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Tuesday, 11 June 2013 - It's raining men

 
 
Late this afternoon I got an alert on my phone saying my section of the Subway had been shut down due to "police activity" at my station. That usually means one thing: someone has jumped in front of a train (again).
 
Sure enough, except rather than doing it underground as most of them tend to do, this guy did it on an elevated track not far from my apartment. As he got dragged by the train while it entered the station (at a typical speed of 30mph / 50km/h), bits of him started raining down onto the busy street below. Lovely. News article here, including links to photos people tweeted of the mess he left behind (such as the one above that I've pixelated) which the fire crew spent ages hosing up.

Thursday, 13 June 2013 - Never get sick of the views

 
Bit of a gloomy day today, but after a switch of desks in my New Jersey office (which my New York-based team go visit every couple of weeks) this is my new view across the Hudson River to Manhattan hehe. Nice. The big boy there is One World Trade Center. This would have been the perfect vantage point to witness the 9/11 attacks on the original World Trade Center, and the so-called Miracle on the Hudson in 2009 when a departing US Airways flight suffered multiple bird strikes and was forced to make a controlled ditch into the river. Incidentally, the pilot was labelled a hero for pulling off such a smooth and successful landing on water, but I've since read reports from other commercial pilots claiming it was no big deal hahaha!
 
Out the other window we get a view of Newport, and boats down below owned by folk earning a lot more than I do ;)

Friday, 14 June 2013 - Batshit crazy

 
Start typing "Am" into Google at the moment and the second entry that appears in its auto-complete list (here in the US at least) is Amy's Baking Company, and for good reason. I'm sure we've all heard of Gordon Ramsay's multi-season TV show Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, in which he visits failing restaurants and helps to improve them in just a week. I've seen a few episodes here and there, but a chance find while aimlessly browsing the internet today led me to the season finale of the show's sixth season which aired a month ago on May 10th. The restaurant featured in this episode is Amy's Baking Company in Scottsdale, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix). The restaurant is owned and operated by these two characters: Samy and Amy, and it is no exaggeration to say they are completely batshit crazy. This is was the first restaurant in the show's 80+ episode history that Ramsay walked away from. The publicity gained from the show has made the restaurant something of a tourist attraction, and has resulted in a massive social media backlash which frankly kept me amused for ages. Rather than go into detail, just watch the YouTube video of the full episode here. Trust me, you'll love it! Then Google "Amy's Baking Company", and prepare to be amazed by how these two nut jobs reacted to the countless posts they subsequently received on Facebook, Reddit, Yelp and so forth (check this out for example), as well as the news stories that followed and other related events (all in just the one month since the show aired). Batshit crazy!

By the way, here is a f*cking great f*cking omlette recipe from the f*cking man himself. Enjoy ;)

Saturday, 15 June 2013 - New Jersey (north)

 
Looking north along Broadway en route to the George Washington Bridge some 100 blocks further north. Fun fact about Broadway since I brought it up: it is the oldest north-south main thoroughfare in New York City, dating back to the first New Amsterdam settlement. Fun fact about the New Amsterdam settlement since I brought it up: it was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement on the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the capital city of New Netherland, and was renamed New York in 1665 in honour of the Duke of York (later James II of England) when English forces seized control of Manhattan along with the rest of the Dutch colony. Fun fact about New Netherland since I brought it up: actually I can't be bothered - go read the link.
 
 
The GWB connects Manhattan to the state of New Jersey across the Hudson River. Last time I crossed over this was sometime last year when I then ventured south, and wasn't overly impressed with what I found. Well today I decided to venture north. Fun fact about Manhattan since I brought it up: in the Lenape language (a now extinct language spoken formerly spoken by Lenape people in what is now the lower Hudson Valley area and New York Harbour area and beyond), "Manhattan" translates to "island of many hills". They bloody got that right!
 
And right after I took that shot on the left my camera crapped out, again. This isn't my big guy - it's the little-big guy that came around the world with Kristina and I for several months. It crapped out during that trip too; I think it's fair to say it wasn't designed for the punishment it received. I tend to bring it on the bike because it's a lot lighter than my other one, and when you're cycling around the "island of many hills", lighter is good. Anyway, I suspect its so full of gunk inside that the electrical contacts of the power switch aren't making a good connection, so it randomly turns itself off and refuses to turn back on again, or vice versa - it refuses to turn off hahaha! Pouring rubbing alcohol down it usually sorts it out, temporarily. So, I had to revert to the trusty iPhone.

 
 
I'm not sure whether this is a typical summer day in New York or if there was some event going on, but the Hudson was swarming with speedboats. And they were freaking loud - awesome!
 
Thinking about jumping off this bridge? Call 1-800...
 
My journey north was basically just following this: Henry Hudson Drive. Fun fact about Henry Hudson since I brought him up: He was an English sea explorer. At some point in the very early 1600s, Hudson explored the region around what is now the New York metropolitan area while looking for a western route to Asia under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company. He explored the river I just crossed over which eventually was named after him, and thereby laid the foundation for Dutch colonization of the region which I alluded to earlier :)

 
 
The Henry Hudson Drive meanders up and down along the western shore of the river for about 6 miles (10kms), and is bloody nice! Traffic is minimal along here due to the adjacent main road. For the most part it was just us cyclists.

 
Along its length are boat ramps, playgrounds, picnic areas with BBQs - sweet!
 
Looking back across the Hudson towards The Bronx, the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. This shot gives a good idea of the height of the Palisades - a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower part of the river. They rise nearly vertically from near the edge of the river, and stretch about 20 miles (32km) north.
 
 
Further north of the terminus of Henry Hudson Drive is the New York border again, so I started heading back south again via a maze of suburbia.

 
 
I mentioned before that my trip south of the GWB last time didn't impress me that much. This trip was quite the opposite. The whole area (or at least what I saw of it, and I saw quite a bit) is gorgeous! Really nice properties (some of them huge) set along quiet tree-lined streets - quite a contrast to the chaos across the river. Given this is still considered the New York metropolitan area, I imagine property prices here are bloody outrageous. I wonder what the dude on the left does for a living?

 
Buried in the burbs are random little commercial centres, also really nice but dead as a nail. Another big contrast to the chaos across the river. And with that I found my way back to the bridge, back across the Hudson, and headed back to my not-so-terribly-nice neighbourhood. Oh well. 50 miles (80kms) for the day - nice!

Sunday, 16 June 2013 - Always something random

 
We were wandering around a couple specific areas of Manhattan today with apartment hunting in mind (we're aiming to be out of Queens and living in the big smoke by September). This is the Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side - a huge complex of buildings containing no less than 29 indoor and outdoor performance facilities. While passing through there today we found this - a huge collection of pianos just sitting there for the public to go nuts on. Very random. Kristina had a crack, but amidst the cacophony of the other pianos I could barely here what was she playing, or if she was any good ;)

Tuesday, 18 June 2013 - One year, already

 
Always a storm brewing in the distance around this time of year, and today was no different.
 
This is the view from the Stone Rose Lounge overlooking Columbus Circle in the middle of the storm. Kristina and I were here celebrating my one-year New York anniversary.
 
 
Typical New York bar. So yes, a year ago today I landed in New York, and it's been an absolute blast ever since! And I'd have never believed it if someone had told me I'd be married within that year, but so it is.
 
Something I've started following somewhat within the last 12 months is the NBA, helped by the fact that Kristina's team (San Antonio Spurs) are on fire right now. Tonight is the sixth game of seven in the NBA finals between the Spurs and the Miami Heat, with the Spurs needing just one more win to take the tournament. Exciting stuff ;)

Update: they bloody lost. Last chance on Thursday.

Wednesday, 19 June 2013 - New York drivers

 
As crazy as some New York drivers are (especially the taxis), it still amazes me how many go ploughing off the road and into store fronts. Just a couple weeks ago someone ploughed into a boutique store along Fifth Avenue, and that's hardly the first time I've heard of it happening (and I've only been here a year). At about 7am this morning the driver of this car, drunk and possibly on drugs, lost control while allegedly racing another car along Second Avenue. He went hurtling along the sidewalk starting at the intersection of 5th Street, smashed through every obstacle in his way including trees, streetlights, fire hydrants, parking meters, parked bicycles, store fronts, and pedestrians (including a cyclist), and eventually finished up at the intersection of 4th street - a whole block later. By the time I made it down there after work to check out the damage (because I'm nosey), it was like it never happened, except for that there which used to be a pay phone hehe. News article with video here.

Thursday, 20 June 2013 - NBA Finals

 
Well so much for what I said on Tuesday about Kristina's team, the San Antonio Spurs, being on fire. They lost - booooo! They made a fight out of it, and they took the best-of-seven finals to the bitter end with both teams having alternating wins, but in the end it wasn't enough and the Miami Heat take the NBA championship for the second year in a row. Oh well.

Update: The Spurs win the championship next year, also against the Heat :)

Friday, 21 June 2013 - Yoga for the solstice

 
 
Today was the summer solstice here in the northern hemisphere, and what a day for it!
 
And this was the scene at Times Square all day today - thousands of folk making the most of free yoga classes hehe. This is an annual event held on every solstice, now in its 11th year.

 
 
One of my workmates attends a yoga class in Manhattan every week, and she was in amongst this bunch somewhere. The whole event was even televised and streamed live online. I had no idea yoga was such a thing! Impressive stuff. New article here.
 
If I was the black lady I'd be looking away too.

Saturday, 22 June 2013 - The Bronx, yo!

 
 
Welcome to the Bronx homeboys! New York's fourth-largest of its five boroughs is full of grafitti, a multitude of apartment buildings, people pushing trolleys along the street, and is always referred to with the "the" in its name despite most maps simply calling it "Bronx". The story goes that in the early 1600s, a Dutch settler named Jonas Bronck bought the land from the Native Americans who occupied the territory at the time. Whenever other land owners in the area wanted to travel to that area they would call it "The Bronck's Land". At first he planned to use the land to grow tobacco crops, but it had a marshy terrain and hills and he therefore couldn't grow anything on it hehe. Good story. Anyway, New York's northern-most borough is commonly thought of as the 'bad' borough of New York, with elevated crimes rates and some of the poorest neighbourhoods in the country. Aside from driving through it a couple time (on highways), I had never ventured through here on the bike. The 'bad boy' reputation may have had something to do with that, but more so the fact it's a bit of a dump for the most part with few points of interest. Regardless, after just celebrating my one-year anniversary of moving to New York last week, I felt it was time to cross the final borough off the list.

Apart from a couple of specific locations, I didn't have a set route in mind. I crossed a bridge into the Bronx from my borough of Queens and just started following my nose. I had entered into the southern part of the borough, which is reputedly the dodgiest. And within five minutes I was almost run over by a car turning across my lane right in front of me hahaha! I don't know whether he was on drugs or simply didn't see me (or doesn't like bicycles), but either way I swerved out of his way and cautiously continued on.

 
 
As well as a huge number of apartment buildings (the people gotta live somewhere I guess), there also seemed to be an equally huge number of churches (the people gotta beg for forgiveness somewhere too I guess).
 
Nice ride homie! There goes another trolley being pushed down the street in the background there.
 
The Bronx (particularly South Bronx) is the birthplace of hip hop music, and there was plenty of it blaring out of passing cars, but it's not what this chica was belting out. Video here.

 
 
By this stage I had noticed I was the only white guy (a.k.a. cracker or honky hehe) in the place. And despite plenty of cycle lanes around, I seemed to be the only dude on a bike too. A cracker on a bike in the Bronx - no wonder that guy tried to run me over; I probably freaked him out after whatever he'd been smoking. Many ethnic groups have called the Bronx home over the years. South Bronx where I am here is the centre of Puerto Rican culture and life. Further north where I was about to venture into are largely Dominican neighbourhoods, and there is apparently an area containing a large population of Irish immigrants. I must have missed that bit.
 
The Bronx is also home to one of the country's most storied professional baseball teams, the New York Yankees. Despite being here a year I am still to see a Yankees game, but that's about to change. Kristina and I have tickets to see them play the Texas Rangers (yeehaw!) on Tuesday night - sweet!

 
 
Hills! No shortage of them here. And being the kind of person who my aunt once described as "needing to look over the fence to see what's on the other side", I just had to see what was up there.
 
And this is what I found: kids playing with a fire hydrant, and spraying it all over passing cars (open windows or not) hahaha - brilliant! I saw this throughout the city a lot last summer too - fire hydrants pissing water all over the place that people had somehow opened (I'm not sure how exactly). Gives me somewhere to refill my drink bottle during these bloody hot summer rides.

 
 
Well I'm sure Elmer, a.k.a. "Shorty", would have been very touched. I did a little Google'ing on Mr De Jesus here and found this. Graffiti artists are often commissioned by Bronx community members to create tributes, in the form of murals, to loved ones from the neighbourhood who were victims of untimely and often violent deaths. Shorty here fell victim to a neighbourhood stabbing in 1994.
 
By now I was deep in the hood, on the west side heading to the east to check out a couple places I'd read about in advance.
 
"Apartments for rent". Home sweet home.

 
 
Yay a cycle path - this one with actual cyclists on it too!
 
More mammoth apartment buildings in the distance.
 
One thing I will say about the Bronx is, like Manhattan, it has a lot of green space. Always a big plus for me. I followed this path all the way to the east coast where I eventually reached...

 
 
City Island, a tiny wee residential island only a mile and a half (2.5km) long and just half a mile (1km) wide with a population of about 4,000.

 
 
The island felt nothing like the Bronx, in fact I felt like I was somewhere in New England. Numerous movies and TV shows have been filmed out here, none of which I've seen but starring some big-name actors, so there you go.
 
Oh, bummer.

 
Back on the mainland within viewing distance of City Island is Orchard Beach, a mile-long artificial beach created in 1930 and surrounded by acres of natural forest, marshlands and coastline. As well as the crescent-shaped beach, there are also shops and food stores, picnic areas, playgrounds, basketballs courts, volleyball, and so on. Very cool spot.

 
 
And once again I'm the only whitey in the joint hehe. After taking this shot I was asked by a passing he-she if I was having a nice day out riding my bike haha - indeed I am, thank you sir/ma'am. And with that I started the long journey back to Queens (from one hood to another).
 
Between the graffiti, apartment buildings, trolley pushers, hip hop, fire hydrants, steep hills, roadside singers, transvestites, religious paraphernalia pushed in my face outside one of the dozens of churches I passed by, almost getting hit by a car and later by a flying baseball, I'd seen enough for one day :) The Bronx ladies and gentlemen.

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