The Written Podcast: New York (Part 12) – The Third Night

Thankfully, upon leaving the theatre after the magnificent performance of The Phantom of the Opera, it had stopped raining. I also had dried out during the 2-and-a-half-hour show, allowing me to walk comfortably around New York once more, and with the sound of my stomach rumbling, it was time to find something to eat. I wasn’t sure where to go again. I was torn between two options: Either go back to Pick-a-Bagel, a wonderful establishment and try out something new, or go to somewhere completely different and try something off the menu there. As I was walking back through Times Square, towards the direction of my hotel, a third option crept into the back of my mind: The restaurant just outside my hotel, which after a couple minutes thought, I concluded was the best option. 

I hadn’t done that much walking today as I did yesterday, but it still has been a good day in terms of activities. I got soaked, I’ve been mesmerised by The Phantom of the Opera; it’s been more of a mentally draining day whereas yesterday was more of a physically draining day, which helped me with making my decision to go to the restaurant just outside my hotel, because after having a good meal, I would be safe with the knowledge I wouldn’t have to walk far to get back to my room, and from the looks of those clouds above, it could restart raining once more. 

That restaurant has many delights on the menu, but none pulled on my heart strings as an Oreo filled pancake. Three huge pancakes stuffed with crushed Oreo cookies, drenched in maple syrup. It was divine. It was filing, but it was so delicious my brain wanted more. I literally couldn’t stop eating it until my plate was bare. Afterwards, I was just as stuffed as the pancakes were, barely able to move, pleased that once I do finally get some momentum I wouldn’t have to move far; then I can crash on my bed and watch TV. 

As I was sitting at the table, waiting for my system to process the insane amount of food I just put into it, I wondered if there was anything I’d like to do tonight. This is my last full night in New York, so I’d want to make it count. The thing is, what do I do? I didn’t want to go too far away from my hotel because then it’ll get to late at night and I’ll be useless with tiredness tomorrow. I discovered that New York is very much a city that does sleep, but it keeps one eye open. That one eye open is a metaphor to most of the shops staying open very late at night, especially Times Square, which doesn’t officially shut down until midnight. 

Times Square is said to be spectacular at night, and so, without much more discussion, I decided to head down to Times Square to take a bunch of pictures of the night life… once I had battled off the fatigue created by the pancakes. It wasn’t that dark outside, anyway, so I could get a few hours of rest before heading back out. So, that’s exactly what I did; I headed back to my hotel, kicked back for a couple hours watching TV, allowing my food to be processed properly, and then when it was dark outside, headed back down to Times Square with a fully charged phone in my pocket because I knew I’d be taking a fair amount of pictures. 

It was just as overwhelming as it was the first time I stepped into the square, if not, more so. It was busy during the day, but at night, I could barely move. There was so many people every which way, it was unbelievable. Times Square is known for its many advertisements, but you never really know just how many there actually are until you visit the square at night, because then every single advert bombard you at once. The brightness of each one combined with every other, the light pollution was unbelievable, almost making it appear daylight. The stairs where you get the best view of the whole square was rammed with people. You could barely navigate them during the day, but at night, you almost had to wait until someone stepped down from a stair before you could move up, or risk knocking someone down them, or falling yourself. Also, what probably didn’t help with the dense crowd was the rain earlier. All the people who wanted to take a picture couldn’t as it was roped off from risk of people slipping over and injuring themselves, so now that it isn’t raining, every one of those people came back for an opportunity. Or maybe that’s how it always is, but whatever the reason is, I managed to get a picture from the stairs, just not right at the top as that’s where the crowd was the most dense. 

Overall, I could see why Times Square gets is fame from. During the day it’s a magical place, but during the night its true power comes alight; quite literally. I made sure to take a picture on either side of the square, to soak in the whole atmosphere, and to generally be apart of something that is world famous. I didn’t do much shopping during that time as I did most of it during my first visit here, so once I walked from one end to the other, taking as many pictures as I could without repeating the same angle, I called it a night and headed back to my hotel for the final night of my trip. 

Tomorrow would be my final day in New York. My flight is at 11PM that night, so I’d have the entire morning a good chunk of the afternoon to do even more stuff before heading over to the airport where I’d be catching a Delta airline back to England. 

I slept like a baby that night. Once my eyes were closed, I was completely unconscious to the world until naturally waking up in the morning, ready for a very long day ahead of me. 

Thanks for reading 

Antony Hudson 

(TonyHadNouns)