| Jun. 19th, 2008 @ 11:50 am Feelin’ Groovy (The 59th Street Bridge Blog) |
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Last night I left the LES on my bicycle bound for a Park Ave bar to meet some friends. One is in town from Chicago, the other is here from London. New York is a whirlwind of folks visiting, it's sort of hard to keep yourself together when the revolving door of out of towners always wants to hit up the town.
This is why every planned laundry day for the past month has been supersceeded by some sort of cool thing happening, and last night was no exception.
I didn't really get to see them long, only about 2 hours. I left work "early" (for me) which was about 8pm and rode uptown. We had a few drinks and went to I think Dos Caminos which is nearby the Blue Smoke bar I met them at in Gramercy.
We had a really good meal, extremely expensive tequilla and amazing conversation. Before long we said our goodbyes and we were on our way.
Instead of riding down the island, I opted to ride another 30 streets north to the Queensboro Bridge, AKA the 59th Street Bridge. Famous for many movies as well as the Simon & Garfunkel song named for the bridge.
I thought that bridge was cake at first but soon realized the land I was seeing coming up under my feet was not Queens but rather Roosevelt Island. So I was only about half way.
It made me feel wonderful to sweat and ride on this bridge. I had to stop a few times, not out of fatigue, but just to take in a new vista I had never seen. I've driving the bridge but I've never riden my bike across. New York takes you away with the lights and its charm, sometimes you just have to stand there and appreciate it. Every moment I am here I know it's where I am supposed to be. I felt incredible on that bridge last night and I know that feeling won't be going away, even though some New Yorkers say "oh you're new" when I talk about things like this. The urge to be pissed off all the time has not taken over, I am still a happy New Yorker, and often times, feeling groovy.
When I got across the bridge, I think it's Long Island City on the Queens side, I tried to ride down the coast line but they don't have that kind of path built.
I went across the Pulaski Bridge and through shady industrial areas just north of my home in Williamsburg. I wouldn't mind living there, as odd as it is in the industrial zone, it makes me feel like Detroit/Chicago and that just feels like home to me. Almost every corner or alleyway inspired me to come back with a camera later, maybe shoot a video or a film noir piece. The city has been inspiring me a lot lately, I've started writing regularly again and everything |