Lazy Sunday in Brooklyn

Well here I am, only a day after I last wrote! Are you proud of me?

I felt a bit guilty that my last post was overwhelmingly negative. As, I am in New York City after all. I think that is the problem with New York - visitors expectations are unbelievably high. So I think it can be a tad anticlimatic when one finally finds himself or herself here. I got the same reaction from all of my friends when I mentioned that I wasn't enjoying myself very much here - "but, you're in New York?!?!" they may as well have said "what the hell is wrong with you?!!"

But, as I mentioned yesterday, I wasn't exactly very stoked about coming to North America in the first place and coming for so long, I guess I felt a bit trapped. I felt a lot of anxiety at having to spend about a month here. How would I pass the time, I thought to myself...

But anyway, only two more days left in New York and I'm finally starting to really enjoy myself here.

Had an extremely pleasurable day today. Started off with a workout at the gym, then fruit salad, yoghurt and rolled oats for breakfast with a coffee from Cafe Orwell - the cafe next to the hostel. I then jumped on the subway and headed to Smith Street.

I am not even sure what suburb this is but it is South-West Brooklyn. Smith Street is a strip of lots of cafes, bars and clothing stores. I had a look around before deciding to walk to Prospect Park - a few kms away.

Before I headed off I grabbed an iced coffee from a street-side store. The friendly African-American dude behind the counter asked me if I worked around the area. When I said no he said something along the lines of "yeah because I never see pretty girls like you around here". Not used to such comments I blushed and made some awkward remark. But he gave me the iced coffee for free against my objections - who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth...

I headed to Prospect Park and soon decided that black skinny leg jeans were a bad choice for the scorching hot day. I tried to roll them up but by the time I arrived at the park I was sweating profusely and desperately looking around for a shady corner where I could eat my lunch and read Steppenwolf. I found myself a nice spot on a grassy bank underneath a big oak tree overlooking the park. There were happy Brooklyners everywhere - playing various sports, lazing on the grass reading like me or playing with their kids. Ah this is the life, I thought sleepily to myself.

I walked through the park which is absolutely stunning. Less manicured than Central Park - there were parts where I was the only person walking down the path and it felt almost more like a forest. A really lovely spot.

After doing my park thing I decided to head to the Brooklyn Bridge and walk across. It turned out I wasn't the only tourist with this bright idea as me and hundreds of other sightseers trudged along the bridge in the hot sun. It was nice to get amongst the sea breeze though and the views from the bridge are amazing. So, definitely worth braving the crowds!

I then went to my new favourite store - Whole Foods - and bought my new favourite guilt-free treat - a sugar-free blueberry scone, along with a magazine and a bottle of NZ savignon blanc. Which I'm just about to open and enjoy as the last of the sun slips away and provides the city with some much needed cool relief...

Here is my song of the day for today, I thoroughly recommend you listen to this - Beirut at his/its best! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VyPeQzb6FY

I'm back!

Dear blog readers,

I apologise profusely for my prolonged absence!

Things got a bit crazy in Peru - running about from city to city on a timetable. But, that is no excuse. I have been very lazy.

So, I will leave picking up where I left off to another day - there is just too much to write about!

I am in New York at the moment and have been here for a week and a half now. I will be honest, I was absolutely miserable when I arrived. I found it incredibly unsettling after being in South America for over 3 months, then heading to LA for a crazy, 3-day-long music festival and then arriving here. I know New York is hailed as a kind of mecca amongst people that I normally associate myself with. The 'old' Lucy, the Melbourne Lucy held New York on a lofty pedastal - the capital of culture, the headquarters of creative hipsters around the world.

However, the signs that New York may not titilate me at this point in my life were there from before I had even arrived. Geoffrey, my 6 week travel companion in Ecuador and Peru, questioned my decision to come to the US, and New York in particular, numerous times. An awesome couple from Colorado that we met in Peru also voiced doubt regarding New York. Both Geoffrey and Connor (the guy from Colorado) cited its shere magnitude as a reason for avoidance. I couldn't really understand their viewpoint and tried to describe to them the beliefs held by us creative Antipodeans that see New York as a centre for all things cultural, and for me specifically, the centre of all things indie music.

I guess hearing these things back in Peru sowed the seed of doubt somewhere deep in my subconscious. I also started to become somewhat anxious about coming to the US due to the expense involved. Friends and family tried to allay this fear by saying that it was the best time of all to go to the US moneywise because of the comparative exchange rate.

So, I guess when I arrived here, I wasn't exactly holding an open mind regarding my enjoyment of the place. Feeling uprooted from my normal 'routine' of moving every few days in a place was also unsettling. As was being out of South America. It isn't an easy area to travel by any stretch of the imagination but that made it challenging, exciting. I also missed the beautiful countryside and observing the simple, uncomplicated lives of the locals. I had arrived back in the first world. And I wasn't ready for it.

All of these ideas, thoughts and feelings came to a head after my first day or two in New York. I was also missing Geoffrey a great deal and finding it frustrating not being able to contact him - as he was back to work in the 'middle of nowhere'. However, I was aware that these issues were the root cause of my despondency and tried to 'think' my way out of my mindframe.

I succeeded, somewhat. But have still battled to really engross myself in New York and all it has to offer. I feel like this amazing, vibrant city is wasted on me at the moment - me, the self-professed gypsy, longing for the craziness and mayhem of South America.

However, in the past few days I have managed to get into the spirit of things a bit more. But, I fear that for Chris (my travel buddy here) at least, I am frightfully boring. It is currently a Saturday night at 9:30pm and instead of going out partying I am sitting here writing my blog! Albeit I have had a couple of wines so I am not ready to be shipped to the retirement home just yet! I just would rather settle into bed with my latest book - Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse - than go out partying and drinking alcohol with a whole bunch of people I don't know.

So, I am kind of looking forward to leaving New York on Tuesday and heading to San Francisco which I'm sure will be much of the same but perhaps will provide me with a bit more of the physical beauty and pleasant weather that I have been craving. I am really looking forward to seeing my Aunt Penelope in the Napa Valley - for the reasons of spending time with a blood relative and also for experiencing the notorious beauty of that region. After seeing Pen and exploring San Fran for a few days I am heading to Northen California to meet Geoffrey to camp in the infamous Redwood Forest which will hopefuly satisfy my craving for nature and a more simplistic lifestyle.

God reading the above I am aware that I am starting to sound like my 'hippie' parents who at my age moved to the middle of nowhere in Australia to make babies and live off goats cheese that they made themselves...

But, in short, these are the things that I do love about New York:
1. The Tribeca Film Festival which is on at the moment - I have seen three AWESOME films: Beware the Gonzo; Road, Movie; and, my favourite, Loose Cannons - an awesome Italian film about homosexuality and conservatism (but with lots of laughs in between). The directors of each film have been at all screenings and have taken part in Q and A afterwards. At 'Road, Movie' they even had the lead actors there which was great. Oh and I also saw Steven Spielberg!
2. Bedford Ave, Williamsburg. I love this street. I could sit for hours in El Beit (pictured) eating their housemade banana and walnut bread, drinking coffee and watching the hipsters out the window. Seriously, I have never seen so many pairs of skin tight black jeans and pensive expressions in my life! It is cool though. Almost too cool. It's never good to feel like you have to dress up (or dress down - or whatever, just dress on the absolute cutting edge of indie-rock-hipster fashion) to go out for coffee. But, I still love it.
3. The unAmericanness of it all. I was thinking today as I sat on the subway - 'where are all the obese people?'. Not here. Obviously in Austin, Texas. Or Oklahoma. Or, I dunno. But this is also what I don't like about New York - I kind of like being like "oh, look at that sign, it's so... american!".
4. How it reminds me so much of Melbourne.
5. Whole Foods supermarkets. Although this isn't specific to New York. Why haven't they come up with something like this in Australia? Australia's grocery stores and supermarkets are horrifically expensive and of poor quality compared to the US I am ashamed to say... They even have sugar-free baking for the health conscious! Sugar free blueberry scones for under $2? Stop it Wholefoods!
6. Central Park. Any city with a large, central, public park (I'm also thinking Skansen in Stockholm) deserves an award for extremely clever city planning.
7. The countless museums (have visited the Metropolitan and the Muesuem of Modern Art so far...)
8. The subway. So easy and cheap!

And of course, lots of other things. I just thought I should say something positive about New York as up til that point this post had been overwhelmingly negative.

Well, I hope whoever is reading this is well and happy. I miss you all a lot, which is another reason for my despondency of late, I think I have just experienced all I can really get out of this trip. I am sick of sightseeing and feeling obligated to go out and see the sights of a place. I have been SO spoiled in the last few months regarding the locations I have been and the amazing things I have seen (Machu Picchu, the Amazon, the Sacred Valley in Peru... the list goes on!). I think it is time to return to the 'normal' life of working and/or studying and come back to travel with fresh eyes and a bored soul. That way I may appreciate it slightly more.

Ok well I promise to write something else soon. Until then friends!