New York, New York

I arrived in New York city around noon. I came in from the Bronx and parked my car at Battery Park. The park was filled with people wanting to take a fairy to Ellis Island and get shots with the Statue of Liberty. The line was long and I didn't feel like spending most of my day waiting for a fairy ride. Besides, my initial plan was to go straight to Philadelphia; I'd already visited New York six years ago. I figured since I was driving through, I might as well get some pictures that I failed to get in my last visit.

At Battery Park you can't get a good shot with the Statue of Liberty; it's too far away. So I ended up parking my car at a garage and riding my bike around the parameter of Manhattan, roughly 20 miles. I took a bike trail from Battery Park to Riverside Park, where I found one of the first interesting monuments to take a picture of. I'm not sure what it was called but it was to commemorate the firefighters of New York.

When I was setting my camera up for the shot, a local New Yorker, Bill, was walking his dog, and recommended that I take a shot of the other side. From that point we got to talking and I learned he was originally from Boston. I told him I was traveling across the country from San Diego and he was surprised. He was very friendly and nice enough to give me directions to Central Park, and other places that I would find interesting. He was nice enough to let me take a picture of him and his dog, Hermano.



I ended up taking more pictures in Riverside Park, which had beautiful views all along the Hudson River and New Jersey. There was a nice view of the George Washington Bridge that I took a picture with. I eventually rode my bike all the way to Harlem. At that point, I turned into the city and headed towards Central Park. I heard from somewhere that Bon Jovi was giving a free concert there, and so I was hoping to get a chance to experience it.

Central Park is probably the most accurately depicted park in cinema. Almost every movie that I've seen with the park in it has been pretty accurate. There's lots of street peddlers, and lots of people. Most of the Park entrances where closed off due to the concert--although the Bon Jovi concert was free, you still had to have a ticket, and you could only get them at Yankee Stadium. There were only allowing 60,000 people in the area, but that didn't stop other people from dropping a blanket outside the area just to listen. The park was filled.













I read a sign at one point in the park that said there were 60 statues throughout the park. The one I liked the most was of Beethoven. Further down from the Beethoven bust was the Central Park fountain, there were a group of guys break dancing and putting on a show for the people. From the fountain, I started heading back to the car, so I walked out the south side of the park to 5th Ave. On the way out, there where some beautiful landscapes of people playing on the grass with the skyline in the background.




Because New York is filled with so many people, it felt like no one cared or judged anyone for what they looked like, or what they said. I got the sense that people are just too busy to deal with anyone else's problems. So if someone said anything insulting or profound, it didn't seem to phase anyone. I felt that I could express my opinions and, regardless of how far fetched they could be, I'd have no trouble finding at least one person to agree with me. I found that comforting and liberating.





I left the city around 8pm. I took the Holland Tunnel to New Jersey, and when I got through I decided to stop at the Liberty State Park in hopes of getting a better shot of the Statue of Liberty from the Jersey side. Unfortunately, the statue was too far away, and my lens couldn't capture it. But I did end up getting decent shots of the New York skyline at night.