Wow, we are beginning to figure out that we sailed 8300 miles in order to be here! We have been too busy to write much because of too much fun. We took the subway over to Brooklyn to jam with Steve Kahn and then a day later bussed down to Greenwich Village for lunch and then a jam with Ian Banks that turned into a bit of fiesta. There aren't many singers here, so it's wide open.
But in addition to the flamenco scene (which is actually much smaller than I had imagined, but still great), we have been enjoying the little restaurants, the walking, Central Park, and the Metropolitan Museum.
Folks here are pretty slim, partly because of all the walking. Cars are virtually impossible here - no parking space mostly. We haven't seen a "single-family-residence" yet - everything is multistory apartments. With 300+ residents on a block and parking spaces for 30 cars - well, you get the picture. Yet it is easy to get around. Busses and subways cost $2 per ride. You can get onto a subway and transfer all over the place. You buy a Metro card and just slide it through the scanner upon boarding. For $20, you can get unlimited riding on everything for a week.
One of the pleasant surprises was the grocery stores. There are no big chains; all the stores look like little local markets and they are very narrow on the street so they seem small, but the buildings can be half-a-block deep, so the store goes way back. The produce is excellent, fresh breads of all kinds, huge cheeses and varieties of every possible type - they even had our favorite exotic smoked paprika from Spain. For Santa Cruz folks, it was like twice Shopper's Corner.
So we will stay at least a week longer. We'll try to post some pix after we get them out of the camera. Don't forget to write....
Here's Andi in front of our boat moored in the Hudson River. Double-click to make it bigger. Can you find the boat?
Time Square is full of interesting characters including the "Naked Cowboy".
Even in daytime, Time Square is pretty vivid.
Here is a shot in "Big Nicks", a little local restaurant next to our market where food is yummy and inexpensive.
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