On Commuting

Traveling to school and work takes up a hefty chunk of my day.

Well, it used to at least.

Queens College is a grand total of 1 hour away from where I live, and I take 3 trains and a bus to get there. I did this almost every day for the past 3 years.

At first it didn't bother me at all; I felt really cool "commuting" to school every day and getting out of Manhattan. But recently, it started to hit me. I started to dread the long and tedious commute.

Thankfully, I no longer have to commute to college every day. I now work part-time in Woodside, Queens, only 30 minutes and two trains away from home, and I only do the dreadful commute to college once a week.

What a difference!

Today, another employee at work shared with me that he lives in Spanish Harlem and it also only takes him 30 minutes to travel to Woodside. But he said, "it takes me over an hour to get to Washington Heights, and that's even closer to where I live than Woodside!"

"It's true," I concured, "it takes me close to an hour and 3 trains to reach the Lower East Side from my neighborhood, and that's fewer miles away than Woodside!"

I find it so mind-boggling that traveling on public transportation to another borough can take almost half the time as traveling within the same borough.

I am so grateful that I work somewhere directly off a train line; it cuts my traveling time in half, and I get to work cool, calm and collected. 

Perhaps I will write about Woodside in the future. I did some exploring and the neighborhood is quite nice!

On the Platform

A few days ago, I got onto the no. 1 uptown train at 59th street.

But the train doors wouldn't close.

After about five minutes, the conductor announced that the train was going out of service because of a broken door.

This was during Rush Hour, so the train was packed!

Hundreds of people piled out of the subway cars and onto the crowded platform.

I snapped a picture of it. The 59th street station is curved, so it provides a clear view all the way down the platform.

I just realized that there's a man sticking out his tongue in the foreground! Haha! The unexpected always happens in candid photographs....

EDIT (5/25/12):
Yesterday I experienced another crazy traveling story!!

I was sitting peacefully on the bus ride home from school (I take a bus from my college to the train station, and from the train station I take 3 additional trains home), totally absorbed in my book. We just passed over the Van Wyke Expressway, a long stretch where the bus makes no stops for a few minutes.

All of a sudden, the bus stopped. Absorbed in my book, I hardly noticed the commotion around me. After about 30 seconds, I glanced up... and noticed that the bus was surrounded with dense white smoke!! So dense that I could not see anything outside the windows!

The bus driver had left the bus to investigate. I watched him closely out the window through the smoke. About 10 seconds later, he ran back on the bus and commanded that everyone EVACUATE immediately!!

My instincts told me to get as far away from the bus as possible. Along with the other passengers, I pushed my way out of the bus and began walking as fast as I could away from the smokey bus. Eventually I walked the rest of the way to the train station, about a quarter-mile distance.

Here is a photo I snapped of the bus surrounded by smoke. A large wind came, dissipating some of the smoke by the time I took the picture, but you can still see the effect:

Some people were very calm and some extremely nervous. I don't remember how I felt; I just wanted to get as far away from the bus as possible in case it blew up (as my mother says, I was "catastrophizing").

I have no idea what happened to the bus. But it was certainly a crazy afternoon!

A True Melting Pot

I noticed something intriguing on my way home from school the other day:

To my right there was a guy reading a newspaper in Chinese...

And to my left, there was a guy reading a newspaper in Arabic...

Once I started to take notice, I realized that people were reading all around me in many different languages!

Each person is doing his own thing. Reading in his own language something of interest to him.

I read this article in the New York Times four years ago, and I would love to share it with you. It is one of my favorites:

Reading Underground

New York City is truly a melting pot...

Music in a Dark Tunnel

The Scene:

On the E train home after a long day in school. I am settled comfortably in my seat with a school book on the 1920s (history class). The train is relatively empty.

I see an older man walk into the car, and take out a violin from a carry-case. He begins to play the most beautiful music; his skilled fingers catch every note to perfection. Beethoven, Haydn... and other pieces I recognize.

At the end of his performance, when he comes near me to collect, I ask him where he is from.

"Dominican Republic," he says.

And where was he trained?

"All over the world, but mostly in Germany."

Wow! It takes a lot to impress me when it comes to Subway performers (or solicitors), but I loved his music! Not everyday do you have skilled violinist make a private concert in your Subway car!

Anyone have any experiences with Subway performers?
What was the best/worst one you've seen?
What do you love/hate about Subway performers?

Post in the comments!



Side note: I just found this video online while searching for Subway performers -- weird, but I saw these same guys the other day, and this was filmed 3 years ago! (It's very nerve racking to see these guys perform like that on a moving train!!)

AC + Subway Station = A Relief!

If you have traveled on the Subways during the summer, you will understand when I say that the stations are stifling hot!!!

The Subway stations in NYC are incredibly difficult during the summer. As I stand on the platform praying for the next train to arrive soon, I pace back and forth on the platform so I can create a small wind to cool me down. 

Subways stations are at least 10 degrees hotter than the street, primarily because there is no circulation, and also because of the exhaust from the Subway cars.

Last week, I discovered the one and only air conditioned subway station in New York City!

42nd and Lexington (4, 5, 6, 7 trains) is located beneath Grand Central Station. A brilliant person (to whom many New Yorkers are forever grateful) decided to pump the air conditioning that cools down Grand Central into the Subway station below.

The station does not have an "air conditioned" feel, but it most certainly is bearable! And if you stand in the right spot, you can get the impact of the air conditioned air from the vent. 

Happy traveling!

Singing Pirates

There was a singing pirate on my no.1 uptown Subway today! Dressed in the full regalia... feather in the hat and all!

(UPDATE: Saw him again on the Subway a few weeks ago. Apparently he is an Irish Minstrel and calls himself The Creepy Bard).

Subway conversations

I manage to get a seat on a very crowded no. 1 uptown train on Friday afternoon. A few stops later, an old man walks into the car and looks around for a seat. I motion to him that there is an available seat next to me (someone had just gotten up).

He comes over and gratefully takes the seat. And then he starts to talk to me (why, oh why, do elderly people feel a need to talk to me on the subway?!).

Old man: "You know, I'm turning 82 next week."
Me: "Oh wow! It's nice to see that you're still getting around on the Subway!"
Old man: "I work part time."
Me: "Really? Where?"
Old man: "At a senior center. I do maintenance, painting... stuff like that. I used to be a painter."
Me: "cool!" (wondering how he could manage that, but hey! Whatever keeps him happy!)
Old man: (pulls out a small magazine entitled "Awake") "Have you ever seen this?"
Me: (thinking that it must be some missionary material meant to sway my belief)
Old man: (continues) "Here, take one!"
Me: "No thanks, I have way too much stuff to read already."
Old man: (begins reading an article entitled "How to Stay Awake While Driving")
Me: (minding my own business)
Old man: "Nice day out, isn't it?"
Me: "Mmmhhh hmmmm."
Old man: "I'm coming back from the dentist, just got a tooth pulled."
Me: (why did I ever let him sit next to me??!!) "Okay."

The train finally arrives at my station. As I get up to leave, the old man man says, "well, have a nice day and thank you for your consideration!"

Anyone ever have interesting Subway conversations? Or is it just me who has funny interactions with my fellow commuters?

Skyscrapers Galore!

**Just want to give a shout out to my friend A who spotted me on my afternoon excursion today. Hope you enjoyed your outing this afternoon!

This afternoon, I checked out the Skyscraper Museum, located across the street from The Museum of Jewish Heritage by Battery Park. Its a cute little museum that takes about 45 minutes to see in its entirety.

The museum is exactly as it sounds. All about skyscrapers. Given my crazy fear of heights and the fact that just looking at super tall buildings gives me the shivers, it was an odd choice museum for me to visit. But I loved all the cool pictures and videos they had on exhibit (although I did cringe in fear at the height of some of the buildings!).

The design of the museum is really cool! They have mirrors on the ceiling, so it looks like the room is much larger than it actually is.

Source: NYPI.net

This is a New York Times article from Sunday, January 19, 1964.

The caption under the picture of the twin towers reads as follows: "New look at skyscrapers: Model of the proposed trade center demonstrates how twin 110-story towers will soar above their satellite buildings, to be 70 feet high."

They also showed a 15 minute long video about the construction of the Twin Towers. It was extremely interesting, but also very sad at the same time. All the work that went into building the Twin Towers just crashed to the ground (in addition to the tragedy of all the lives lost) on 9/11.

On my way home, I passed through the recently built South Ferry Subway station.

Credit: Wikipedia

The South Ferry station has some fantastic artwork! The station was designed by Doug and Mike Starn, and art on display is called See it Split, See it Change (don't ask me why, I haven't thought about it deep enough yet).

Check out the trees (I love trees) entitled "Silhouetted Images of Trees," and the intricate stainless steel fence!

credit: starnstudio.com

The beautiful leaf on the left is made out of fused glass panels, and the map on the right is mosaic.

credit: starnstudio.com

The map is actually a skillful combination of a topographic map from 1640 with a street plan from The Battery to 155th street.

I enjoy traveling on the subway and noticing all the great little details that decorate the Subway stations. Next time you're traveling on the Subway, take notice of these details - the moldings, the mosaics, the tiles, etc. You may be surprised at how much you can find!

More information about the artwork of South Ferry Station can be found at http://www.starnstudio.com/MTA_SF.html.

For information about the Skyscraper Museum, visit: http://www.skyscraper.org