During the final week of September 2013 I paid my first visit to the mammoth, perpetual metropolis that is New York City.
Armed with my camera I set foot in a decent portion of the neighbourhoods that make up Manhattan, from Harlem down to the Financial District; occasionally venturing further to the boroughs of Brooklyn in the south and Queens in the west.
For me, it was a city of extremes. There were aspects of NYC that I adored more than anywhere I’ve been, from the glorious range of cuisines available at my fingertips to the remarkable ease of navigation thanks to the famous numbered streets & avenues. On the other extreme, I was taken aback at how tarnished the city appeared – it’s as though the urban thoroughfares hadn’t seen a scrubbing brush since the 1940’s! At the end of the day though, I must say the grimy streets do add to the charm and help make the most populous city in the United States what it is today.
I’ll definitely return soon to see more – but until then, this is what I’ve seen already:
A bright flower garden near Bryant Park on 42nd Street
Satan apparently dwells on 5th Avenue
A chimney in the middle of the street!
Splendid view of Macy’s (the world’s largest retail store) from the summit of the Empire State
Masters of chess at Union Square
I love how there are American flags like this posted on the doors at every subway station
The majestic Brooklyn Bridge
Padlocks of love
Some indecipherably unique musical notation on a Brooklyn Bridge pylon
A Jay-Z inspired message on the wall?
Facing the Manhattan Bridge from Water Street in Brooklyn
No parking sign in the DUMBO district (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass)
DUMBO was my favourite area in the whole of NYC to explore… it has an unrivalled character to it
Some bright DUMBO street art
A Brooklyn sunset
The roof of an apartment building as seen from the north side of the Manhattan Bridge pedestrian crossing
At the 9/11 Tribute Centre <3
One of the nearly-completed new World Trade Centre buildings, with the Survivor Tree in the foreground. This tree not only survived the horrors of the WTC collapse, but also made it through Hurricane Sandy alive. May it live many more peaceful years.
A fenced-off block near the Civic Centre
A typical NYC subway
Leading into the subway darkness…
Some unrecognisable but interesting devices on the subway ceiling
A playful Madison Square squirrel
Soho health alert #1
Soho health alert #2
Looking down at the railway passing beneath 11th Avenue
The streets below the Chelsea High Line
Getting hitched on the High Line!
A reflection of the MetLife building, above Grand Central Terminal
