Rachel’s New York blog #1

21 June 2005

Rachel Funari

I usually write my travels out on paper to transcribe when I’m back home, but I like the idea of blogging this trip instead.

I am beautifully happy to be in New York. There is nowhere else I’d rather be right now. I was so excited to get off the plane in NYC that I couldn’t stop smiling and singing “New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town/The West Side’s up and The Battery’s down…”

Today, Solita–a close school-friend who I’m staying with–and I spent the day walking uptown on Amsterdam Avenue. We ate very good Ethiopian food for lunch, bought cherries and peaches and I even found a hot pretzel for $1.00 (an excellent, excellent price).

In the late afternoon I went for a walk in Riverside Park, where I found a path through some woods. The grass is so green and soft here, the trees so… not eucalypt. After walking I spread out in the sun on the grass and cross-stitched and read from a couple of books. The weather is perfect, not hot, not cold. Not dry, not humid. A little breezy, gentle.

Now that I’m back at Solita’s I’m feeling tired, but it is still light outside (7.55pm) and that is so excellent.

The hotel stay in Tokyo between my two plane rides was awesome. The second longer leg of the trip was so much easier to deal with after a good night’s sleep, and I got to try some Japanese rice pudding and other breakfast delicacies. I also met a very cheerful, chatty and interesting woman from Adelaide who was absolutely beside herself that she was taking her first trip to NY (to meet up with an ex-lover and good friend) at breakfast. She’s lucky to have romance in this city! Chatting with her (she teaches Aboriginal culture and art and history at one of the Adelaide unis) also made the plane ride much shorter, as we got seats together when we checked in at the airport. Her NY excitement rubbed off on me and made mine even bigger. Possibly, I will meet up with her while we are both in New York and I’ll get to see how she’s enjoying herself.

I’m taking lots of pictures and will try to check in daily!