get lost!

it only took me a day to figure out the best thing to do in downtown manhattan.... 

GET LOST!!!!

....it ain't hard.

*****

greenwich village, west village, soho. 

the streets a crooked. the restaurants are life changing (waist changing..). the cherry blossums are white. 

the shops - are insane!!!!!  

lower broadway. prince. spring. mott. elizabeth. broome. mulberry. 

-take my car, take my collaroy apartment.  

but never take me away from the streets of soho. 

you'll find a new park every day, a new store every 5 minutes, a new restaurant every night. 

but some how.. you can never ever remember how the hell to get back there!!!! 

 alexander & ralph getting acquainted.. 

 

 

freedom

freedom... 

funny word. 

have i ever truly felt it?  

..maybe. maybe up 4215mtrs on the inca trail, surrounded solely by clouds?  -but then again, there was only one way down.. 

..maybe. maybe i felt it when i dropped out of high school? -but then again, i now had to grow up & get a job.. 

..OR, maybe, just maybe, there was a lady that stood strong in the sky, holding only a torch & a book, with de-shackled chains at her feet & a crown above her head,  that truly truly made me feel the full meaning of the word. 

 

 

lady.

lady of liberty. 

day one nyc.

day one -of the dream. 

 

*****

 

 

my first acquaintance with the lady was on my first morning in manhattan. 

 

i had taken a short stroll down to the end of my new street to a pier on the hudson that had been made into a park -genius!!  

(silly me... all this way to nyc & here i am searching out another god damn pier!!!).

never the less, the pier supplied me with just what i needed                         -a blanket.  

a little security blanket, a little escape route if i needed to desperately sense the ocean, a little escape route if i ever needed to feel 

my space / my freedom.   

the hudson was below me, in front of me, to my sides & the lady, well, she was to my left. 

she stood strong, she stood proud, she didn't necessarily stand tall     -manhattan does have some of the worlds tallest sky scrapers after all..
but... of late, i have learnt first hand, that the taller - doesn't necessarily mean the greater.

 

 

 *****

 

a figure of independance

a figure of freedom

 

"lady"... you & me, we got a thing going on.

 

 

 she definitely is not the tallest...  but i still see her as the strongest.  shared here with Empire & the new One World.  she is just off centre -to the right on the tiny little island :)

 the new One World Tower - growing taller every day. literally.. 

it surpassed the Empire yesterday! 

lady's there too!!! 

 my blanket. 

to the right. 

pier 45. 

 for old times sake. 

a conquest that i never thought i could surpass... 

 

coming home

approaching the manhattan skyline for the first time i felt a familiar feeling, 

a feeling i usually get driving down mona vale road after a long vacation -the first sight of that northern beaches horizon, the minute you see it you know you are 'home'.

as the skyline grew closer it failed to bold me over with excitement as i had expected it to. it slowly & calmly rose up before me & took me in. took me like no place had before. this was it, there was no escaping or denying it, this was my 'home'. 

*****

jittney - i love you. why didn't i book you TO the hamptons??? 

the coach ride was easy, someone to load the excess baggage on & off. lovely respectable co-travellars,  free water, free snack, free paper -hell it was better than the plane!!  

my jittney stop was carefully selected to ensure i was as close to my apartment as possible.  close.. but still cab worthy. 

i hailed my first yellow cab like a true pro, arm strong & high, full of purpose. just like the cab was a fly ball i HAD to catch!  

bags in the back, on my way!! 

"51 Leroy St please :)" 

"what's the cross st darl?"

"oh.. not sure.. can we drive by & see the numbers?" 

"mmmmmmmm  sure"  

 soon after i realized what a stupid request this was..

manhattan = clearly the king of super long one way streets.

small hiccup, never the less, #51 found. 

my gorgeous brownstone building was right in front of me, at last! 

...my gorgeous brownstone with 9 flights of stairs, 9 flights of the highest, narrowest stairs imaginable. JOY, can't wait to get the excess baggage up these!!! 

clearly - i coped. 3 trips later, i was moved in. 

i.was.living.in.nyc!!!!!!!!!  

 spent the afternoon unpacking & making the studio my own. 

pictures of my california adventures displayed on the fireplace, clothes hanging (after 1 mth in a suitcase, this was epic!!), jewellery & shoes displayed just the way i like -just like a store i could spend an hour browsing,  & the smell of disinfectant! ...clearly mike "the situation" had been renting this place before me, disinfectant bottle 1 down, sure to go through another one tomorrow.... 

soon i managed to break away from unpacking to stroll through my new neighbourhood. 

the west village is every bit what i had hoped for, 

city - but not full on city, bustling - but a little taste of suburbia, stoops!!!, tree lined streets & little concrete parks.  

strolling along i could hear the honking, i could hear the sirens, i could feel the people, the subway was whizzing by underneath my feet, & the skyscrapers where all around, ....but somehow, somehow amongst all the bustle & noise, i had my space. 

 fireplace must be utilized in some way or another!

.....may have gotten a bit side tracked tacking snaps of the bathroom :)   (cooke!!)

 washing - the city way!

 

vacations' vacation!!!

it took a 3 1/2 hour monster highway drive, 

a 2 hour wait in LAX (ambassador's lounge!), 

a six hour red eye flight (with  no meal..),

a testing experience @ jamaica station, 

a saturday night lives version of a train ride,

a black shiny car &
a check in that involved 3 huge flights of stairs..

....but finally. i was on vacation -in the HAMPTONS!!!  


for an australian to imagine a quiet country town on a beautiful beach coastline is pretty hard.. but this was exactly what it was like. ancient wooden houses on massive blocks of land, ratty old fences falling down around the beach, 1 lane main st (deserted...), local shops only open in spring/summer, & less variety than  an express servo.


usually all of the above would be a pretty massive reason NOT to go somewhere.. but i guess living in one of the worlds busiest city's shifts desires a little.  
if you want a quiet escape - this is surely the place!  
 

*****

 

 i was relaxing.. i was vacationing.

    balcony overlooking endless miles of untouched sand, horizon ontop of horizon & quiet, hmmmmm delicious. 




over the next 5 days i did nothing but relax.  
it was perfect.
read a book, ate pancakes (from a true diner), ate monster pizza slices, tried pretty much every sweet the local bakery had to offer,  watched movies in bed, sat for hours just staring off my balcony into the endless horizon & strolled the beach, a beach so deserted i could close my eyes whilst walking & just enjoy the feeling of having nothing to my left & nothing to my right -a feeling that i sure wasn't going to get in manhattan... 

i even spent a good 10mins every morning & night on the balcony stretching & breathing, desperately trying to encapsulate the wide open space. every breath deeper than the last, as if the harder i breathed in, the more space i could bottle up & take with me...


*****


on my last afternoon i was all packed & based on appearances, i was ready for the big city. pity my insides couldn't be folded neatly & locked away in a massive wheelie case.
i won't say i was scared, but i will say i was cautious. 
there was no excitement, but no real panic.
i had no fear of being mugged, no fear of getting lost. the caution was all to do with space. 

space, how will i find the thing i need the most in such a compact little island...