DC to NY Part 2

This afternoon, just before I left DC, I had lunch with good company and got a lift to Washington National (Reagan) airport to pickup my car. Getting to the car hire office proved to be challenging. On our third tour of the airport the comedy had to stop and I was dropped off at the airports main entrance where the ground transportation service looked after me.

Unlike the ride to the airport, my hire car was basic but functional but unfortunately its functionality did not stretch to a GPS, comedy moments to follow! The lady that served me was impressed with my accent, she said it reminded her of a British TV show but couldn't recall its name. I was impressed with her gold and sliver teeth, reminded me of a US TV show I could recall the name of... the Jerry Springer show.

My first stop was the south West side of Philadelphia to visit some relations, and then onto New York City. My hotel was in Queens and it looked like a great location on the map, the ground level view was significantly different. Entering Queens was a scary experience, the environment took on an industrial, run down look. By the time I found my hotel I could swear I had slipped into a 1970's film set... the low budget and dirty kind!

I parked the car and as I was getting my bags a man, or something close to it, stumbled up to me and tried to sell me a mobile phone. That confirmed my worst suspicions! Needless to say we didn't chat for too long and I hurried into the relative safety of the hotel.

The staff were very friendly and quickly put me at ease. Once settled a staff member drove me to the subway station. It wasn't far, about half a mile, and a straight run down the main street so if I had to walk back I couldn't go far wrong. The subway runs a frequent all night service and I was admiring the cathedral-like grandeur of Grand Central station within 20 minutes.

After a wander around Times Square and Broadway I headed back to Queens on the subway. I exited the station and had to take a few moments to get my bearings, the streets looked unfamiliar but I soon found the street that lead to my hotel and started to walk. There were very few people around, there were very few residences that I could see and most of the buildings were either warehouses, factories or abandoned. I passed one correctional facility and was glad to know that several hundred people who probably would like to kill me were on the other side of those bars, it never occurred to me that there may be a few left on this side.

I passed a few open petrol or gas stations but little other evidence of people apart from what I thought was street art... chalk marks on the street, some vaguely resembling a person. When I got back to my hotel the thought occurred to me that perhaps it wasn't art but the remains of a several sticky ends...