New York, New York …

I landed in NY yesterday after a very nice and pleasent flight from Oslo via Copenhagen. My first impression was how truly hideous the area around Newark and all the way in towards Manhattan is. I was sitting in an airport shuttle van and could see that this is an area of industry and transport. It’s also clear that no one have spared a single thought on how to make the area look even slightly nice. It didn’t help of course that the driver was about as talented as a door nail and that his driving made the woman next to me throw up – luckily in a bag …

That impression changed dramatically however when we came through the Lincoln Tunnel and entered Manhattan. The woman was still sick, but suddenly there were something to take my attention away from her. For someone like me who’s more or less brought up on American movies, every street and corner in New York is “familiar”.

I called my friend and colleague Sarah from the shuttle and reported my arrival. She invited me to join her, her boyfriend and his son at Madison Square Garden for a circus show. I haven’t been to a circus since I was about ten or twelve, and I jumped at the oportunity. After dumping my luggage at the hotel I walked from 57th street down 8th avenue to Madison Square Garden at 34th street. I arrived just in time to meet Sarah and the others and to find our seats before the show started.

Elephants at Madison Square Garden (click image for large version)

The show was great! I mean it was a more or less run-of-the-mill circus show with clowns, acrobats, elephants and tigers. Add the American way with singing the national antheme and Broadway style song and dance and you have a pretty good picture. The performers were excellent and some of the stuff they pulled were just incredable! The big hit for all the kids in the audience were the elephants. When ever an elephant showed its trunk on stage the kids went wild.

I had an early night and was soundly at sleep before 23:00.