The Subway

The Subway has quickly become my worst and best experience of New York.

The best because the subway is New York. There are buskers that move from carriage to carriage performing some of the best live music I have ever heard. During weekends (my only experiences on the subway) travellers become involved in the performances - nodding along to the music and are quick to tip the performers before they move on. Buskers on the platforms are equally as good, if not better. Their CDs are for sale and it amazes me that such talent resides on the subway platform at Canal Street. Amongst the adds in the carriages there are artworks that reflect NY life. You can experience a melting pot of lives and people  on every trip.

Sadly the Subway is hard work. Each trip is a battle with confusing maps and lines, smelly stations and cars and a lack of signage. I've also discovered that there is a high chance of accidently ending up in Brooklyn because your stop was canceled or you jumped on the wrong line.

Today, when Pant's and I were changing trains due to to track work a woman swore to us "You should get on the next train, it's going Downtown." We followed her advice because she seemed to be a local (against our better judgement) only to find ourselves back to where we started (uptown). A fifteen minute journey easily took over an hour. It was all worth it when we got back to the apartments and could proudly say "We caught the subway all the way home inspite of the odds". That's why I love the Subway (even though I'm quite sure it is less fond of me).