Sidewalks of New York

New York is truly a city of energy that, at times, can overwhelm all your senses. When I arrived home, I needed to unwind & process everything! As expected, I didn't even scratch the surface of all there is to see & do. There weren't enough hours in the day - or meals to eat! I had the best intentions to have a piece of New York pizza in honor of Aron - but it wasn't meant to be. I guess he & I will have to go together!

I was surprised with the lushness of the city - I expected an urban jungle - and while there is a lot of steel & concrete, one finds green spaces & verdant alcoves tucked here & there between buildings. Plants and trees thrive, and not just in Central Park.

The other pleasant discovery is the amiability of the locals! Hollywood's portrayal of the impatient, brash, snooty New Yorker couldn't be further from the truth. These are friendly, helpful, funny people who love to engage in conversation. OK, I have to be honest... In the week we were there, I saw three "situations" that were actually more comical than anything. The first involved a woman on a bicycle on the Brooklyn bridge, weaving in and out of the pedestrian traffic, commenting in a hostile tone "what is with all these people!". Then there was the all-important briefcase toting exec on Park Ave who had a mini temper tantrum as he was trying to cross the street & ended up doing a dance with someone coming the other direction (you know what I'm talking about - you're coming down a hallway, and you move to the other side to let someone pass, but they do too, and then you both try the other side, and it's this awkward "oops, sorry" giggle-fest). He eventually kind of stormed away, cursing & swearing under his breath. But the most amusing was when Tony & I went up to a parked yellow cab outside our hotel to just ask for some information on what it might cost to go to the airport. He outright ignored us. His window was unrolled, it was obvious that he could hear & understand the question, but he stubbornly refused to even acknowledge us We walked away in disbelief, saying "fine, whatever". Suddenly he's out of the cab, gesticulating wildly & yelling in a perfect New York accent, "You wanna go now? well, how 'bout it - you wanna go now? Cuz if we're going now, then we can talk!!" He was absolutely not interested in helping us unless we were ready to climb into the backseat. (When I first told the story, Diane sucked in her breath in horror, thinking the "you wanna go now?" meant he wanted to fight us!! HaHa)