Walkabout

[jethrien]

I hadn't gone out for lunch and my hands were freezing and I didn't have anything better to do, so I went for a walk. Not a long one, just 15 minutes. I let the traffic lights determine where I went - just picked a random direction, and then went in whichever way the walk signs were pointing.

I should do this more often. It was really kind of cool. I don't leave the building much during work hours, and I don't really have a good sense of the neighborhood. One of the things I love about New York is that you can find random little treasures anywhere. There's a tiny park with a waterfall two blocks away - it's where a small building must have been once. I saw a bunch of cute open air cafes, with lilies in square vases on the tables on the sidewalks. There's a bunch of restaurants I didn't know existed - French, Italian, Indian, Japanese, tapas. There's a bookstore nestled under my building that I never noticed because I never approach the building from that direction. It was sunny and there were people out walking and buying fruit from stands and setting up for the evening rush. Something's blooming - the air smells like flowers. It's easy to forget, in my hermetically sealed office building, that there's a neighborhood a few doors away.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I can see what you love about NY. Sometime when I come up, we should try out one of the restaurants near your office, and just wander around and stop in the shops. I won't bring your brother or his expectations.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

There's restaurants and interesting shops pretty much everywhere, in every neighborhood. All kinds of interesting stuff. And interesting people. Things bustle and stuff happens and serendipity always seems right around the corner. I keep running into random parades or people I haven't seen in years. I love this city.