After our ferry ride on the Hudson, the next stop was Time Square. We had a really hectic schedule trying to fit everything my dad in law wanted to do , but the truth is thanks to his bucket list ideas, we got to do a lot in NYC. And thanks to my family in NYC for planning it all out.
The last time I was in Time Square I was here by myself, there was no google maps or Uber to make the journey smoother but I survived. I think I researched how to get around online and took the metro into Manhattan. It hasn't changed much from what I remember, the ads on the screens of course but it is pretty much bright lights and a sea of people. Two things that have changed though is the smell of weed smoke in the air as well as the amount of homeless people roaming around.
We did quite a bit of walking to get to Time Square, I'm pretty used to that, and I actually walk very fast compared to the average. Come to think of it, fast paced walking is something I actually picked up in NYC the few times I visited over the years, the people I hung out with then walked hustle fast ( a story for a different time). I had to actually slow my pace down in order not to lose the Japan gang, but fast enough to keep up with these two, our fam and tour guides for the day.
The gang was exhausted to say the least and the kids, especially the twins, vented their frustration:
"Why are we here? What did we come to do and see?"
Quite a reasonable question in my opinion. But saying "hey, this is Time Square, everyone dreams of coming here", isn't gonna cut it. One day they can look back at these pics and think differently... I hope.
I tried to tell them that this was on Japa Grandpa's bucket list but they didn't understand that either.
A part of me wanted to go all Jamaican on them but I don't think they needed that weight on their already heavy shoulders.
"Weh deh bomboclaat yuh mean why wi deh yah? We di adults have plans, yuh a pickney, just come on a shut rass man, yuh know how muh people wah come yah ( kiss teath) Unu weak u fuck."
This picture right here pretty much sums up the mood the twins were in. They were not happy. But hey....
One interesting thing I noticed was Yumar ( the twin on the left, pic below) was sitting right next to a homeless dude and didn't even act judgmental or have a concern in the world. I don't think he realized or cared, the tiredness and boredom was enough to deal with.
But the homeless dude made sure to check his bags that were next to Yumar to see if anything was disarray. I can imagine in his mind, he must have been thinking "why is this kid sitting next to me?" Gotta be keen in the streets, can't even trust kids.
Well at least the twins walked, my youngest, Aijah, who is only 4 still has his “lift me up" green card in tact and was hopping from me to J Grandpa throughout a lot of the journey. "I'll buy you ice-cream" worked at first but this journey was a bit much for him. The good thing with younger kids is they aren't hard to please, something catches their attention and they are distracted from the matter at hand. In this case, Batman.
"Hey dad let's go over to Batman"
I didn't want to do it, I knew exactly what it entailed, take a picture with El Bato and pay some money. But the kid was really wanting to go up and see Batman.
Just by hearing Batman's accent I knew exactly who this guy was. More than likely a recent immigrant who "got into" the US, found his way to NYC and was wearing a Batman costume to make ends meet. I had to respect the hustle, at least he isn't on a moped grabbing iPhones and purses.
But who asked for the Penguin? This mother fucker rolled up and bombed the Batman pic with Aijah, who the fuck wants a pic with the penguin? I cursed him a bit but Aijah was actually diggin it.
But instead of $10 bucks for Batman, they wanted $20 for the duo. Before I could say hell no, David, my fam in NY came and was like, "HELL Nah, get outta here!.😆
After the photo opps, we found our way into a Starbucks to chill from the heat and kill some time before we were off to an Izakaya reservation. After the fam got settled into the Starbucks, I took the opportunity to walk around Time Square and snap a few shots with my camera which barely got used on his trip.
📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸
Time Square was interesting, wish I had more time there to just chill, people watch and take some photos but meh, it was enough.
We didn't even eat at this spot but managed to get the staff to take our pics, it was just a pit stop for us, we did buy bottles of water and colas though, hhmmm I guess we did pay for the pit stop and photo opps, dem drinks was Hexpensive 😄.
Until next time, stay blessed.
