A (mostly) sunny day in the city today. Having not been able to really find Chinatown in my last few efforts, I did some research, found where I needed to go and went downtown to check it out.

My trip to Chinatown was primarily to shop for a new watch, knowing that the area is full of affordable replicas of very unobtainable watches. However, I got a pleasant side-effect when I ventured into a small shop off of Canal Street. Oddly enough for Chinatown, I encountered an entire shop of Indians who were pushing knock-off watches and I zeroed in on a replica Bell & Ross, tried it on and set to bargaining.

The price started out high. Stupidly high for a fake watch. I came back with an offer that was about 30% of asking price and the man I was negotiating with was a little shaken by the offer. At first he could only give me $20 off. I suggested I could keep looking. I came up $10, he came down $30. I told him I wasn't interested, he gave me a number that piqued my interest. I held fast at one price and, after handing him the watch back and telling him the deal was off, he caved. I paid about 60% less for a very high-quality replica and got a big kick out of the whole ordeal, especially realizing the guy still likely made a 500% profit. I heard his co-worker question and then double-check that the price they were selling for was actually true. Mike 1, Chinatown 0.

I was really enjoying Chinatown, so I walked down Bowery, hoping to find the site of the former CBGBs club, but to no avail. If they've cleaned up the Bowery area since the Ramones had played CBGBs nearly 40 years ago, I can only imagine how rough it was in the 70s.

I found myself near Cooper Union in NoHo, having walked off a hearty breakfast of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Food has been a bit of a challenge with being lactose intolerant, so I've relied heavily on health food stores and grocery stores. However, while walking along the sidewalk, I happened upon a 100% vegan restaurant inside of a racquet club. Seeing a vegan option for lunch was exciting not because of dislike for meat, but because vegan food is totally dairy-free!

A few months ago, I tried raw beef. A few weeks ago, I cooked a raw steak to medium rare at Steak on a Stone. I'm the Anti-Vegan, a total meat-lover. With that being said, I reluctantly admit that the vegan meatball sub I had was one of the tastiest things I've eaten since I've been in New York. Blossom du Jour was fantastic! I can't believe I'm raving about a vegan meatball sub.

The rest of the afternoon I explored parts of the downtown, running through stores and finally found myself at the South Street Seaport, a fairly old section of the city. Cobblestone streets hold pubs that were established a decade or more before the start of the Civil War and, nearby, the Brooklyn Bridge hangs over the water.

A quick walk up the Brooklyn Bridge, I rode back uptown to meet up with Esteban at Times Square. We then met up with Andrew and Greg, two other CBS interns. Greg split off to see a friend, so the three of us went to Macy's for dinner in their cellar restaurant. A good teriyaki salmon meal with some sauteed veggies and we were reenergized.

Full of food and looking to explore the downtown, we took the E train down to the World Trade Center and continued on to Battery Park. The progress at the WTC site is, ten years later, fairly insignificant and slow when considering the Empire State Building was started and completed between 1930 and 1931. I really expected more to be accomplished, but progress seems unrealistically sluggish.

We headed back uptown and settled into a small Irish pub a block or so from The New Yorker and then headed our separate ways after watching a bit of the Mexico v. New Zealand soccer match.

I stopped into the convenience store across the street from The New Yorker, in need of some water and snacks for my room. I held the door for an older Jewish man and an elderly African American woman who was struggling to walk. We helped her inside and got her seated. She was crippled, mumbling incoherently and the man who'd helped her in was pleading with the staff to allow her to sit inside until she felt better or could call an ambulance. It leaves you speechless when you see this kind of tragedy.

It's not that I'm attempting to sound self-righteous or charitable, so let me place this here as a disclaimer; I attempt to practice the Golden Rule and live my life accordingly. I suppose that I absorb these sad situations and dwell on them, hoping that through some miracle I can work them out, make sense of them and contribute in some positive way. I'm not sure that I can, but until then I intend to step in where I can. I suppose living in a city allows you to eventually become accustomed to this sort of thing, but I don't see how one could grow used to these scenes. This blog enables me to work through what I see and communicate it, taking the burden off of my mind when I'm trying to sleep.

The amount of need and the supply of human decency is mind-numbing in this city.

I need to do some laundry tomorrow, buy an iron and press my dress pants and shirts for next Monday. I think I'll allow myself a trip to a museum though. I'm thinking the Natural History Museum, MOMA or one of the hundreds of others of great places here.

A few things I've learned today:
1. When in an Irish pub, the Ramones and the Clash are acceptable music selections on the juke box.
2. I have retained my ability to understand quite a bit of German. Thanks to the German tourists sitting near me at Cooper Square during lunch for the refresher course!
3. Vegan food, despite only being food in theory, can be very delicious.