Saturday, July 28, 2012

The daily commute


After a 15 minute subway ride I have a 10 minute walk right along the bottom of the park.
Through the trees, past the tourists, the horse and carriages, the many snow cone and coffee vendors, morning dow-walkers and endless horn-beeping yellow taxis.
My little New York escape before the working day begins...

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Times Square visits

When visitors are here, especially when it's their first New York experience, there are certain things that they just have to see. 
And as we've had quite a few visitors recently it follows that we've made several post-dinner trips to Times Square to take in the crazy neon spectacle and even crazier crowds.


It may not be cool, or somewhere that real New Yorkers would ever hang out but it is completely overwhelming and so unlike anything in the UK that I kind of love it for that. 
In very small doses.


 We even squeezed onto the big screen! Can you spot us?

 

Saturday, July 14, 2012

4th of July


Our first Independence Day!

Having a day off on a Wednesday was rather confusing but certainly made a nice change. Especially since it was incredibly hot and sunny (we were mid-way through our first real NY heatwave).

As we had some of Dave's family visiting at the time we felt we really should make the effort to leave our lovely fan behind and brave the crowds to get a good look at the famous Macy's fireworks. 

But first we started the day in a truly American way - pancakes in a diner. Delicious.

(We also ended up in a coffee shop mid afternoon where they were showing the Coney Island hotdog eating contest which made me a feel a little ill).


Anyway, the fireworks are launched from barges on the Hudson River so we wandered down to about 72nd street to see if we could get a view from the riverside. I thought it might be mobbed and crazy but actually it was a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
(As a Brit I never fail to be amazed by the lack of public drunkeness at large gatherings in America...)

We ended up with a great spot on a pier where we had a drink and sat watching the sunset as we waited for the extravaganza. There was a lovely breeze off the river which was such a treat.
We were rather envious of the people with riverside balconies though...


Some New Yorkers have told me the fireworks were a bit disappointing this year but we thought they were great! I especially liked the hearts and smiley faces - very impressive.



The anthropologist in me was perhaps slightly disappointed with the lack of flag-waving red white and blue craziness. 
Maybe i'd like to be somewhere a bit more 'American' next year!