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Monday, 11 February 2013 - Two years later

This is the Medway Street footbridge in Christchurch, still sitting there after the earthquake of February 2011 left it warped beyond repair like so. I stole the shot on the left from the news today; the shot on the right is my own from when I saw it for myself a bit over year ago. The two-year anniversary of that quake is coming up and the bridge is finally now being removed. Eventually it will become part of a memorial for the Canterbury quakes.

Thursday, 14 February 2013 - Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day y'all! This is 230 Fifth in Manhattan, "New York's largest outdoor Rooftop Garden and fully enclosed Penthouse Lounge". Very dark and intimate :)

This was my big Valentine's surprise for Kristina this year. Five-course feed, bottle of bubbly, stunning views of the city - what a romantic I am!

The rooftop bar is heated but at just a few degrees above freezing it was too cold out for us softies. We'll come back in summer instead.		Looking north towards the Empire State Building (appropriately coloured for the night) and beyond. I've seen worse views ;)

Saturday, 16 February 2013 - Chelsea

This is a typical street in the Manhattan neighbourhood of Chelsea, located on the west side of the island between 14th and 30th Streets. Chelsea is primarily residential, and I think is regarded as a pretty nice area of Manhattan to call home. Something to keep in mind as Kristina and I are starting to consider more seriously the prospect of relocating to Manhattan from Queens.		The area of Chelsea between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the 20s (i.e. 20th Street and up) contains the highest concentration of art galleries in New York, of which this is one. During the week Kristina found out about an exhibition by British landscape photographer Darren Almond. Every photo of his here is a long-exposure shot (in the range of 15 to 60 minutes) taken under a full moon. Furthermore, these shots came from all seven continents. Pretty cool!

From there we headed to the Chelsea Market - a huge enclosed food court and shopping mall. Back in the day this was the site of the former National Biscuit Company factory complex where the Oreo cookie was invented and produced. Today it's a sprawling mad house, and happens to have a few television network studios upstairs. More recently, Google moved in as well and took over a couple floors.

Some relics from a bygone era, including Oreo advertisements. They sure struck gold with that! Since its introduction in 1912, Oreo has become the best-selling cookie in the United States, through the 20th century and into the 21st.		Not quite as impressive as the monster spice markets we've seen in Istanbul and Marrakech.		Then visit the pharmacy next door for something to address your inevitable constipation :)

Sunday, 17 February 2013 - Chinese New Year parade

Exactly a week ago was the Chinese New Year, but they leave it until a week later to throw a parade over it. This was near the start of the parade route down in Chinatown, and it was utter chaos!

Instead we found a spot closer to the end of the route and rugged up in the freezing temperature to enjoy the show. Last year was the year of the dragon, and this year is the year of the...				...snake. The dragon was a little more impressive.

Here we have some Mahjong pieces, I think. Who the hell knows :)		Even the gay population was represented hehe.

Nothing makes me think "China" more than Ronald McDonald.		This guy was also at the wrong party ;)		This chick was not amused.		And this chick was telling the crowds how cold she was.

An hour later it was all over, and I lost count of how many floats were pumping out that bloody Gangnam Style track (which is not Chinese at all - the DJ is South Korean).		This is the Golden Unicorn in the depths of Chinatown. Waiters / Waitresses push food carts throughout the tables, you pick off what you want, they stamp a price sheet, and you pay at the end. Besides the rice we had little idea what anything was. And that was enough culture for one day :)

Monday, 18 February 2013 - No more Canada for Aaron, officially
This time last year (prior to my employer confirming a role in New York was mine if I wanted it) I applied for and was approved for a Canadian working holiday visa. I had 12 months from the date of approval to enter Canada and 'activate' the visa, which would then be valid for a year and allow me to live and work there. My plan was to find work with a company that would be willing to sponsor me for a more long-term visa - probably easier said than done but it was either that or return home to New Zealand or Australia, so it was worth a shot. In the end, it mattered not. Yesterday was the date of expiry by when I had to activate the visa but I'm now happily settled in New York, at least for the time being :)

Thursday, 21 February 2013 - Art according to Aaron

This is an excerpt of a panorama I shot at night from the top of the Empire State Building last year. The full version can be seen here (and purchased :) I'm rather proud of it.		A week ago was Valentine's Day, and this was Kristina's gift to me which we've now got round to sticking on the wall. Looking good! Unlike at the Museum of Modern Art which we visited a few weeks ago, and where I came to the conclusion that 1 + 1 = Potato in the art world, this is the kind of art that I like :)

Sunday, 24 February 2013 - East Village

Among the many things I miss from home (the little things I always took for granted) is the humble yet awesome meat pie! This here is the Tuck Shop in the East Village selling Australian-style pies, which for me don't quite meet the awesomeness of New Zealand pies but they're close enough ;) For my American viewers, back home a 'tuck shop' is a small, food-selling retailer. Yum!

Kristina and I are talking more and more about possibly relocating to Manhattan before the summer. Not that we don't like we are in Astoria but it's hardly where the action is, and if we're only going to be here for a couple years which I expect to be the case then we might as well make the most of it. With that in mind, we've been thinking about what neighbourhoods to focus on, and scoping them out on foot. Today we checked out the East Village in Manhattan's south east. Although our decision will likely be determined by the dollar (Manhattan ain't cheap!) it's still good to see what's around.				What the hell is that?!

One of my random Facebook friends (one of those 'friends' you have no recollection of even meeting but you must have at some point) has lived in the East Village for ages and absolutely loves it. It wasn't really clicking with me though. I find the further south you go, the more interesting the locals get. I lost count of the number of crazies we walked past who were talking (or yelling) to themselves. We even saw some dude sleeping on the hand rail of a subway station stairwell haha!		This here is the former site of CGBG (Country, BlueGrass, and Blues) - a music venue founded in 1973. It was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands, in particular the Ramones. The club was closed in 2006, and today is a high-end men's fashion store influenced by CGBG's legacy.

Then we wandered into the part of the East Village favoured by the more alternative crowd. It was full of tattoo parlours and body piercing studios, and this - Trash and Vaudeville. It opened in 1975 and has been providing Rock n' Roll to wear ever since. According to their website, the store was born out of the 1970s rock and punk scene, and has always provided "a wide variety of alternative fashion for Rockers, Mods, Punks, Goths, Rockabillies, and everyday working class heroes who just wanted to walk and dress on the wild side." Kristina was particularly interested in these spiked shoes. For the wellbeing of my anus, I wasn't.

The name of this tea shop on St Mark's Place, Physical Graffitea, is a play on the name of Led Zeppelin's sixth album - Physical Graffiti. The cover image of that album was shot here. This is also the location of the Rolling Stones' music video for Waiting on a Friend.		So apart of being a favourite neighbourhood for rock groups of a bygone era, and a continued favourite for the punk crowd, the East Village is also home to this: Fabulous Fanny's. Hehe ;)		We finished our meander at one of the many quirky little coffee shops around the place - very cool! And that was the East Village in a nutshell.

Tuesday, 26 February 2013 - This travelling thing is dangerous!

This is Kristina and I in a hot air balloon a little over two years ago, as the sun was rising over Luxor, Egypt. It was an incredible experience, not just because of the ride itself but also the location.				And this is one of those same balloons now after it caught fire yesterday at 300 metres high and plunged into a field, killing 19 foreigners. This happened during the same sunrise tour we did. Scary thought. After we left Egypt, a tourist was killed by a shark in the Red Sea which we had just been snorkelling in barely a month earlier. Another scary thought!

Wednesday, 27 February 2013 - Subway fun

Pissing with rain in New York today, so it was the subway rather than the bike that took me to work. This dude was sitting across from me on the way in this morning...		...and on the way home this guy absolutely stunk and managed to clear the entire car out at rush hour, when it would normally be standing room only in here hahaha!

Friday, 1 March 2013 - 42 people

Apparently Kristina made the bed this morning. I'll take her word for it ;)		"Why are you taking photos?!"		Meanwhile, I really had to share this - 42 People You Won't Believe Actually Exist (I didn't).

Sunday, 3 March 2013 - On the hunt in the UES

This is looking north along First Avenue from the Queensboro Bridge - a view I pass twice a day on the bike to and from work. From this point north is considered the Upper East Side (UES) - basically the whole area east of Central Park.		The Upper East Side is very residential and apparently one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in New York City. It also maintains the highest pricing per square foot in the United States. Be that as it may, in terms of renting an apartment, you get a little more bang for your buck in this part of the city compared to Midtown and Downtown. The other advantage it has over those other areas is it's close enough to all the action while still feeling calm and somewhat peaceful.

The UES still has as many bars, clubs, restaurants, cafes, and great hang outs as anywhere else in the city, plus it's plonked right alongside Central Park. Not exactly looking its finest right now given the time of year but soon enough it'll be its stunning self again.		For the more cultured among us, the UES is also plonked alongside the so-called Museum Mile, containing one of the densest displays of culture in the world. This here is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lovely.

Better still, it is literally minutes from Midtown Manhattan (where Kristina and I both work). So anyway, we are probably going to be focusing our apartment hunt in this area.		I met a real estate broker this afternoon to take a look at a one-bedroom apartment along 85th Street here.

Good-sized bedroom...		Small and cramped living room (that guy is the broker, whose name happens to be Guy)...		Terribly small kitchen! Definitely not for us, but we're in no hurry. Plus we have no intention of getting anything through Guy anyway since there would be a large broker's fee involved, but if he's happy to show us around we're happy to see it ;)

Thursday, 7 March 2013 - Getting a bit over it now

The gloomy view from my office today. It's hard to tell in this shot but there were some pretty impressive snow flurries going on out there. Impressive or not, we've all had enough of it for one winter.		We're now well into March and the country is still getting hit hard by snow storms. New York missed the brunt of this one but it's still bitterly bloody cold hehe. Come on summer!

Friday, 8 March 2013 - Still snowing

Well last night I said the latest winter storm to batter the country had missed New York, then we woke up to this hehe. It's become a familiar sight!

Everybody is longing for summer (not least of all me), but in fairness this is still an awesome sight!

The powers that be are pretty good at keeping the city's roads clear and moving during bouts of shitty weather (and its pavements).				Looking west across to New Jersey from my office. Daylight saving starts here this weekend, and the hotter temperatures are sure to follow. In the meantime, at least it'll be light again for my bike rides home!

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