Tuesday, August 15, 2006

New York! New York! #2



New York is a nice place to visit...

The top picture is Fifth Avenue, which I find irresistible. I can walk it for hours, as long as it's not raining. On August 1st, one of the hottest days of a very hot summer, when an air-conditioned bus should have been the mode of transportation between Penn Station and the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, where I spoke at the AFSI meeting, I ended up walking all the way. Honestly, I've been to cooler steam rooms.

The second picture is of the park on the West Side, across from the two furthest north Trump buildings, 180 and 200 Riverside Blvd. I visited people in both those buildings. One has a view of the park from their windows, and the other has a great terrace facing the other way.

New York is both cleaner and friendlier than it used to be. I didn't feel the racial tension which was once a dominant characteristic. Class seems to be the great unifier. The blacks and Hispanics are doing better financially, which is obvious from the people I saw on the subways. I was even told to sit down, meaning I'm getting older and people are more caring. It was definitely pleasant to travel on public transportation and walk, window shopping and joining the tourists taking pictures. And yes, there were tourists in the subways asking directions.

Still, there's no place like home!

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