Bryant Park, Times Square, and Justin Timberlake

Bryant Park

Last Thursday I decided that I needed a New York Public Library card, not only to check out books for research, but also to check out a Lonely Planet Washington DC book for our weekend trip to DC. I got the required documents - proof that I either live, work, and go to school in NYC, plus a driver’s license or passport. I went in with a letter from work with the address on official letterhead along with my passport and license. I called ahead of time to make sure this would be accepted and the guy on the phone said it should be fine, but that it depends on the mood of the person working. Sadly, the woman working was very cranky and rejected me outright. Since there was a huge line I decided not to make a big deal out of it and instead Russell and I went to Bryant Park a block away to enjoy twilight and take some nice night shots with my camera.

After replacing in the park for a little bit we walked to Times Square so Russell could see it lit up at night. As we were walking I noticed a huge group of people that were dancing - flash mob! YES! I have always wanted to see a flash mob, but then I noticed a camera and lighting and realized that it wasn’t a real flash mob but a fake one... oh well still fun. I thought that they were filming a Verizon commercial because I have seen Verizon’s flash mob commercial on YouTube before, but then I noticed that there were two people who were the only ones not dancing. Then I realized that the two people not dancing were Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis! They were filming the movie Friends with Benefits. I tried to take some photos but there was a pretty big crowd around. I did get some good video though and will post that up on YouTube sometime soon (update: video has been posted!). Russell and I watched three takes before heading back to the subway to go home.

Russell Has Arrived

Central Park Reservoir

Russell arrived in New York Saturday morning after changing his ticked to an earlier date. Once he got settled in his first request was to see Central Park. I obliged, so we got him a MetroCard and took the subway to the park for a walk, and what a nice walk it was! We started out walking around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir then headed toward the Great Lawn and the Turtle Pond, stopped to see the kid juggler, then arrived at the southern exit of the park. Once we exited we took a break on a shaded bench and did some people watching for 20 minutes.

After a quick break we continued our walk towards Times Square. On our was we came across the great group of break dancers, I guess you would call them - some did dancing, some did crazy acrobatics. I will post up a video here once I upload it to youtube. After watching the dancers we continued on to Times Square where we saw a huge billboard that had a picture of Mahmoud Ahmadineja, the President of Iran, with a caption reading, "He's not welcome here." It was a poster for UANI - United Against Nuclear Iran. I wonder if people know that Iran does not yet possess weapons grade nuclear capabilities and they have also signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows them to develop nuclear power for peaceful

Trinity Church Cemetery

purposes. Yet the US has 5,113 nuclear warheads - and don't even get me started on Israel and its illegal nuclear arsenal - talk about hypocrisy! Maybe we should think about reducing our own arsenal. I mean honestly, 5,113? Do we really need to have the power to not only destroy ourselves and our planet, but to destroy it multiple times over? I am all for a nuclear free world, but come on folks, take a look in the mirror! I could go on, but I don't want to get myself into trouble...

After a short stroll through Times Square, Russell and I headed back home for some well deserved sleep.

Trinity Church

The following Sunday we decided to take a walk through Lower Manhattan. I took Russell on the walking tour I had taken myself on previously. We began at City Hall Park and walked towards Ground Zero, stopping on the way at the Woolworth Building. There is a sign outside that says no tourists allowed in the building, but we ignored it because we wanted to see the famed gold mosaic ceiling - and it was well worth getting yelled at... so beautiful! Next was St Paul Chapel, which overlooks Ground Zero. We sat on a bench in the cemetery for a little break before moving on towards Trinity Church and Wall Street.

Last time I went on this walking tour Trinity Church was closed for the day, but this time I arrived early enough to enter the cemetery and the church. Trinity Church was Russell's favorite part of the day. He, like me, noticed that the headstones were being washed away by weathering and we talked about how life is so ephemeral. There really is no time to waste on negative emotions and feelings. This is one area where we are always on the same page - we both want to live and experience life as much as we can in happiness and joy.

New York Stock Exhange

We also went into Trinity Church. There was some sort of service going on but we stayed in a side room what was surrounded by tomb-looking memorials. The inside of the church (as well as the outside) is done in a beautiful Gothic style with dome ceilings and intricately carved walls ceilings, and statues and wooded trim around the doorways. In one side room, I am sure there is a specific name for it, we kneeled to pray and meditate. It was very peaceful and relaxing.

After leaving the church we walked down Wall Street into the Financial District to see Federal Hall, where George Washington took his oath of office to become our first President, and the New York Stock Exchange.

Staten Island Ferry

Next we walked to Bowling Green to see the Charging Bull statue, when it began raining. Since it was raining we ducked into the National Museum of the American Indian before heading to the Staten Island Ferry house for a free ferry ride past the Statue of Liberty to Staten Island. I must say that the Statue of Liberty is a bit underwhelming. I thought it would be a lot bigger. Once Russell and I arrived on Staten Island we took a little stroll around. I would have liked to go to the huge nature reserve on the island for a hike but we didn't have time. After our quick walk we caught the next ferry and headed back to Manhattan for our appointment to see a place for sublet in Harlem/Washington Heights. The place was really great - in a brownstone, right next to the Hudson River and a great natural shopping market. Today we just found out that we got the place! We will be moving there on Aug 10th until the end of September. Once we saw the place we took a park to a park on the Hudson, laid out my sarong, and relaxed there for a half hour before checking out the super market nearby. After a quick shopping trip we headed back to the subway, which ended up turning into a long walk through Columbia University and NY City College, both beautiful campuses!

Next, we hopped on the subway and made our way home. I slept like a baby after all the walking we did that day!

Trinity Church Cemetery and Russell

Fourth of July Weekend

Empire State Building

Saturday I took myself on another walking tour. I started at Union Square Park where there was a farmers market. I had to wheat grass, which I later regretted because it gave me a terrible stomach ache. And I got that stomach ache while waiting in line to get a shake from the famous Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. The line was incredibly long and by the time I was set to order I was feeling sick and cranky. Then when I got the chocolate shake it was a total let down! I didn't even finish a quarter of it - what a waste of time and money! I did take a little nap under the shade trees in the park until my stomach felt better, then tanned a bit in the sun before continuing my walk.

While walking I came across two sample sales. I had read about sample sales in my Lonely Planet book and have always wanted to check one out. What they say about sample sales is true - there are some serious designer clothes in there for 70-90% off. I was so tempted to buy something, but I remembered reading the Lonely Planet warning: don't buy something just because of the label and the cheap prices, you need to really like it. For example, I found a dress that was $1,500 originally, discounted to $135. Good deal, right? Well, one hundred and thirty five dollars is a lot of money for me no matter how you look at it, so I put the lovely dress down and walked out. Maybe I will go to another one again sometime - it can be fun trying on a bunch of fancy clothes.

Times Square at Night

Next I headed to the Empire State Building and decided to catch the sunset from the top. I have heard that the lines are insane but I saw that people were flying through so I took my chances and went in. Unfortunately the line that was moving quickly was the security line and once I passed that I saw that it would be at least one hour  of waiting to get to the top. Then I remembered reading that if you buy you ticket online then you can pass the line. So I got out of line and decided that I would just wait for another day when I could buy a ticket online.

Times Square

After leaving the Empire State Building I took a walk down 5th Avenue and did some window shopping at all the fancy stores. Then I realized that I was near Times Square so I headed that way to see it lit up at night, and man was it lit up! It is like day time there with all of the lights! I walked up to the top of these bleacher-like stairs that are lit up with red lights and hung out there for a while taking in all of the lights and people (there are many more people there at night than during the day). The as I was heading to the subway I noticed someone was playing one of the public pianos that have been set up throughout the city for anyone to play. The guy who was playing was great! He could play any song and sing along as well. People would shout out songs and he would just do his thing. Everybody was clapping and singing along too! It was so much fun! I stayed there for at least an hour listening to him play.

Times Square Piano Man

Once the piano man had to leave I decided to leave a well, so I headed to the subway to make my way home and go to bed. It is difficult sleeping when it is so damn hot out. At night it doesn't get an lower than 75ºF - that is the coolest it gets! Oh well, better get used to it. I hear it only gets worse in August.

Yesterday, the 4th of July, I headed to a waterfront park to view the fireworks. I am not really one for crazy drunken people so I came to this park where there was only limited access and mostly families. I got a great spot on the lawn, had some frozen lemonade, worked on my tan, and came close to finishing Freefall. I had to get there early to get a good spot before the closed off the park, after which they begin finning up the street behind the park. After relaxing in the park for 5 hours the show started and it was beautiful! A bunch of fireworks being set of simultaneously across the water for a half hour. The show is supposed to be America's largest and it is nicknamed "The Golden Mile" because boats set off fireworks for one mile along the Hudson River.

Hudson River Sunset

After the show was over I busted out of the park as quick as I could while other people were still packing their things. I am so glad that I am a light packer. All I brought was my purse with a book and camera and a sarong tied to the strap. Plus, one person maneuvering through a HUGE crowd is much easier than when you are with a group, so I made it out rather quickly and got onto the subway before the trains started to get too full. That was definitely the most people I have seen on the streets in my life though. Everywhere I looked there were people - and I wasn't even in the thick of it!

It was another hot night and I slept terribly. Luckily today I don't have to work so I was able to sleep in, but that means that I am not going to the beach this weekend. Ah well, maybe next weekend!

Get here early if you want a spot on the grass

Times Square

Times Square is "for Erica"

Today I made it to Times Square! We got off early from work today, so after going ot eat lunch at a French restaurant and watching Ghana score the 45 +1 minute goal I left for Times Square very content (too bad Ghana lost, I was really rooting for them). Anyways, I got to Times Square and there were so many people. People, cars, lights - everywhere. The ultimate symbol of capatilism. I would bet that there are a lot of countries out there that don't use nearly as much energy as Times Square does to keep everything lit up all day long. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy myself today, because I did, that is just not a place I would want to frequent. The next time I go back will probably be to buy a broadway ticket if I decide to see a show - they have automated booths there where you can buy tickets 50% off - but the line is horrendous!

I was very amused by the "For Erica" sign I discovered. Well, it wasn't really a sign but I happened to be coming down the escalator while shopping when I noticed my name. What a perfect angle I stumbled upon! It is like New York saying, "Here you go Erica, this day is for you, enjoy!"

Where is Erica? Click here to see.

After the amazing for erica photo I headed towards a store called Loft to shop - the whole store 50% off, yes! - and noticed that I was up on the jumbo screen! So I took a photo of that as well. See if you can find me (hint: I am wearing a green shirt and jeans -or- click here to see). I must admit that that jumbo screen setup Forever 21 has is one of the best works of advertisement I have ever seen. They get hundreds of people stopping to look up at the screen, which rests above their store and has a giant 21 on it, so now people know what store it is associated with. Then people start pointing so more people head over to see what's going on. Everyone is taking photos. And now with facebook, twitter, blogs, and instant uploads with cell phones, I am sure that the hundreds of people who took a photo of themselves up on the screen (myself included), put those photos online - hello free advertisement, and lots of it. So smart! Whoever thought of that better have gotten a raise.

Clouds over Times Square

After a quick stop at Loft, where I got some rally cute linen capris, I headed back to the subway - a labyrinth in this part of town, by the way - and headed home. One of my favorite things to do, still, is ride the train and observe all of the flavors of people in New York. It is also a good time to thrown some calming music onto my trusty ipod (today it was Thievery Corporation) and focus on my breathing. So relaxing. Then I came home and had my favorite end of day snack - chopped avocado with Italian dressing. It is too bad that even my salad dressing has corn syrup in it... damnit! That stuff in inescapable! Really, start paying attention to that.

Now it is time to enjoy the three day weekend!

Times Square panorama