In fact, I didn't step on Manhattan but me and Patrick went to Brooklyn and watch the skyscaper lights as the night falls. But, we spent about 4 hours in a region no bigger than an area of 1oo feet radius. And this is another thing I like about New York: we did so many things in so little space and time. Here's what we did that in these 4 hours:
- Had dinner at the Italian restaurant (not good for its money, but it was ok).
- We watched the shooting of some tv series right there. I also walked and interfered in the set a couple of times.
- We saw a big boat, with live music on it and people dancing and parting all over it! It was such a weird experience for me since I haven't seen anything like that before (although I've heard of boat parties in ships around Manhattan).
- I met a cute married couple from Los Angeles. The guy had just moved to NYC to work.
- We met his very interesting lonely lady that was living on the island (20th street), and we had a long discussion on science. Once again, we had to explain to someone completely ignorant of science what a plasma wakefield accelerator is and why is it important. The discussion diverted several times into Einstein, Feynman, what peopel think of scientists and why, particle physics, how hurricane Katrina was formed, and how by observing the waves one can tell approximately what type of boat went by (similar to how people observe indirectly the elementary particles). It is just so much fun doing that, when the other person is interested.
- Finally, the main reason that I actually wanted to go there again was to try and take pictures of the New York skyline. That turned out from the last time very hard to do, since the lights are tiny and not very bright which causes a "bleeding" effect where the image appears to be out of focus.
Here is my favorite one, a magnificent view of NYC skyline:
The full big version is located here.
Also, there is more complete version of that picture that contains all 360 degrees of view around the location. You can even see the fliming set:
The full picture is located here.
