New York is...BIG! I think it's the biggest city I've ever seen. I felt (and must have looked) like a country bumpkin when I stepped off the bus and tilted my head back to try to find the top of the surrounding buildings. My sunglasses fell off my head and I lost my balance and nearly fell over.
So you can just imagine my reaction when I got to Time Square! Not only are the buildings huge but they flash with technicolour lights, changing and moving as the giant digital billboards advertise the latest product. It makes sense that Time Square is a sweet spot for pickpockets because I was surrounded by hundreds of people just like me, eyes wide, jaws dropped, completely in awe, not to mention thoroughly distracted, by their surroundings. But not to worry, I had heeded the warnings and had my bag zipped shut and held in front of me the whole time.
Beyond Time Square, I also squeezed in a visit to Central Park Zoo, ate a warm pretzel from a street vendor, rode on a ferris wheel inside the biggest Toys R Us I have ever seen, saw a Broadway musical, took a trip to the top of the Rock (Rockefeller), rode a giant bunny on a carousel in Bryant Park, had a free ferry ride to Staten Island and back to see Lady Liberty, followed by a walk up Wall St, a look at Ground Zero, a wander through Soho, lunch in Greenwich Village, a run around the outer loop of Central Park (where I saw my first raccoon!), a stroll down Fashion St, a walk past Madison Square Garden, and I spent my last three hours to take in as much as possible at the MoMA.
I must say, my brief foray into the modern art collection was exhilarating and exhausting! I was overwhelmed with the number of famous works I had previously studied that had all been gathered on one floor of this museum. Picasso, Monet, Matisse, Gauguin, Miro, Van Gogh, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Dali, Kahlo, Duchamp to name just few of the artists that I can remember off the top of my head. I was also overwhelmed by the crowds of jostling people, shoving their way around the gallery, clicking away taking photos of the paintings and then photos of them standing next to the painting, and then reviewing it on the camera...this was infuriating. I nearly caused a scene in front of Dali's 'The Persistence of Memory' when a man next to me took photo, after photo, after photo, each time the camera focused it flashed a red light which reflected in the glass so that you could no longer see the picture behind. After the fifth or sixth photo I snapped and abruptly told him "enough!", his girlfriend took him by the arm and lead him away saving any further confrontation...I wonder if there is a time you can visit these works when it's less crowded...probably not.
The MoMA actually felt like a micro New York. Big. Crowded. Housing an amazing collection of things that are revered the world over. A rush to be there, but not a place I could keep pace with in daily life.
Also, I love a city where you can j-walk, everyone does because everyone seems to need to get somewhere and in a hurry. It's a city that doesn't (maybe can't?) stand still.
There is so much to see in this city and four days is simply not enough time to see it all. But I'm happy with what I managed to cram in.
I also snuck in a couple of cycle classes...purely in the interests of keeping my fitness up so I don't die on the podium this weekend when I take my first class. (I just looked up the class schedule online and my name's on the board, yay!)
So I'm ready to board the bus back to Philly and spend my last night in the States. I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but New York hasn't seen the last of me, this is a city I could see again, and again, and again...
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