First day back in the City

It was very strange coming in from JFK. First off, I immediately hit the new taxi fare schedule, when I left almost 1 year ago to the day, a flat fare fee of JFK to the city was $35, it is now $45. (massive bummer) Still took about an hour, so friday evening traffic into the city is still as bad as ever. It was also very strange, to not go to my apartment, adding a very surrealistic feel to the beginning of this trip. As I approached the city in the taxi, scanning the skyline, I was very sad looking at the gap where the trade centers used to stand. I've travelled in and out of NY several times post september 11th, but I think this may be one of the sadder time I've had looking at the trade centers. I attribute this to the fact that I haven't been in the city in a year, so it the contrast is a little more bright, where when I lived here, I worked on Wall Street, so I could see the WTC site very often. I think I'll always be sad, when it comes to the world trade center.

Today is saturday, and I got up and went walking around. I like NYC. I like the character of the older buildings, I like the smell of the honey roasted peanuts on all the street corners in the "touristy" areas. I like the fact that you can cut through the garment district and go down 9th ave and see about a thousand times fewer people, I like that people don't wait for the lights to cross the street if they feel they can weave their way through traffic. I'd forgotten how late of a city NY is. I was walking around at 10 am, and in Rockerfeller Sq, 5th ave, it was not crowded at all. But by the time I was able to walk to Time Sq. it started to pick and the streets were crowded once again.

I was walking to B&H PhotoVideo store, which i used to frequent when I was a city resident, but I got there, from about 1/2 a block away, and the store was obviously closed. And it hit me in a second, they are not open on Saturday as it is the Sabbath, the store is run by Hasidic/Orthodox Jews, and they are not open on Saturday. I knew this, and in fact, I was very disappointed that I had forgotten. Sadly, there are many details about NYC I no longer recall.

Since my camera shopping spree was cut-off, I decided to walk back, so I turned down 33rd street, (from 9th ave) towards, Madison Sq. Garden. I got about a block, and guy on the street was trying to sell me x. It made me chuckle, definitely back in NYC that at 10:45 am on a saturday morning does a drug dealer try to sell x.

I was hoping to post a few pics with my new digital cam, but that will have to wait.

I'm curious to see how the remainder of trips unfolds.