New York, New York

So I've been here a few days now. Moved out of Erin's place this morning and have checked into a big hostel, which is actually not too bad - clean rooms, a big internet cafe, payphones, it's all here. Hostels are great that way, I think, because you kind of get everything you need in one place, it actually does act as a 'home away from home'. Sort of.

Went and saw Spring Awakening yesterday, a 'rock musical' that won a Tony or something last year - hugely popular, I managed to get one of the student rush tickets which are about 25 bucks, compared to the 100 or so that everyone else pays. You buy it the morning of the show, and it's first in best dressed. I ended up having a seat in one of those rich-people booths, on the side of the theatre - from which you can only see half the stage. The usher was nice, though, and moved me into the second row of the Dress Circle, into some restricted leg room seats... shit, my knees are still recovering. I'm seeing Wicked on Wednesday night - it was totally sold out, basically, and the only 'rush' they have is the lottery, the same one I got in back in LA, but I didn't want to risk it in case I missed out. Wicked in New York was one of the big things I wanted to do, so I forked out 100 bucks and got the last seat on Wednesday night, in the middle of the front row of the Dress Circle. Nice nice nice.

Today I jumped on one of those sightseeing buses - they're great, they take you everywhere! And you can jump on and off at your leisure. I did a big loop through Harlem, which I've already kinda explored because that's near where Erin was living, but I saw the Apollo theatre, which was pretty tight. Got off at the Guggenheim to check that shit out ... of course, they're renovating it, so the whole permanent collection is out of action. All they had was a childrens art exhibition. Lovely. So I wandered down to the Met, thinking I could at least see SOME art today ... that's closed on Mondays. So at that point I kinda figured, ok, it's 2 o'clock, it's 1000 degrees and the humidity is gross, and I was hoping to be in a cool gallery by now ... I'm going to go sleep in Central Park. Which is what I did. I got an icy pole and lay in the sun (hello sunburn!) for a bit and just snoozed. I saw my first NY squirrel, too, clambering up the tree next to me! We made eye contact and he was staring me down, and as I reached for my camera he took off, screaming 'No paparazzi!'.

Central Park, aside, I guess, from being filled with crack addicts and crazies at night time, is actually really beautiful. To have this massive green space in the middle of a city that is just SO much about the 'city' and the business and the tall buildings and the no visible sky anywhere, is a total relief. You can wander for hours and only once or twice catch the sound of cars or buses or police and ambulance sirens - that's something you hear ALL the time, in fact I can hear one right now! Constantly, 24x7, sirens. And there are cops everywhere! Traffic cops, normal cops, whatever, just cops. Watching, eating hot dogs, chatting.

Yesterday I did a big walk around the Times Square area, went up the Rockefeller and checked out the city view from the observation deck, saw Radio City, all the tourist crap. It was cool.

Tonight I'm thinking maybe, if it's still not too hot outside, I'm going to wander up to the Seinfeld diner and check that out. Then possibly see the Sex and the City movie, depending on how far the nearest cinema is. The heat really kills moving around, it's horrible! You just want to lie in your underpants somewhere really well air conditioned and not think about anything ever again.

My internet is going to kick me off in 30 seconds.

Love you all, miss you heaps.

xd