Fourth on the Hudson

I hope you had a wonderful Fourth! After work I met up with a pal from high school, Lisa, who I've reconnected with since moving to the city. Its always so good to pick up again with friend's from the past. As I get older I realize how important those long, lasting connections become. 

She invited me to her Upper East side apartment for a balcony barbeque. It is quite a kick to be on a balcony, grilling hotdogs, overlooking New York city. It feels like a complete contradiction. 

A group of us traveled across town to the Hudson River on the West Side. 

Sunset on the Hudson River

New York is such a funny place. You can be in a very crowded, business and retail environment and hardly be able to push your way through the crowds (a la Times Square), take a short walk to a residential area (a la Chelsea), and take a bus to the West Side and be in a beautiful grassy park (a la Central Park). Travel a little further West and you are reminded that you are,  in fact, on an island. You can smell the water and feel a cool, beach-like breeze on your face. The geography here is amazing!

I've spent my Fourth of July in many places, D.C., Kentucky, Italy. Of all of them, Macy's Fourth of July fireworks were the most spectacular. Shooting off of five barges, the fireworks had the illusion of blanketing the sky in light. In stead of just one large fireburst, we would see five identical firebursts, all overlapping with each other. It was actually a little disorienting, seeing a full blanket of sparkles hanging over you in the sky.

Afterwards we avoided some of the foot traffic back to the East Side and stopped into Cafe Lalo, which was featured in the movie You've Got Mail. You want cake, any kind of mouse, cake, torte; this place is for you. Pages of options, but we settled on the Hazelnut Mouse Cake and the Berrie Torte. Mmm. All in all, an excellent holiday spent with good friends and interesting people!