower farm with me and it was lovely. Why would a person with a bee allergy want to go to such a place? I’m not well.

  • I rewatched my favourite John Ritter movie Stay Tuned because it’s just something everyone should do once in awhile. Such a weird, perfect movie.

  • I attempted to read Samantha Irby’s book We Are Never Meeting In Real Life and I just couldn’t get into it, so I stopped. It’s weird ‘cause I really enjoyed Meaty, so I don’t know what happened here. Maybe ‘cause it’s summer and I think I hate reading in the summer? Haven’t picked up a book in months that I wanted to read.

  • I do not need to be the one who tells you how good hazelnut Kit Kats are, but I guess that’s what I’m doing at the moment - SO GOOD.

  • I watched part of the new 90210 reboot and ughhhh. It’s awful. In every way. Also, Luke Perry JUST died. They couldn’t have postponed or cancelled this trash?

  • I watched the first season of Tuca & Bertie and it’s so, so crazy good. Absolutely love it. Thank you to Harmeet for making me watch! I was so skeptical at first, but it’s incredible. So many similarities to Broad City in its goodness.

  • I went to the CNE with my Mom for the first time is yeeeears and it was so nice.

She did my braids, I can’t do nice braids on myself

  • Since Restaurant Week is always a big part of my life, I went to Park Avenue Summer for lunch earlier in the month and got the corn bread, corn gnocchi and corn creme brulee. YES, YOU’RE READING THAT RIGHT. Love a fucking cob. It was all very tasty, if not a little too corny (but that’s my fault, let’s be real). I also got the chicken and it was incredible. I’d love to be able to crisp a chicken skin as perfectly as they did.

And now you will too!

  • I made this hot honey salmon and if salmon weren’t such a disgusting fish, this would be a killer recipe. (And if you actually enjoy salmon, this really is great.)

  • I finally watched the rest of the new Black Mirror episodes and I stand by my thoughts that the Striking Vipers one was the best one of the season. Smithereens was okay and all, I’ll always love a Topher Grace. The main actor (Andrew Scott) did a great job, too. And the Miley Cyrus one was just okay? I don’t understand why that’s the common favourite of the season. It’s average, at best.

  • Favourite thing I’ve bought this summer: this jumpsuit with lace from Zara.

  • I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it before, but I love reading the (monthly?) Grub Street Diet columns from New York Magazine. They profile different (semi-known, sometimes-famous) people and what they eat in the span of a few days. I mostly love it for recommendations of good things to eat around New York, but also I love hearing about what people do for snacks and routine meals.

  • Someone buy me this Danny Meyer Chocolate Cream Pie. Please.

  • I watched all of On My Block on Netflix and it’s so, so good (thank you, Marla!). I’m an idiot for not watching it sooner. My favourite character is definitely Jamal, I love the florist with the gnomes, and the musical choices are phenomenal. Such a great show. If you haven’t seen it, I’d describe it as a modern day coming of age story set in South Central LA inspired by The Goonies. SO GOOD.

  • Did you know that eating tomatoes helps prevent colon cancer? Did not know. I’m forcing Nathan to eat them now, enough of this “I don’t like tomatoes” shit. Not standing for it anymore!

  • I went to two weddings this month, which were both beautiful. LOVE a wedding.

  • I tried the seasonal tomato gelato at Il Laboratorio Del Gelato and it was rough. I did taste the corn gelato and that one was actually pretty good, I should’ve gotten that one. This was my first time here and my main thought: it has a horrifying interior. Like if Patrick Bateman ran an ice cream shop.

  • Lately I’ve started shopping more at small businesses and less at chains. Partially because these places will disappear if I keep doing what I’m doing and I hate that idea. So no more writing/drinking at Starbucks. No more books from Amazon. No more crazy cheap dish soap at Dollar General. No more plants from Home Depot. Enough of this shit!

  • Nathan and I celebrated our ten year anniversary and went to Vermont (again, haha) and I did a full post on it, so take a look if you like. While we were away, we did rewatch the first It (still great), Sleeping With The Enemy (always a favourite of mine) and The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (which is even better than we remembered, SUCH a good movie). Also, if you enjoy Instagram stories of vacations as much as I do, I posted our whole Vermont one on my Instagram.

  • This sounds like a broken record, but I did Nathan’s podcast again! We talked about our relationship and why we think it works, etc. etc. Very self-indulgent stuff here, guys.

  • So you know how I tried and loved that chocolate dessert hummus a few months ago? TRADER JOE’S IS RIPPING IT OFF & has made their own version. For two dollars. Now look, I know companies get ripped off all the time by bigger corporations who steal the idea and make their own… but fuck. This fucking sucks. I first heard and tried dessert hummus because of seeing it on Shark Tank (the company is Delighted By Hummus) and I want to say that they invented the idea, but I can’t say for sure. I hate this.

Some things that I’m looking forward to this month: I’m SO excited to see It: Chapter Two, possibly planning out details for a trip to Salem, finishing up the last of the summer things to do list, I’ve gotta find something new and good to read, there are so many photos that I love from visiting my family/friends this summer so I might do a photo post solely of my favourite ones, finalizing my AUTUMN THINGS TO DO list, and I’d really love to pack away all of my summer clothes at some point this month to make room for the gazillion sweaters I’m waiting to wear.

If you’ve got any interest in reading last month’s roundup, go on over here!