Summer in the city

After Jeff and I ate at Grimaldi’s, we went to the waterfront off of Old Fulton Street to catch the fading light over the East River.

Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge at night.

Let me tell you: This was the first and only time I wished I’d had a tripod with me on the trip.

Brooklyn Bridge.

We left the waterfront, wandered to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, got a little lost in Brooklyn while looking for a bus stop and finally made it back to Manhattan via subway.

Then we took the midnight ride on the Staten Island Ferry.

Panoramic composite of several images.

Of course, we took the ferry right back to Manhattan, and then the M15 back up to my uncle’s apartment in the Lenox area of upper Manhattan.

And that was the end of our first full day in New York City.

Check out a few more photos I didn’t post here!

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90ish days of summer

A favorite inside joke Jeff and I had during our three-day stay in the Big Apple was: “Nobody’s ever taken this photo before!”

This was a particularly frequent utterance while we were walking the Brooklyn Bridge toward Brooklyn.

We were being completely sarcastic. These photos have been taken before, by thousands if not millions of other people who have visited the same places we did.

Manhattan skyline.

Check out some more photos I didn’t post in this entry.

Coming up next: DUMBO… also known as, Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.

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90ish days of summer

Our plan, after hitting up lower Manhattan and Wall Street, was to cross the Brooklyn Bridge by foot, eat dinner in that borough and return to Manhattan after dark.

Our plan had to change when we were done with Wall Street just after noon.

So we went to Little Italy.

Touching up Marilyn Monroe, in Little Italy.

We walked around, thought about having a second lunch (we’d bought food earlier from the vendor with the longest line on Wall Street), decided against it, had gelato instead and then — upon realizing we still had at least three hours to kill before going to Brooklyn — took the train uptown for a detour to Columbia University.

Pretty big detour.

As we were changing subway lines in Times Square station, we heard the strangest music.

Edwardo Alvarado.

It was a wizened man on a keyboard. Whatever he was playing sounded like something you’d hear while on an animatronics ride in Disney World — it was lively, fast-paced and not something anyone would put on the radio.

The man was Prof. Edwardo Alvarado, and Jeff and I looked him up after we returned from the Big Apple. We found a Village Voice article about Alvarado, complete with Alvarado’s background and how he became a sanctioned performer with Music Under New York. We also found a video story by the Associated Press:

(You should really check out the video — this music is not to be missed.)

Not bad for half a day in New York City… so far.

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90ish days of summer

It’s fairly ridiculous how long it’s taken me to resume posting photos from my weekend in New York City last summer, but hey — at least it’s getting done, right?

I considered just producing a slideshow of all the photos and posting it on my Web site, once I’ve revamped and launched that. I’ll probably do that anyway. But the weekend can’t be summarized by merely a series of photos, so because I want to publish commentary and not simply extended captions, here’s the second of a few more New York City photo blog posts.

After hitting up Central Park on Aug. 7, Jeff and I took the subway to lower Manhattan and the financial district. Having strayed into economics dorkdom for a few months last year, I couldn’t resist not visiting this part of the Big Apple.

The directory inside the World Financial Center.

We also took a peek at Ground Zero.

This photo was taken at the only gap in the construction barriers that allowed any visibility straight into the construction zone.

I had visited Ground Zero the last time I was in New York, in 2004. I don’t remember much, but not much had been done by that point anyway.

Taken with a disposable film camera, from the deck of a lower Manhattan apartment building.

(more…)

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90ish days of summer

ARLINGTON, Va. — Later this afternoon, Jeff and I are taking the bus up to New York City for a three-day weekend extravaganza in the Big Apple.

As was the case with our spring break roadtrip with Esten, we have a lot we want to do and see, but only so much time for everything. As was not the case with our spring break roadtrip, we’ve meticulously planned out EVERYTHING that we’re doing in New York — even down to the subway/bus/walking routes we’re using to get to where we need to be.

I haven’t been in New York since 2004, when my high school newspaper adviser took six of us young eager journalists there for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association‘s Gold Circle Awards. We spent spring break there and, as well as I can remember, stayed in Manhattan.

Before that, my mother has taken me to New York twice — once when I was probably four or five, and then again in 2001, three months before two planes flew into the World Trade Center and made their indelible mark on history and foreign policy. Each of those trips lasted at least a week.

Now, Jeff and I have three days to explore Central Park, wander Lower Manhattan and the financial district, walk the Brooklyn Bridge, take the Staten Island Ferry, visit the United Nations complex, walk along 42nd Street, take evening photos from the Top of the Rock, stroll around High Line Park, people-watch in Times Square, eat at Katz’s Deli (what did Sally order, anyway?), tour the Eldridge Street Synagogue and take a gander around Chinatown.

Ambitious? Probably a bit much. But we’ll make it work, and we’ll have the photos to prove it.

(Disclaimer: No promises on when you’ll get to see those photos. I still have yet to edit shots of the Capitol Building, the Basilica of the National Shrine, Eastern Market and our trip to the beach.)

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