I'm staying in New Jersey for a couple of weeks (still a week to go), doing some work with a long-time client. Not an amazing amount to do around here in the evenings, though, so last night I went into Manhattan to catch up with Luis and Krissa for dinner.

For those keeping score at home, we ate at the small and very crowded Caracas Arepa Bar. Very good food for a nice price. Recommended (particularly, the Quesillo for dessert).

However, none of that is the point. The point of this entry is my random comment on the way back about some pretty cool sculptures — like this and this — in the metro station at 8th avenue and 14th street. Luis mentioned there was a book on subway art and it occurred to me today that there might also be a website. Everything has a website, after all.

Sure enough, paydirt! I love what people do in this area of creativity. Some of these pictures look familiar and I've no doubt seen them in trips around the NYC metro. Others are making me think I may need to visit particular stations just to check out the art.

Topics: art, travel/New York

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I may have mentioned this before: books in Australia cost a lot. It's more than the cost of shipping and exchange rate (and there is no import duty). It's some sort of magical far away tax. Something about supply and demand, I guess. Or possibly suckers and their wallets.

I have been very good about (not) buying a lot of books on this trip, though. They're cheaper, but not free. Two trips to Powell's Technical Books in Portland (and one trip to the main store) and no books were bought (by me). Still, I'd finished the two novels I brought with me to read on the road by last weekend, so I needed to stock up for the flight back home. A quick trip to a Barnes & Nobel yesterday and that problem was solved (plus a couple of extra for the suitcase, just in case).

Often when I'm over here, I'll buy one or two books that I am unlikely to ever purchase deliberately online or at home. This time it was Three Nights In August, a "follow the team manager" baseball book by Buzz Bissinger, the guy who wrote Friday Night Lights, about US high school football. It better not suck. It's that and one other book to last 22 hours of flying (plus movies, safety demonstrations, a couple of take-offs and landings, meals and some catnaps).

Looking forward to being home now. Travelling is fun, but living out of a suitcase in a tiny hotel room gets tiring after a while and home is easier.

Topics: books, travel/New York

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Songs from Mary Poppins and Les Miserables sound wrong when sung with American accents. Native US speakers were a very under-represented group in both revolutionary-era France and London. Yes, musical numbers and flying nannies were similarly under-represented in those periods, but that's not the point! I've just been subjected to some Americanised versions of some popular numbers. Oh dear. Does tradition count for nothing in this place? To be fair, the lady singing the Mary Poppins lines had quite a pasable English accent in her songs, however I suspect the guy singing about empty chairs at empty tables was thinking of his ranch back in Texas, rather than the cafes of Paris.

Topics: travel/New York

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The New York Public Library remain convinced that people want to read. Furthermore, they apparently maintain a belief in the old printed word on paper format. Witness this outdoors reading area they have set up and staff during the day outside their building...

They're even sun smart (all the umbrellas are part of the reading area).

Topics: travel/New York

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As predicted, I went to the Museum of Natural History yesterday afternoon.

Every museum wanting to attract visitors should make itself available for a movie. No matter how formulaic, providing it's good fun and appeals to children, especially, there will be a flow-on effect. Wandering around yesterday, I frequently overheard children telling their parents things like "that's where the monkey is from that peed on him" (clearly a highlight for many), or "here's the big head statue". Since you could stand next to the big head statue (a.k.a Easter Island statue) for a photo, there was quite a crowd around it.

More than one parent was being asked to explain why the layout was different than in the movie. One brave dad was explaining about artistic license and rearranging things to make the story flow. Another couple I overheard were resorting to "maybe they've changed things around since then."

Watching the people enjoying the exhibits was nearly as interesting as the exhibits themselves. At times it was a bit of a United Nations gathering; I lost track of the number of foreign languages I heard around the place. Despite the large crowds, the vast amount of space meant you could always see something whilst waiting for a gap at another exhibit. Almost everybody was considerate of other people and the layout was sensible and kept the crowds flowing between locations.

A good way to spend four hours.

Note to self: Two museums in two days plus walking all over the place will make your legs sore the next day. Trust me on this. You need to get in better shape.

Topics: travel/New York

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Greetings from the sunny day, shaded tables in Bryant Park, NYC.

Updated: Re-reading this, it looks like three parts whining to two parts fun. Really, things are better than that. I was noting down thoughts without planning ahead. I'm having fun. Truly. I sometimes use this blog to update close friends back in .au, so delve into too much detail. Oops.

Since my plan was to exploit being in the US to enjoy another week of summer, it was ironic that my flight from Chicago to New York was delayed for 90 minutes due to inclement weather (thunderstorms). Upon arrival at La Guardia airport, I got to witness first-hand the debacle that is US air travel. Planes had been backed up for quite a few hours as the airport was effectively closed whilst the thunderstorms passed. So a whole bunch of flights landed quickly, one after another. Two immediate consequences were: not enough gates for all the planes to stop at, so we cruised around for 45 minutes (literally, cruised around, rather than waiting in one spot). Then, finally getting inside, baggage collection was chaotic, at best. Our luggage belt was right next to "complaints and lost luggage" and they were doing a roaring trade. Final exciting moment was getting one of those taxi drivers who did not consider it necessary to either know his way around Manhattan, own a street directory or be able to contact dispatch or other drivers to get directions — do they get cab licenses from cereal boxes these days?

Now that I'm here, things have improved. Greatly. Museum of Modern Art and some bookshops yesterday. Possibly going to the Museum of Natural History this afternoon; haven't been there for a few years and not being outside in the middle of the day seems sensible. Staying in a new (for me) hotel this trip, near Riverside Park, along the Hudson, so I should make the effort to do an early morning photo stroll tomorrow or Thursday.

Continue to be unimpressed with the general rudeness and insensitivity of drivers in this city, and the pedestrians often don't help. Still, as I sit here in the park, drinking a not unreasonably priced juice and watching the people all around enjoying the weather and each others' company, it's hard to be grumpy. This is why I came — things to do when I want to, places to relax when I don't.

Random moments from the last couple of days: saw a guy at a table nearby with an OLPC prototype; had a girl ask me whether Threadless was an okay place to shop, since she'd heard of it and saw the Threadless sticker on my laptop; the receptionist in the American Airways lounge at Chicago recognised my Creative Commons T-shirt on Sunday. Advertising works, even when it's for reasonable causes.

Topics: travel/New York

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