I heart NY

I've said it before and I'll say it again. New York City is great. It's fast and loud and dingy in places; churches and monasteries are nestled into unexpected places where the City has grown up around them; people actually sit on park benches, reading or talking or just watching the world. In the movie Keeping the Faith Father Brian says of NYC, "people who live anywhere else must be kidding themselves." Granted, I don't live there, and I haven't honestly spent all that much time there, but I reserve the right to love it none the less. I would live there. Particularly Manhattan on the Lower East Side.
Free Train Week on NJ Transit has inspired this little burst of affection for the City. With just my student ID and a coupon I get to ride from Princeton to Penn Station, a mere 45-70 minutes depending on the train, absolutely free. On Thursday I went up for a few hours to go to The Strand (think Powell's in Portland, but a little smaller). It took over an hour to walk from Penn Station to 12th & Broadway, and it was great. The Strand embodies all things book lovers love about books. Huge stacks, rickety ladders to the top shelf, hand-written signs labeling the dozens of categories, grungers/nerds/hippies stocking the shelves. I got four novels for my lit class and a tote bag I've been eyeing for a few years. Come visit me and I'll take you there.
Pretty soon here I'm heading back up for the day with my friend Bill so we can catch up after long summers, and probably do some reading. (I already have 500 pages of Faulkner and 50 of Plato plus a bunch of other articles and stuff to get through.) I'm a happy girl with my coffee, my friend, and my City.