Blog Restarted - for the USA!

It's been ages since I blogged and this seems to be the only way to keep my written communication other than spam emails which I can do because I have free wireless internet at my hotels in Philly and Washington DC (hereafter referred to as DC).

I flew into NY's JFK airport with the plane running an hour late from Los Angeles - not unusual, and spending 30 mins taxiing to the gate (again not unusual). Took the bus into Manhattan, was dropped off at Grand Central Terminal (out came the camera) and i found a taxi that took me to the YMCA Westside.

The YMCA Westside is a very interesting property. Having just spent 2 nights there, I'd prefer not to have to stay there again, the decor is pretty basic - but it does have all the TV you could want - including NCAA games, Fox, CNN, Weather Channel (enthralling watching - really is - proved very useful) blah blah.

A lot of Poms frequent the place, their accent is sooooo not like mine, I sometimes wonder how these Yanks confuse my accent with Poms. Honestly! I went to a "drugstore" and they're like,

"You from England?"
"Nah"
"You Chinese yeah?"
"Sort of"
"Where you from?"
"Australia"
"How come you don't speak like Chinese? Where are ya folks?"
"They moved to Australia a long time ago"
"Oh..."

I did a lot of walking - from 63rd Street and 8th Avenue to 54th street, then up to 57th, across 9 avenues to 1st avenue to see the Queensboro bridge (there you go Anna! :D) - then down to 44th St where the UN Headquarters are. I got there early so I walked down to 42nd and Lexington to take pictures of the Chrysler Building, my favourite building (in aesthetic terms). I then went back to the UN and took a tour. There was a session of the General Assembly taking place and so was able to sit in for about 5 minutes - it was about the Syrian, Lebanon conflict - (there you go Pete, something to aspire to!)

I went lens shopping at 33rd and 9th Avenue at B&H, probably the largest photographic store in the world - they are huge, taking up an entire NY City block. I bought a macro lens there, 2nd hand, yes, but in immaculate condition.

The NYPO was fantastic, but I was so tired that i did start to nod off at times - dunno why, maybe the Mozart was so dreamy that I almost went into la-la land? Salome was fantastic - I stayed awake for that - so it must have been the Mozart.

I find New Yorkers a friendly lot, they're pretty good when people ask for directions and all and without sounding like Holden Caulfield and all. Customer service is non-existent in the States, have to deal with rude people all the time. I suppose if the work is menial etc, then people get a bit nasty.

Anyhow, I should sleep, it's midnight here and I have to do the Philadelphia tourist stuff today (I went to Liberty Bell this arvo).