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...

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?

 

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!

Saturday at the seaside

A few weeks back, whilst we had the lovely Shantha staying with us, we spent a warm and muggy Saturday at Coney Island in Brooklyn.

The whole place was so colourful and we had so much fun! 

It was felt a bit like stepping back in time to a 1950s beach resort complete with boardwalk, amusement park, ballroom dancing and sideshows.

We relaxed on the beach, flew a kite and did some paddling in the sea.

Then explored the beach-side theme park. We didn't actually commit to any of the rides but enjoyed watching. Next time I need to try the log flume!

 Next was lunch at the Famous Nathan's (home of the annual July 4th hotdog eating competition!). 

Two varieties of hotdog for Dave, classic and corn-dog, whilst Shantha and I stuck with corn-on-the-cob and fries (I'm still put off by all those 'what's really in your hotdog' stories. Eyelids apparently).

We spent a good while walking along the board walk enjoying some of the best people watching I've experienced in ages (including groups of people playing music and dancing on the pier and lots of proper New York accents of the sort you really don't hear very often!)

As it turned into evening we enjoyed a few beers at one of the bars on the boardwalk. The place actually got busier as it got later and it really couldn't have felt more different to Manhattan!

 To end our day-trip on an adrenalin high we decided we should attempt the 100 year old wooden roller-coaster, The Cyclone.

 Shantha and I somehow ended up in the very front carriage, squished into the little sofa seats with just a rickety old bar holding us in. Eek!

I actually screamed the whole way round but it was amazing!!

 We will be back Coney Island!