A Day in the Life: City Streets

I was in Manhattan this week to see an exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum (more on that later). As I was walking down 7th Avenue, I thought about how fun it would be to share what it is like walking along one of Manhattan's busy sidewalks with my blog readers. You just don't quite get the full sense of all the hustle and bustle in the city from pictures -- which includes passing traffic, sirens, random profanity, squealing bus breaks, cigarette smoke, and the many languages spoken by passers by.

So I pulled out my phone and recorded some videos. The videos are pretty shaky, I was trying to hold my phone steady but didn't do a great job, and the quality isn't the best either. Anyway, if you are interested in taking a walk down 7th Avenue with me, take some time to watch the videos below.

I recorded this first one just after I got off the subway on 28th Street near the FIT museum, just south of the fashion district, at about 3:30 pm.



I finished at the museum about 5:15pm, and at this time it was getting dark. I met up with Brian for dinner. He then left to go to a work event and I headed up 7th Ave, past Madison Square Garden, to Herald Square to run a couple of errands before heading home. It's bright enough around there at night, so I decided to take another video. Herald Square is usually crazy busy anyways, and a lot of people were getting off work, so the street was even more crowded than usual.



After I finished my errands, I walked north on 7th Ave. to 42nd Street, where I took the subway home.



The next day, I was out and about in Queens, and thought I would record what it is like to walk around there, so you can see the differences of the two boroughs. For those of you not familiar with that term, NYC is really more like five cities (called boroughs) all merged together -- Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island.






You can see why we love living in Queens, compared to Manhattan. It's a little bit more spread out, more residential and a lot quieter. Just like each of the boroughs feel different from each other, the various parts of Manhattan differ from each other as well. Manhattan is subdivided into sections, such as the Flower District, Diamond District, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, China Town, etc. Each of these neighborhoods have their own distinct feel.

I hope the shaky videos didn't make you too "sea sick," and that you now have a better feel for what it's like here.