On Sunday I took the subway up to northern Manhattan, for those of you who know you NY geography you will know that is another name for the suburb of Harlem. Interesting this is not as bad a area as you might think, actually there is quite a nice community fell to it, people actually live on the street here which is all very nice, saying that I am not sure I would like to be there after dark, but that might just be me taking the media too seriously. I then went over to a place called Wards island which has a park with great views over Manhattan, it was a lovely Sunday afternoon so I have no idea why the place was almost empty but I wasn’t complaining, although the people I saw fishing in the East river were a little braver than I am. Anyway this was where one of the major American 7s rugby tournaments was being played. So this added two more firsts to my experiences, the first rugby tournament in North America and the first 7s tournament I have been to where they are not serving beer. What are they doing to our great game??? Anyway it was quite interesting to watch and I managed to stop myself correcting every tactical decision they were making, even if I should have……
On Monday I went over to a thing called the ‘high line’. This is an old raised railway though western New York that has been turned into a ‘green area’ they have planted some wild flowers, grasses etc. You realize quite how differently they relate to nature being in such a big city. Anyway it is a pleasant walk and actually quite a good way to get around. I then walked down to the Greenwich village, this is a little area that really doesn’t fell like NY, small winding tree lined streets with some even cobbled stoned. Most of the shops you see are really expensive restaurants, but I saw one book shop. It happened to have an sign for the paper back of one of the Sex and the City books, it really felt like in this exact spot this was gritty realism rather than the exploitive chick lit it would be a few blocks away, but this might just be me. The whole place screams money, it is the place where young upwardly mobile people with money have lived for century’s, today this means it is the only place I’ve been here where the US flag is less common than the rainbow flag. I then walked down though the abbreviation suburbs (SoHo tribeca etc) all of which have slightly different feelings even though only a real New Yorker could ever really tell you where they begin or end.
In the evening I went up to the Rockefeller centre and up to the observation deck. I got up there around 5:00pm and the views around New York are spectacular you can see for miles in all directions, all I can say is wow. Then the sun set and things got even better and then wow really isn’t enogth, this city at night is truly one of the sights you have to see. We have all seen the photos but it is simply impossible to explain what it fells like to see it for yourselves. Therefore I won’t try to explain it. I came back home via the madness that is Times Square which is just well mad I can really see why the New Yorkers all stair clear of this area and are totally dismissive of anyone who goes up there.
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