'Whats a dulcimer?' they ask.

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  New York City, New York, United States
Thursday, August 14, 2008

I cannot get used to people bouncing basket balls the whole time... stop it now. Well, what can I say? I am bushed that's what! So much to tell and I was telling myself to keep this blog shorter, oh well. Last night I met my housemate after I had re-arranged my furniture and unpacked. His name is Bernard and he is from Austria. He was very excited to meet me as its just us in here... he was quite talkative and kept me up till past 10pm and was all very excited to here about UK medical schools lol. Best part was when he said could we try and keep the place tidy and share the cleaning.... British students meet European students... I think I went to medical school in the wrong country. Anyway I got to bed and woke up at 6am! I was all ready for getting up at my 11am UK time, oh dear. Well I slowly got up and faffed and went out for breakfast which was a bargain a $6 for omelette and toast and coffee and juice and water and anything else they can fatten you up with. Lesson one, you order an omelette and you get asked how you want the potatoes done and what colour bread and what type of juice......

Map

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There is some kind of bird in the trees around here that makes a noise like a rattle snake, any answers on a post card please..... so anyway then I went off to the natural history museum, which by the way is quite good but too big to manage in one go so ill have to go back a few times. That was over on the west side. I am on the Upper East Side on Park Avenue and 97th street (Zoom in on the pin map to find me) .... Have a look at the picture maps of NY so you know what I'm talking about; streets go across Manhattan and are numbered, avenues go up and down and are numbered or named (Mummy).

So I strolled back through the park at lunch time and got myself a giant pretzel (which was ok-ish) and let me just say in case I didn't make this clear.... Central Park is amazing and I love it.... its just fab. OK it's a beautiful park with ducks and birds (there are a strangely high number of birds in this city) and ponds and its quiet in the big city. But that's all a bit of a given, its just that it works so well.... Its so busy with people walking and running and cycling, families having picnics, schools on trips.... sport everywhere and of course the bit I liked the most...music; around every corner.... I saw two sax players and a flute, I even sat and watched a great jazz trio (including double bass!). Now that's all a bit good but then we had a lady playing drowsy Maggie (Clare will know) on a handmade dulcimer! AbFab. Such a great atmosphere here that I cant imagine in a million years in the UK lol. But its kind of like St. Georges park in style but bigger. I think why it works is that just that its smack bang in the middle of such a full on city. It kind of just pulls you in, even if your just on the way to somewhere else, like me cutting across to the west side

Me in Times Square

. It means its busy and people actually use it and there's just this whole scene that's built up there. The parks in London just seem a bit dull I guess, you get people sat around but that's it. OK I have earned my money from the Central Park Authority...

So after stumbling on the John Lennon memorial in Strawberry Feilds I walked through and came out of the park on East Side 77th street or something. Then I just walked down 5th Avenue all the way down to Bryant's Park in Midtown. Now that's a long old walk but you get to see the city change from the sort of residential non-touristy bit I am in (which I think is realistic - lots of doctors around here too) into I guess offices and business, then it gets more designer shops and eventually turns into the sort of hub of where everyone comes to see. I had a look in the public library which I'm afraid is a bit better than Kingswood's. Then I cut across to Times Square...thought I should do the typical tourist thing. That was all a bit high up and full of people for me! I got out as soon as and headed for the subway. I planned to head home but my card didn't work on the machine so I could not get the metro card to use it.... disaster as I then had the whole walk back up to 97th... not fun. I was very hungry by the time I found a restaurant (like someone open one on 5th Ave between the 50th and 95th please! Seriously). I ended up having a good eat (Ill have the steak please.... OK sir and which soup would you like and what appetisers and what bread and what side dishes - they are free by the way just you don't order one thing when you ask for a steak you get a lot more) but missed opera in the park because I ran out of time and was barely able to walk by that point.... never mind no matter. So I'm flaked out now..... no plans as its 8:30 and I have not spotted a bar around here yet.

p.s. Fiona asked what I can see from my window.... Well I'm facing upstate so not anything famous I'm afraid. Its still good though.... Bernard was unhappy at $900 (£450) a month as his room is smaller and not as good view as some of the other students (who obviously got in sooner) have a view of the park. I still think its probably good value for money in NY during summer and I like the (more resident's eye) view. And the weather, yes everything was saying thunder for today but we have had so much sun than I'm red just walking around and hugging as much shade as I can!

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