but i can hardly make a sound, a word of adoration, for what's surrounding me...
I'm in awe of the city. After over a month of wandering, I still find something new every time I venture into the yet to be explored territory that my Manhattan. Today was one of those days I couldn't believe that I live here. I've seen this all on TV all my life, the tall buildings, busy streets, and millions of people all familiar.
I woke up earlier than usual, especially for a Saturday, threw on some comfortable apparel and set out with no particular purpose. I seem to do this a lot. I'll start walking in any direction and turn towards any shiny sign or particularly interesting block grabs me. A brief stint shopping, finding a surprisingly perfect shirt to wear to my friend's birthday party tonight, and wandering through a street fair in Herald Square rounded out the morning. I decided that I could spend years just walking around the city and not seeing everything. I want to stop every person I see and hear their story. I want to know how they got here, where they live, what brought them to this street right now, and what they've learned in this ever-exciting city.
Sidenote; I saw the coolest homeless person ever the other day. Seriously, there should be Hobo Olympics and he would win. It was almost as if he was proud and happy to be roaming the streets and perfectly fine with the fact that he hadn't slept in a bed in who knows how long. In addition to his careless swagger, he had one of those push vacuum things adorned with Christmas garland and a white teddy bear. It looked like he'd collected all these little treasures from trash cans after every holiday and carefully arranged them to look festive on his push vacuum. Later, I saw him reclined on the side of the road smoking a cigarette without a care in the world. I wish I had a picture, he was awesome.
I walked another mile or so to meet my friend Elaine in Union Square, which is a thing of beauty in itself. The streets were blocked off and lined with tents filled with the last thing you would expect in the middle of the city, farmers. Every weekend, and many weekdays, a Farmer's Market makes its way into this spot full of organic vegetables grown far from the smoggy haze of the city. After wandering the market, we shopped a bit more off the square and then I walked back home. In all, I probably wandered a few miles today, seeing parts of the city I haven't before... and I was only scared for my life once, when I was the only white girl for a good 8 blocks. But thats New York, a couple blocks more and I was surrounded by blue eyed blondes eyeing overpriced dresses H&M.
I woke up earlier than usual, especially for a Saturday, threw on some comfortable apparel and set out with no particular purpose. I seem to do this a lot. I'll start walking in any direction and turn towards any shiny sign or particularly interesting block grabs me. A brief stint shopping, finding a surprisingly perfect shirt to wear to my friend's birthday party tonight, and wandering through a street fair in Herald Square rounded out the morning. I decided that I could spend years just walking around the city and not seeing everything. I want to stop every person I see and hear their story. I want to know how they got here, where they live, what brought them to this street right now, and what they've learned in this ever-exciting city.
Sidenote; I saw the coolest homeless person ever the other day. Seriously, there should be Hobo Olympics and he would win. It was almost as if he was proud and happy to be roaming the streets and perfectly fine with the fact that he hadn't slept in a bed in who knows how long. In addition to his careless swagger, he had one of those push vacuum things adorned with Christmas garland and a white teddy bear. It looked like he'd collected all these little treasures from trash cans after every holiday and carefully arranged them to look festive on his push vacuum. Later, I saw him reclined on the side of the road smoking a cigarette without a care in the world. I wish I had a picture, he was awesome.
I walked another mile or so to meet my friend Elaine in Union Square, which is a thing of beauty in itself. The streets were blocked off and lined with tents filled with the last thing you would expect in the middle of the city, farmers. Every weekend, and many weekdays, a Farmer's Market makes its way into this spot full of organic vegetables grown far from the smoggy haze of the city. After wandering the market, we shopped a bit more off the square and then I walked back home. In all, I probably wandered a few miles today, seeing parts of the city I haven't before... and I was only scared for my life once, when I was the only white girl for a good 8 blocks. But thats New York, a couple blocks more and I was surrounded by blue eyed blondes eyeing overpriced dresses H&M.