New York State of Mind

The Great Return to the U.S. of A., and after three months of various shades of grey--SUNSHINE! And heat, albeit unbearable at times in the New York metro and crowded streets. I had forgotten how LOUD and dirty New York is, even getting off the plane at Newark airport I knew I had entered a completely different world. Certainly not one of polite cricket matches and afternoon tea. I got onto the elevator for baggage claim smushed in between the scratchy beards of a Hasidic Jewish family and the golden chains of Harlem's finest. The doors closed to revel a giant bullet hole in the metal elevator door--it was in this moment that I felt truly back in America :) Home Sweet Home!

The streets of New York are impossible to negotiate with luggage (I seriously prefer narrow cobblestone streets in Paris to vicious, suitclad New Yorkers on their way to work). Thank god for taxis. It amuses me how the airports change their taxi rates from day-to-day (or maybe tourist-to-tourist), but once you're in the line and they give you a number, there's no haggling. The taxi brought me to the apartment in Battery Park, a "quiet" area of New York. Battery Park consists of the financial district and the ridiculously long lines for the Statue of Liberty--thankfully both tourists and businessmen tend to go home at a decent hour. The apartment has windows covering the entire Southern wall, giving us a spectacular view of the New York harbor, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Govenor's Island; definitely a benefit of 32 story buildings ;)

New York is incredible dirty. Trash and rats are commonplace. The only thing missing is the dog poop you find in Paris and other European cities; whoever made the ridiculously high fines for picking up your dog's excrement in N.Y.--THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart (and my soles). Somehow New York's dirt just adds to the charm, a city where people are literally too busy to worry about trash and the likes. It makes the city more alive, more REAL. You see gorgeous models doing photoshoots along the harbor while trash and dead fish float in the water beneath them. I can't quite express it, but I LOVE the dirt and the chaos and even the chance encounters with the rats. It gives New York a certain vitality that Paris lacks.

There is always something going on in New York. Every night, every day, a street performance, a show, a movie premier. In less than one week I have been to a latin jazz performance, flamenco dancing, an Indie movie festival...And I am sure that I missed a 100 other things in my down time. The quality of the free entertainment (all of those aforementioned were FREE by the way!) in New York is incredible. The flamenco dancing in particular is something I would have gladly paid to see in Houston. The dancers (7 luscious Latin boys) had been performing together since childhood. There dancing infused flamenco, hiphop, acrobatics and ballet. The flamenco gives it drama (like watching a Spanish soap opera to music), the ballet gives it grace and the hiphop gives it a little edge and spunk. As if it wasn't enough to be multi-genre talented dancers, each of the 7 boys played an instrument. After finishing their pirouettes and back flips they would pick up their flute/cello/violin/drum/keyboard and show us all what pure, raw talent is. One even played the flute while doing flamenco. It's almost as if impressing New Yorkers requires multiple talents--Ah, we've seen a celloist before, but not one that can do flamenco!

I still have 5 days left. I am trying to squeeze in as many performances (hopefully a musical) as I can, reap the benefits of a big city. But, ridiculous as it may sound, I will be happy to go back to Bristol, to my little love nest in Filton where it is quiet and peaceful, where I can think and I don't feel compelled to go out every night and sacrifice my precious sleep. New York is more of a novelty for me; I will definitely be back, but certainly never for good.