Today I went to Hudson Yards. What an adventure. I cannot endure the journey from the center of the earth that would be the escalators from the subway platform to the upper mezzanine, so I took what is basically not so much an elevator but a funicular railway from the top to the bottom. After that, it gets better and you emerge, blinking in the harsh daylight to see steel dragons standing guard over their steel towered mountains. Welcome to Moria, monkeys and goats. Where's Gandolf?
Well, the mall does not have the Gap of Rohan. Or any Gap. I expected such an overpriced mall to be special, not another site for H&M and Zara. Certes I didn't expect to pay $10 for a "pineapple sundae" (vanilla soft serve with pineapple "flavored" syrup. Mr. Softee would have sold it for $3.00. Here, the vending Balrog charged $10. I wonder if he deliberately overcharged me. There were no prices advertised. I gave him a $20 and he started to give me $15 back, then very quickly held back the $5 and just gave me $10. I said, "That cost $10.." He said, "Yes." I doubt it. Lesson learned. I should have found a $5 and seen if he would accept that. Not all trolls are turned to stone by daylight. Here be one who robs openly and with impunity.
The Yards are famous (imfamous?) for their public sculpture, with one is allowed to "interact." I didn't. Moi--clamber up this mangled metal atrocity that looked like the collision of the dwarves' mine with Amtrak. Hideous and not at all life affirming. I wonder if it has as many layers as Dante's inferno.
I wanted to go to Neiman Marcus. Full confession--they have good sales, at least on-line. They are advertising a gift with purchase.
It was a quest with no fellowship. There is no direct path from the bottom of the mall entrance to the fifth floor shop. From the first to the second floor, you have to go through any number of twists and turns, so that you can eyeball all the different ground floor stores. Then, from 2cd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, you have to go up and then over to the next up escalator. I felt like I was Shelob, weaving an invisible spiders web, which only allowed one-way travel. .The invisible arm of the market place severed these gossamy connections as I as progressed. From the 4 to the 5th also entails a winding path through the mall to find the correct elevator. Then by the time you get to Neiman Marcus, you're so exhausted, you have no will left. Like Frodo, unable to throw the ring away, you just want to sit somewhere. In Budapest, the malls are public space. Throughout their malls, there are many benches where you are free to sit and eat, even if it is food you brought from the outside. What progress American capitalism.
Well,here you can go to the exquisite NM women's room. Each stall comes complete with a full door and almost floor to ceiling walls. Privacy. Heck, I've lived in smaller spaces in grad school, without such modern plumbing. A pleasure. A real rest room. So yu can have a rest and a wash and gird your loins for the voyage back. There and back again.