Speaking of New York (see previous post), I reread this entry in my Moleskine this morning -
I spent 2 hours in the JFK airport today - layover to fly to Florida. I know, it makes no sense to fly an hour in the opposite direction. I just wanted to be close to Manhattan for a little while. And have a good bagel for breakfast. I got to have my favorite coffee too - Dunkin Donuts' toasted almond.
My memories of last summer in NY are so strong. Every time I had time to kill or didn't want to go to Bay Ridge straight from Euro, I'd take the 1 to 14th and transfer to the NR and go to 8th /Astor Place. I would walk around, go into stores, walk up and down St. Mark's tirelessly. looking at the rows of brightly-colored plastic jewelry, the tattoo parlors, gutter punks everywhere. the always very slight beginning of gentrification creeping in, starting with Chipotle.
Or, I would walk up and down Prince Street, looking into Kid Robot and all the other great stores. Or I would find my way to Union Square by walking through the NYU area, Washington Square Park and down 5th Avenue.
The albums of the summer included Gorillaz, Mice Parade and Franz Ferdinand. Every day on the subway. with Sideways, that was such a wonderful book that I miss so much. I would walk the streets with Jay, eating sushi and firecrackers through Central Park, seeing Tegan & Sara and staring at the skyline from his roof in Park Slope. The sun was setting and reflecting off the buildings. bright blinding golden rectangles.
