Travelogue 5 – Lost in Manhattan

Since work has rudely interrupted in the blogging activity, it took me this long to update the Blog. I am still in New York - according to the blog that is - and hope to update more frequently on the remaining travel days. But here it is - how I was lost in Manhattan and still made it back! BTW, it is not uncommon for people to push you aside in Manhattan - a typical Mumbai style dhakka if you are walking slowly!

While coming back from 86th street, I did a trip in two goes – walk down the Central Park up to 70th and Columbia Ave, then take the metro up to Canal Street. From here, I had to walk to the WTC PATH. But the moment I got out at Canal Street, I was confused. There were many different streets going in as many directions – Canal, W Broadway, 6th Avenue and such. It was a confusing maze of streets. Which way to Church Street? I had picked up a cheap map without all the street names (the one that was available for free at the hotel). This did not show all the streets and that added to confusion. I started walking intuitively. When most of the streets crisscross north-south and east-west, finding directions is easy except for Broadway and 6th Avenue which do not conform to this rule. As I start walking, I realize this might not be the right direction. It was confirmed when I saw signs for Holland tunnel…okay, opposite direction. But the streets names are not familiar. Neither were they on map. I still keep walking – Wooster, Greene…I should see Church St by now. But no Church St yet. Okay, turn and change the direction – Laight St, Beach St, but still no Church St. Then all of a sudden, W Broadway and Beach St intersect. The map never said that! Well, do I believe what I see or what was on the map? Ultimately, I gave up and asked at a toy shop and I was led in the right direction. Only later, I realized that W Broadway and Beach Street did intersect but they were not shown on the map because W Broadway and Broadway were two different streets! And all the time I was walking on W Broadway, assuming it was Broadway. Never pick up a free map!