Why is New York called The Big Apple anyway? Wikipedia have the answer 🙂 I had breakfast this morning in a charming little place called The Muffin Place on Upper West Side. Sesame seeds bagel with jam was simple but very tasty. Sitting enjoying my bagel, my eyes wandered around and fell upon this poster on the wall:

May 17th march (click image for large version)

There’re a couple of reasons why I chose to take a picture and also to actually comment on this poster in my blog. My Norwegian readers will of course note the date and see that this is the day when most Norwegians are out marching anyway. The 17th of May is the Norwegian Constitution Day and this is celebrated with parades throughout the country. Another reason was the poster design. I’m not a design expert so anyone reading this that knows anything about design will have to forgive any mistakes. It’s just that it reminds me of Soviet and socialist propaganda poster design. I really don’t mind – I was just a little surprised by it. The AIDSwalk is a worthy cause though, and I hope they get lots of people to join them in the walk.

After breakfast I went for a looong walk in Central Park and snapped shots east and west with my new camera:

Flowering trees on the Upper West Side (click image for large version)

Not really in Central Park yet, I just liked the flowering trees and the sense of springtime they inspired in me 🙂

Sunbathing turtles in Central Park (click image for large version)

This however is in the Park, just next to the Belvedere Castle on Vista Rock.

Belvedere Castle, Central Park (click image for large version)

View from Belvedere Castle, Central Park (click image for large version)

Morning in Central Park (click image for large version)

This picture is just a quick catch of a couple of girls enjoying the spring mood this particular morning. I believe they were sisters and that their mother was standing a little to my left taking a picture.

I think Central Park is a beautiful place and it’s great that the citizens of NYC have this place where they can get away from the noisy streets. It is a little surprising though that they have several roads open for car traffic crossing through the park. Why couldn’t they have made this one place totally free from car traffic?

Traffic through Central Park (click image for large version)

Next, I walked straight in to a photo shoot. It was at first not obvious who they were actually taking the pictures of, but when I came a little closer I could see the model stand there looking extremely bored.

Photo shoot in Central Park (click image for large version)

Photo shoot, who's the model? (click image for large version)

I didn’t recognize the girl – anyone know who she is?

Later that day I went to meet my friend Sture downtown. This is I guy I haven’t seen in almost 15 years, except for in a birthday party a couple of years ago. We hooked up on Facebook some weeks ago and he saw from my status messages that we were in New York at the same time!

My friend Sture in West Village, Manhattan (click image for large version)

We had lunch at a nice little place in West Village and had “Norwegian Eggs Benedict”, which meant that they were served with smoked salmon instead of bacon … 🙂

After a very nice chat with Sture, I walked to Ground Zero and jumped on a tourist sightseeing bus. One of my fellow passengers snapped a picture of me.

Sightseeing in New York (click image for large version)

Here’s a few shots from the rest of my day:

Grafitti (click image for large version)

This grafitti caught my eye. It’s one of two things I saw in Manhattan that was directly connected to the current financial crisis. The woman in the top left corner is saying “… they say to keep on shopping, but they won’t give us any more credit …”. The other thing was this:

US National debt counter (click image for large version)

Someone is concerned about public spending …

That’s it for now 🙂

Today I went shopping. This in itself is interesting because I basically hate it. When I planned this trip I considered the exchange rate and that I actually needed some new clothes. This and a few other things made the decision pretty easy. One of my colleagues were recently in New York and she recommended the factory outlet area Woodbury Commons. The trip started at the Port Authority Bus Terminal where I caught a picture of a pigeon flying around looking for something 🙂

Pidgeon looking for a ride (click image for large version)

Woodbury Commons

The place was frankly much better than most shopping facilities I’ve visited in my life. It’s built like a small town centre with lots of smaller buildings with wide streets. You actually walk outside and get some fresh air betweent visits to the various shops. Prices are really very good – I bought a Seiko watch and saved approximately 250 dollars based on pricing in a couple of shops in Manhattan.

Back in Manhattan I dropped off my stuff at the hotel and went up the street to The Brooklyn Diner at 888th 57th street. This was a trip down memory lane for me. My first trip to NYC was in July 2001 with my friend Tor Erik. We stayed at the same hotel where I am now and we had our breakfast at Brooklyn Diner every day we spent in New York. It’s nothing spectacular, but the service is still great and the food is worth the cost.

Brooklyn Diner (click image for large version)

I met my friend Sarah at Lansky’s at Columbus and 70th street this morning where Sarah bought me breakfast. For approximately 7 dollars (ca. NOK 45) I got two eggs, some bacon, fried potatoes, brown toast and as much coffee as I could drink. By Norwegian standards this is not very expencive and it’s easy to understand that many people prefer to start the day eating out. To my knowledge this is not at all common back home. There are of course some that will have their morning coffee and a bagel at a bakery or coffee shop in Oslo, but they are not many.

Hotelroom view in New York (click image for large version)

After breakfast I went camera shopping. My “old” IXUS camera has its limitations and I wanted to move to the next level. The next level is not SLR (no:speilrefleks), but a more advanced compact camera with better optics and more sophisticated software. This will by it self not make me at better photographer, but it will provide more possibilities. The enhanced optics will also give me more flexibility when choosing targets for my pictures.

The rest of the day was spent in my hotel room writing a paper for my speach at a conference next week, catching up on my emails and charging the batteries of my new camera. I can’t wait to get out tomorrow and start shooting pictures! til then I’ve added a picture of the view from my room …

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.