twentyventi: New York City, Part II

In the weeks before our trip to New York we made a list of the sights we wanted to see. The Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Dana Barrett's apartment, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Guggenheim (and so on). We knew we would see skylines and skyscrapers, modern architecture and museums, subway cars and train stations. And as much as I felt excited, I felt nervous - nervous to document something so big, that felt so out of my depth, when before that I had mostly been shining a spotlight on local wildflowers, lakefronts, forest trails and overgrown hedges.

On the morning that we arrived in New York City, while we were still a couple hours away, I woke up when the sun had just barely come up, and there was this beautiful, thick, dream-like fog rolling out over an endless forest of trees along the high way. Because I hadn't been associating nature with New York, it surprised me to see so much greenery not that far outside of the city. It was such an insignificant moment during our trip, but it gave me a reminder that I wasn't as far out of my comfort zone as I thought.

And once we were in Manhattan, we didn't have any trouble finding green spaces if we looked in the right places. On Sunday evening, after church and dinner with the family, we went to Central Park, the most monumental of urban green spaces. I was 100% in my comfort zone. And it was such a strange sensation, to recognize landmarks from television and films, and suddenly know exactly where they fit in the real world.

I had to include at least one of the MANY photos that family/locals/other tourists took for us that would have been lovely had they not been completely out of focus. There were so many, guys, SO MANY. This is a legitimate problem for tourists who bring along anything more complex than a point+shoot/iPhone. Thankfully, we have a very good sense of humour about it - we should really start a series with them.