New York, New York . . .

. . . it's a wonderful town, where the Bronx is Up and the Battery Down. Jeni and I had a wonderul, jam-packed day of touristiness in NYC yesterday. After catching the train from Princeton at 6:30am, finding the location of Jeni's interview (which was actually supposed to take place on Monday, oops, but they saw her anyway and it went great), we meandered through Central Park, ate hotdogs from a street vendor, saw Times Square and Broadway, rode the Staten Island Ferry to see Lady Liberty, ate pizza on Staten Island, went to Ground Zero, walked around China Town and Little Italy, ate Gelato in Little Italy, wandered through the East Village on a futile mission to find a kosher deli, ended up eating at KFC, then rode the train home and collapsed our very sore and tired legs into bed for about 10 hours. All of this was punctuated by riding the Subway, turning around after walking the wrong direction several times, and examining my Manhattan map a whole lot. Overall, we just had a great time talking a ton and exploring the city. We agreed that the East Village was our favorite of the areas we walked through. It is so diverse and interesting there. Every store and restaurant represented a different ethnicity or region, and I wanted to eat everything and talk to everyone. It's pretty amazing how close the City is to Princeton. I wish I could afford to go there more often and really soak up the wonderful urbanness that I've grown to love. With every big city I visit, I feel more like I can see myself living in a vibrant urban center, dealing with all the complexities that come with that environment (eg race, religion, poverty, addiction, yuppies, politics, etc). Plus, I love public transportation. Love it! At least in cities where it works well and is easy to use. The jostling and bustling of the subway may be hectic at times, but I find it inexplicably peaceful. There's also a part of me that feels like if I can find my way around in places like New York and Berlin and London and Budapest, I can do just about anything. Just about.