New York City - Manhattan Island

I have decided to split the main New York post into two parts. Manhattan and the other boroughs. Most of the touristy stuff is in Manhattan and a lot of the cool stuff is in the other parts, not that I'm saying Manhattan isn't cool, it's just that there is more to NYC than Manhattan. This is not going to be a blow by blow story of my stay in NYC just ramblings with photos. I made quite a few notes while I was there, so I wouldn't forget stuff (How sad am I?). I am missing some photos because Dan hasn't them and some are in other posts. Here are some for your viewing pleasure.

First up is the Statue of Liberty. This is the view from the Staten Island ferry, which is nice a free and you get a lovely view of the statue. The colour was rubbish because of the hazy weather so I decided to sepia tone it. It is quite hard to get a photo of the statue on the way there as the ferry is full of tourists looking at the statue, but on the way back they are over it so its fine.

One of the things I love about New York is the contrast. Here is a view from the Brooklyn Bridge of lower Manhattan. New York is not just skyscrapers and rich people who work on Wall St. It also has some really poor people. There are so many different communities, with people from all over the world living together. Although some of the sounds and smells make you wonder what the bloody hell is going on. Chinatown and the East and Greenwich (West) Villages are pretty close together but are worlds apart. Both are really cool to hang out in. The 'village' where Bob Dylan, other musicians and artists used to live. Since then it has been gentrified and is now uber expensive. Chinatown is just awesome, it slowly creeps up on you then, all of a sudden you in China. Even the McDonald's sign has Chinese characters in it. New York in general has this wonderful hustle and bustle about it but in Chinatown is it even crazier. People selling stuff from tourist tat to strange seafood that you have no idea what it is.

One of the other things I love about NYC is the parks. You can get some pretty good street entertainment in them too. It varies from chilled out jazz bands just jamming, free movies in Bryant park and a tourist spectacle such as the 'Afrobats', as seen below. They were actually pretty funny in their very well rehearsed show, chanting punchlines such as 'rich people at the front' and 'we are risking our lives for you sick entertainment'. My favourite part was when a helicopter came overhead and they all stopped the show and acted if it was an arrest, putting the hands behind their heads.

It is easy to forget that your are in New York while chilling out maxing relaxing in central park. Well until you turn around and see the bloody big skyscrapers behind you. This was the first time I flew into Ne York, it was fantastic seeing it from the air. You get to see how big everything really is, even though Manhattan is just on a little island. Central park is just huge.

It really is a concrete jungle. This is a view from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Which is about as high up I get so, no cool aerial photography from this one. Dan may have a few. Looking up in Manhattan gives me a sense of vertigo. It is cool though. There was a pretty big thunderstorm while we were in Manhattan. It went so dark because of all the buildings, it was pretty cool when it got back to daylight.