new york: part 1

Ok strap yourselves in ladies and gentlemen, this is gonna be a big one, just can't seem to edit this big fat city down!

The first couple of nights in New York I stayed in Brooklyn, one of the 5 boroughs just over the East River from Manhattan. In the past Brooklyn was pretty much a place to be avoided, so I understand, but now its becoming gentrified.

I was in Greenpoint, staying at the YMCA. Breakfast was provided by a diner just down the street. If you imagine what a diner in Brooklyn at breakfast on a Saturday would be like, this is it. Big eggs, bad coffee, huge hair, women yelling at each other in the broadest Brooklyn accents… it was brilliant! Ordering at a place like this is certainly an art to be mastered. The whole experience was a little confusing, but fascinating. This was my waitress…



And across the road, John C. Deere's handy law van should someone decide to sue someone else during breakfast…



Corner Manhattan and Nassau Sts, Brooklyn…



My first NY dinner, a slice of pepperoni pizza



Moved over to Manhattan after a few days, this was the view when I first emerged from the subway…yikes!



i love the snack carts that are everywhere



here's the hot dog i had in Times Square, not really that remarkable, but authentic



next stop, Museum of Modern Art





That place is seriously huge, and has an amazing (perhaps greedy) collection, all the big guns are there. The museum building is very new, absolutely immaculate white walls, each gallery is named after its private benefactor (all private money, very little public – has interesting implications I think).

This work by Arthur Young is a helicopter suspended about half way up in the gallery



There are lots of windows through MoMA so you get great views of the surrounding buildings



not a bad apartment to have i'd say



Just wandering the streets of New York is enough to keep you entertained for hours… this is the Hershey’s shop in midtown.



Amercans seem to be mad for chocolate/peanut flavoured things – and for those who really just can’t get enough, chocolate-peanut flavoured lip balm...



Classic NY street view, complete with crazy speeding cabs



tumbled across the Rockerfeller Centre one night, where they set up a skating rink over the winter. They also don’t mind a bit of the American flag





They have just installed this work by Anish Kapoor, called the Sky Mirror. Its a massive concave stainless steel mirror, leaning back towards one side so it reflects the sky and tall buildings on one side, and the street scape on the other. (10 points if you can you spot me...)



tbc...