4th of July

We have been intertwined with the World Cup games these days. The games have been met (by me) with anguish, pride, tears and knuckle biting moments....there will be a blog to follow on this.

With the trembling ideas of the World Cup in mind (Seriously, did Neymar have to get hurt?! It hurt my heart to see him go down hurt so badly and intentionally. And did Mexico have loose due to the Dutch cheating?) So, with too many World Cup ideas in mind, the 4th of July sort of crept up on me. We knew there would be 4 matches on the 4th of July weekend, which made it very inconvenient to make plans away from the TV. However, decided that we could time the train schedule to ride into the city right as one match ended and another started. After all, neither of us were too interested in France vs. Germany as we didn't care for either team.

We packed our smaller backpack with overnight goodies, figured out the best place to see NYC Macy's Firework Spectacular and took off wearing hiking shoes to the big apple. You do need the very most comfy shoes to walk miles upon miles on concrete. I think we hit 15 miles this weekend...at least the pain in my hips and feet say so. Does that mean I can get a strawberry milkshake this week to balance it all out? I think it does...

For some ignorant reason I assumed that NYC would be crowded but not that bad for the 4th of July. It was a party there: full of people from every corner of the earth. Many people dressed in red, white, and blue. We stayed in our regular hotel by the World Trade Memorial.

Then it hit me. We were walking through the shady trees in the 9/11 Memorial Park and I felt a deep sadness in my throat. I saw the thousands of names of the victims of the horrible day of Sept. 11th inscribed alongside of the fountains.

I saw the outline of the buildings and thought how unfair it all was that it had to end like that. That those poor people went to work that day and got killed. I thought about all the young soldiers, some that I know, that went to Afghanistan and Iraq not entirely sure of why they were going. Not convinced but needing the paycheck and devoted to their fellow soldiers. I saw the faces of the NYPD and the Fire department. They looked weathered and tough and like they had their hearts broken years ago and never got over it. Then I looked up at my shiny new hotel built over ground zero and just open for service...On the 4th of July did I think of the British and the Americans beating them at a war of territory? Nope. Did I feel patriotic? Not really. Country music makes me feel like blue jeans and sweet tea patriotic but not this 4th of July. Had there been some guitar playing about a John Deer and a broken heart in Kentucky I might have felt a little more patriotic. On this 4th, I felt sad for humanity. I felt sad for all of the idiots that make war to claim land and treat the people that were on that land first like dirt. I felt sad for ignorance of race, of culture, of religion. NYC is perhaps one of the only places on earth that truly accepts all races, cultures and religion. Accepting it in an indifferent way, not truly contemplating its meaning.

Anyway, a bit of a run on paragraph there, but we went to NYC to see fireworks. And oh boy did we see some amazing fireworks! We had to wait in a 2 hour line, get analyzed by police and herded like cattle to a viewing area, blocked off like sheep and re-inspected by more police.

The herds being herded by the NYPD 

"I got a herd of 400 ready and inspected. Open the gate and herd this group of cows on in."

The sheep awaiting their turn to get herded into the viewing area. It sounded so bad...the viewing area. 

Mooo. behhhhh. bennnn

But really, where would go you go here if you needed to tinkle or throw up? Thankfully no one did. There were no bathrooms.

Waiting

I love the reflection of the windows

 But by the time that was all done, the sun set and the fireworks started it was all worth it. The Macy's "Spectacular" was every bit as stunning as the word "spectacular" promises to be. The  fireworks were big and magnificent over the Brooklyn Bridge and East River. They blew up the sky like the 4th of July.

Then this morning we discovered my new favorite area of NYC: West Street in Tribeca and the Highline of the Meatpacking District. The West Street in Tribeca is one of Manhattans best kept secrets. They recently re-did this run down area of the city and created a lush park overlooking the Hudson River. I would go as far as to say that it is much better than Central Park. It is big, clean, safe and utterly gorgeous.

Only the little ones here!

All golden retrievers welcome!

I love the tile!

Is this post-industrial garden beautiful or what?

See that girl? She found $40 on the ground a second before we saw it! We were busy taking silly selfies (imitating relatives) and bam! She got to the 40 bucks first!

The end of West street park meets the beginning of the skyline. The Highline is a high sky walk way boasting nearly 2 miles of walkway through buildings in the Meatpacking District. It is really like an open spa in the middle of the city. It has all of these lush ferns and trees and wonderful beach style seats to prop your feet up and look up at the trees.

 What exactly is the Meat Packing district? It sounds like a meat man (butcher, is it not?) was moving his butchery and needed to pack the lamb chops and chicken thighs into boxes to move. Is that meat packing? Or is it more like Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" where Jurgis, I think that was his name, has to work with other sad immigrants in a meat house where they hurt the cows and treat the workers with abuse. Is that what happened in this meat packing district that now has Armani and DVF and Vegan Gelato? I would like to know. So, the highline:

Up we go to paradise

nap time

It is a good thing that I ate a solid breakfast this morning because they also have REAL tacos al pastor right in the middle of the highline. My husband tested my endurance by walking me over to the cook to see him spooning shredded pineapple and cilantro over the real tortilla and the real meat. It was tough to look and not eat.

The park in the sky.

 You can really see and appreciate all of the new architecture with the old walking through the highline.

Favorite picture of the day.

So that was our 4th of July. We ran into a guitar store for a few minutes then saw the time: World Cup game approaching!

The chef apparently also plays guitar! Who knew? Now can he play while he cooks? Either way, he is a keeper. How cute is his hand?

We hurried ourselves home in time to turn on ESPN and watch the sad sad ending of Costa Rica vs. Netherlands.  Costa Rica, they really should have owned the field a little better. The cats and I were very disappointed.