It’s very overcast today, there is a threat of rain, but for now the cloud cover holds its away. We head downtown to the Brooklyn Bridge and the financial district.
First, we walk back across the bridge to Manhattan after catching the subway to Brooklyn. It’s an exhilarating walk and the city vista looks dark and gloomy, almost Gotham City like from a movie in the overcast conditions.
When we get back to the city, we look around City Hall Park and City Hall. We then walk the financial district. Such a contrasts to the gridded streets above Wall Street. The haphazard layout is confusing and quaint all at the same time. The old buildings build like fortresses to display strength and wealth as Manhattan was growing into a fully fledged city all those years ago. We see Fraunces tavern, Washington dined and stayed here: we enjoy lunch there.
We see the Woolworth Building, the stock exchange, the federal reserve, the raging bull at Bowling Green. The streets are cobbled and bend and weird and chaotic angles that give a sense of fast development with little thought for planning or future proofing. Most are a single lane wide, which in a city of 10,000,000 isn’t functional today.
We eventually head home, and I head off to see Roger Waters for a second time. Mardi has a night in while I experience the show from a different spot, up high. Seeing the show in all of its width gives me a different perspective on the size of the overall production. It’s as amazing the second time around.
Afterwards I walk home, and it snows, just a sprinkle, but enough to make the night just that little more magical. I’m in New York City, I’ve just seen my favourite rock star perform and I’m walking in the snow. Pure magic.
