August 15, 2004
Strolling in New York
I was a bit tired but very happy when I got up at eight. I went for a morning walk to Central Park with my roommate Jun and Koko. On our way back, we stopped by a restaurant near Carnegie Hall and ordered breakfast of organic bread, cold vegetable soup, and coffee. The place was comfortable with warm light up and classical music. Maybe, we were a little pretentious. But NY is the place to pretend.
We joined others after breakfast. Because I became a musical admirer overnight, I wanted to see one more before I went back. This might be the last opportunity in my life. Fellow students were kind to come to the ticket office. M.Y. helped me to select the good show and buy the right ticket. M.Y. has her passion in musical. Her passion made her work for a broadways company as an intern. Anyway, thanks to her, I waited not long and obtained a seat near the stage.
Funa had a plan to glance deeper New York for today. First, we went to a bayside view point. We enjoyed the view of core area. Wall Street buildings, Statue of Liberty, and Brooklyn Bridge were all in sight. We not only looked at the bridge, but also walked on it. It was a nice walk on wooden board. Arriving at the opposite bank, we headed for Wall Street. We strolled in this world famous street and reached New York Stock Exchange. But the building looked tiny among skyscrapers. The end of the street was Ground Zero. It already became a construction site. So today, we saw both the center of power and the center of tragedy. But only from the appearance, it is not easy to imagine what they really are.
The time for the musical was coming. I said good bye there. Today’s show was Mamma Mia! which was as famous as AIDA. I was happy that I enjoyed NY musical two times in this short stay.
The end of the journey was reaching. I rejoined Koko and headed for the airport. The departure time was almost the same, so we shared a taxi. We arrived at the airport just one hour before. I had just enough time to check in and walk into the plane. In the plane, I had an opportunity to talk with a man and his wife the next seat. The man was working for Verizon Wireless. He was a specialist of next generation standard. This reminded me of Mr. Lee and our team assignment in JAIMS. I remembered JAIMS as if I left there long time ago… Anyway, they asked me what I was writing so much in the plane. Indeed, I was writing this blog. I told him about it. I wonder if he had a chance to glance this.
My weekend in New York was great thanks to warm support by fellow students. Thank you very much. I found that Funa and M.Y. loved and were enjoying NY. NY is really the right place for them.
