New York nostalgia.

Wow, we've made it to May! It's been almost 4 months since we've left New Zealand. We've seen Los Angeles, Costa Rica, Washington DC, Philadelphia, North Carolina, Hampton and New York. Now we're in London.

We landed in Heathrow airport early yesterday morning at 6am and took the 'tube' right across London to Walthamstow Central, where Charlotte, with her baby, picked us up. Her husband, Brendon (also known as "Silks") is a friend of Amber's and has kindly offered us their home while we're here. The train ride took just over an hour and a half and I had an interesting ride through central London people watching at rush hour.

I feel so much more at ease commuting here compared to LA, Costa Rica or New York. Our immigration process was uneventfully smooth and I found using the subway convenient and comfortable - save for an announcement to subway passengers to not leaving personal belongings lying around unattended and to be on the lookout for suspicious looking "packages" over the intercom. Fear (largely due to terrorism) is not as palpable here then it was in New York city. People do not seem as afraid of each other too. This reminded me of Michael Moore's thought provoking 'Bowling for Columbine' we watched in New York describing how America breeds a culture of fear through gun control (or lack thereof). Barack certainly has his work cut out for him!

Anyway, I sit here in this English living room at 230AM having slept most of the day recovering from my flight. I've just spent an uncomfortable amount of money booking the Eurostar into France, accommodation in Paris, and the Moulin Rouge on friday night. But before another day dawns, I want to show you the rest of our photos we took in New York, starting with..

 Ground Zero Museum was very emotional. Located several blocks north of the site itself, it took under two hours to watch the video, and view the items salvaged from the debris on display. The tour is told from the perspective of Gary Suson, the only official photographer at Ground Zero for FDNY (firemen) who was allowed unrestricted access to document every phase of the recovery.

It was conducted by the tour guide very professionally and I enjoyed the experience. The part that most got to me from the entire tour though, was when Gary instinctively found from under some debris, a page from the bible. Highlighted in yellow by the previous owner of the Tower of Babylon. According to the biblical account, the people decided their city should have a tower so immense that it would have "its top in the heavens." However the Tower of Babel wasn't built for the worship of Jesus but instead dedicated to the glory of man. The Book of Genesis then relates how God was displeased and "scattered the people throughout the earth" (Geneisis 11:5-8).

 Window remnants. All but less than 1% of glass from the Twin Towers were recovered. 

Most disintegrated into powder from the extreme heat.

Running along Manhattan's West Side, the HIGH LINE is a very cool walkway built over old railway tracks. We really enjoyed havng lunch here and being the this very sophisticated series of spaces. http://www.thehighline.org/

We walked close to 40 blocks (over an hour) up to Museum of Modern Art. On friday nights they have Target sponsored free entry nights between 4pm -8pm so we decided to take full advantage of this opportunity which would otherwise cost us US$20 each.  There was a 'special event' which completely wierded me out! Marina Abramovic's performances were shocking and bizarre. It felt like I had entered the twilight zone! We saw nude men lying face down on a field humping the floor, a very attractive naked woman exposed on a bare white wall being elevated by merely two ledges (one for each foot) and what seemed to be a single bicycle seat protruding from under her crotch, and a man and a woman, also naked, facing and looking into each other's eyes about a foot apart. To experience this 'performance' visitors were to walk in between these artists to continue into the room beyond. Amber and I didn't do it. The male artist's unerect penis was at least 5 inches long and I had no desire to risk brushing it on the way through as so many had done so before. http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/marinaabramovic/marina_exhibition.html

There is so much more to write about NYC and we're already in France! I'm going to have to figure out how to fit in another blog about our friends in Brooklyn before telling you our adventures in Paris.