A weekend in New York (Part 1)

So I am a South African in New York for the Next two and a half months and won't be blogging about much in South Africa (I don't expect). While I am here though, I think it is only fitting that I blog about what I'm doing so that those back home can get a taste of what's happening 7 hours in the past:P

Now I'm not going to retrace everything that's happened in the last two weeks that I've been here(including the 27 hours of traveling!) because that would take a lot more effort. I suppose I could start with this past weekend, and if I include anything that has happened before, then consider yourself lucky (or unlucky, which ever you prefer).

On Saturday I was free to roam the city (yes I am employed:P) and go see a whole bunch of stuff... so I started with Central Park. Now in the past week New York has finally seen a decent amount of snow. Today was the first day since i've been here that it was above zero (8 degrees celsius:P). Needless to say, Central park was covered in snow / ice. I went relatively early in the morning, and walked through quite a large portion of the park. The snow had hardened to ice and I never even left footprints.

As a Capetonian, I'm used to being spoilt with a 15 min travel in any direction to either climb a mountain, scuba dive, paddle or if I want to spend a little more time in the car then go wine tasting. It is with this in mind that I can see the attraction to Central Park. It is the closest thing to nature that you can get being in this city.

The Park itself is quite kewl, lot's of statues of different things (including one of the characters in Alice in Wonderland.

As for things to do... there were quite a few people ice skating on a frozen lake. There was some good music playing and a lot of people walking around by the afternoon.

As for life in Central Park, I saw a hobo.

Ok, just kidding, there's more than that there. Finches, swans, marsh ducks and a whole host of other birds which I can't identify (because I am too lazy to look them up).

The only thing that that I feel compelled to warn you about are the Central Park Squirrels!
Man these things are trained killers... they don't run away from humans, they run towards them! I am only assuming that they are gunning for food, but you should she the terror on a three year old's face when confronted with a gang of squirrels. I'm sure these guys are in with the mafia.

"Common kid... hand over the cashews, we don't wants no trouble!"

Times Square

Ok, so here's one place where I can't see what all the fuss is about. It's just a street where any monkey with enough cash can stick up an advert and put some lights on it. Granted, it's quite colorful and theres a billboard of Mama Mia that's big enough to be visible from space! Besides that, i'm not sure why it is so packed. It might have something to do with the fact that I went on a Saturday and it was crammed with people like me that were trying to see what the fuss is about.

Anyway, i'm not going to waste any more time on it. Here are the photos:

It was chinese new year on Saturday as well:P

... to be continued

--Vodka