Garbage Day

Day Four. Still sunny! We had a cold snap today, though. Temps stayed in the 40's.

Garbage day is quite a site! The curbside heaps of garbage bags (and other items) grow to amazing heights! I've never seen anything like it. Should've taken a picture.

I covered a lot of territory today. I'm pooped. I took my digital camera with me. Ad my guide, I used my new "City Walks: New York" cards given to me by my friend Judy before I left Seattle. These are great! I highly recommend them to any NY newbie. (Author is Martha Fray.) I wonder how long it will take me to get through all 50 cards.

So, I took the 1-9 train all the way to the last stop at South Ferry, the southern-most point of Manhattan. My long walk took me through Battery Park City and the Financial District. I had my first NY hot dog in Battery Park, along the water front. That was breakfast. Saw only a few homeless people here, including one scraggly old guy saying, "Gimme a dolla, and I'll give it back to ya for a cigarette!" Huh?

From there I walked east to locate the office building at 75 Varick where I'll be working on site at Morgan Stanley. Dull business district. I headed east on foot and zig-zagged my way through Soho, which was hopping with people. Saw more than one oyster bar and bought a scarf for $5 on a street corner. I put it on right away to cut the chill. And here I told my family I needed scarves for Christmas! I can buy one on any corner in NY. I have a feeling I'll have a dozen scarves by January 1. Lots of neat little stores and restaurants in Soho.

Things got more interesting in the Flat Iron district. At Union Square I took a picture of a big LCD ticker display that (I think) dipslays the national deficit. I decided to head north on Fifth Avenue. Wow--what a pretty area! Lots of beautiful old, tall buildings. I was hoping to pass by Saks but never saw it. I think it was further north. I passed right by the Empire State Building before cutting over to Park Avenue. Then Madison Avenue. I passed a lot of famous places--like Lord and Taylor. They were just putting up their Christmas decorations on the outside of the building, and I got a few pictures of that. Unfortunately, I had my digital camera in "night view," so the rest of my pictures came out in black and white.

One thing I was dying to do was see Grand Central Terminal. The inside is spectacular! The huge domed ceiling, fancy chandeliers, marble decor, and architecture blew me away. Walking back toward home on 48th, I witnessed Fire Ladder Co. 2 responding to a building fire. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper everywhere in that area of the city--it was incredible watching this huge fire engine trying to get through on a street where there's no way around the continuous wall of cars. And the sirens and horns were LOUD!!! Even though traffic can't move, the horns never stop, even for fire engines. Especially for fire engines. Most people plugged their ears. I took pictures.

Walked through the diamond district after that. That area is wall-to-wall storefront windows made up of nothing but sparkling jewelry. Tons of jewelry! Oh, that reminds me--I need to find Tiffany's....

So I saw a good portion of lower Manhattan today. Last night while I was lying in bed with insomnia I wondered how long it will take me to see everything I want to see in NY and New England. I think three years is about right. Maybe four. We shall see!

My first day of work is tomorrow, and wouldn't you know it I need to travel to NJ for that. Ick. Subway to train to Trenton to a client's office.....it's going to be an adventure.

G'night.