Back to the grindstone...
Wow, I think it's going to take a week or so to upload all the pictures we took in NYC. I can't believe how many pictures we snapped, considering that we continually left our camera back at the hotel.
We had fun in the city, though we missed Sadie very much. Reports from Mom and Dad that Sadie was adjusting just fine helped us relax and enjoy the city sights. New York is very different than I remember it from my past visits. I used to visit some friends in the East Village when I was in college, and the Manhattan of the late 80's was definitely more "edgy" than the family friendly tourist juggernaut it is today. Last time I visited, I was constantly accosted by panhandlers and tripped over homeless people on every street corner. The city has been radically cleaned up- some may say sanitized. Though I am sure that residents prefer their streets safe and clean, I couldn't help but wonder where the homeless and transient residents have been relocated. Have their lives been improved, or have they just been plopped down in the suburbs to plague the less "glamorous" locales? Times Square may be very, very safe now, but it also seems sterile and commercial- like the worst of mainstream American overconsumption- while I don't miss the stripper clubs and peep shows on every corner, I'm not certain that a Sbarro on every corner is much of an improvement either...
Though I previously had spent most of my time on the lower side of Manhattan, I really enjoyed branching out on this visit. We spent some time in Brooklyn in Park Slope, and I thought it was a nice family-oriented neighborhood with beautiful brownstones. We enjoyed eating at Amy Ruth's in Harlem and walking around the neighborhood. We pretty much ate our way through town, and we're paying for it now! Anyway, over the next week or so, I'll drop in a few pictures at a time, with some descriptions of what we did.
Sadie started school last week- so far, she's been four times, for a few hours each, and is set to start full time later this week, we think. She has done pretty well, though she's not wildly crazy about going yet, and cries when we drop her off. I know this is normal and part of the transition, but it still tugs at the heartstrings to hear her cry. She thinks her school is "the library" for some reason, and whenever we go to the car she announces "No library!". Sigh. I am hoping she learns to enjoy her time at school eventually.
Here are a couple of pics of Central Park:
Random irises peeking through the ground...
One of the many examples of Manhattan Schist, a very hard bedrock that underlies Manhattan.
Turtle pond, from Belvedere Castle.
Belvedere Castle. This building was designed in 1865.
One of the many ponds in Central Park. Unfortunately, I forgot which one!
One would never guess that this pastoral hillside is in the middle of Manhattan.
Statue of Duke Ellington on the Northeastern corner of Central Park. The women holding up the piano are his "muses". They are also naked. I'm sure Duke didn't mind.
Malcolm Shabazz Mosque in Harlem. I believe that at one time, this was the official Nation of Islam HQ in NYC.
Looking down a street of Harlem brownstones.
And the famous Apollo Theater...
And because it's not a blog entry without Sadie, here's Sadie enjoying a strawberry on one of our recent picnics. This child is suddenly obsessed with picnics. She asks for one almost every day. Luckily, we have several parks nearby, so we just bag up our lunches and head to a park with a playground. Lunch is so much more glamorous eating at a picnic table.
And here she is singing "Hold on Tight" ,a tune from the Backyardigans "Viking" episode...
I'll be adding more NYC pictures throughout the week, so be sure to check back!
We had fun in the city, though we missed Sadie very much. Reports from Mom and Dad that Sadie was adjusting just fine helped us relax and enjoy the city sights. New York is very different than I remember it from my past visits. I used to visit some friends in the East Village when I was in college, and the Manhattan of the late 80's was definitely more "edgy" than the family friendly tourist juggernaut it is today. Last time I visited, I was constantly accosted by panhandlers and tripped over homeless people on every street corner. The city has been radically cleaned up- some may say sanitized. Though I am sure that residents prefer their streets safe and clean, I couldn't help but wonder where the homeless and transient residents have been relocated. Have their lives been improved, or have they just been plopped down in the suburbs to plague the less "glamorous" locales? Times Square may be very, very safe now, but it also seems sterile and commercial- like the worst of mainstream American overconsumption- while I don't miss the stripper clubs and peep shows on every corner, I'm not certain that a Sbarro on every corner is much of an improvement either...
Though I previously had spent most of my time on the lower side of Manhattan, I really enjoyed branching out on this visit. We spent some time in Brooklyn in Park Slope, and I thought it was a nice family-oriented neighborhood with beautiful brownstones. We enjoyed eating at Amy Ruth's in Harlem and walking around the neighborhood. We pretty much ate our way through town, and we're paying for it now! Anyway, over the next week or so, I'll drop in a few pictures at a time, with some descriptions of what we did.
Sadie started school last week- so far, she's been four times, for a few hours each, and is set to start full time later this week, we think. She has done pretty well, though she's not wildly crazy about going yet, and cries when we drop her off. I know this is normal and part of the transition, but it still tugs at the heartstrings to hear her cry. She thinks her school is "the library" for some reason, and whenever we go to the car she announces "No library!". Sigh. I am hoping she learns to enjoy her time at school eventually.
Here are a couple of pics of Central Park:
Random irises peeking through the ground...
One of the many examples of Manhattan Schist, a very hard bedrock that underlies Manhattan.
Turtle pond, from Belvedere Castle.
Belvedere Castle. This building was designed in 1865.
One of the many ponds in Central Park. Unfortunately, I forgot which one!
One would never guess that this pastoral hillside is in the middle of Manhattan.
Statue of Duke Ellington on the Northeastern corner of Central Park. The women holding up the piano are his "muses". They are also naked. I'm sure Duke didn't mind.
Malcolm Shabazz Mosque in Harlem. I believe that at one time, this was the official Nation of Islam HQ in NYC.
Looking down a street of Harlem brownstones.
And the famous Apollo Theater...
And because it's not a blog entry without Sadie, here's Sadie enjoying a strawberry on one of our recent picnics. This child is suddenly obsessed with picnics. She asks for one almost every day. Luckily, we have several parks nearby, so we just bag up our lunches and head to a park with a playground. Lunch is so much more glamorous eating at a picnic table.
And here she is singing "Hold on Tight" ,a tune from the Backyardigans "Viking" episode...
I'll be adding more NYC pictures throughout the week, so be sure to check back!
posted by Sadiebug at 6:38 AM
1 Comments:
That singing is so cute. She's got swing! (No pun intended, really.)
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