New York State of Mind

After two weeks in an apartment in New York City I'm starting to feel a little bit like a New Yorker. I've always wanted to live in New York and when Ken and I were planning our trip we decided to spend the entire month of September here.

We are in an older building in Midtown Manhattan on the fifth floor. I love our neighborhood there's so much to do and but it still has a neighborhood feeling. Our apartment is actually pretty spacious it's got beautiful hardwood floors and a high ceiling. Friends have asked me if it feels cramped in a one bedroom apartment after leaving our large house in Los Angeles but it's actually quite cozy and we each have a little private space so it has not been an issue. Part of this journey is trying to decide where and how we want to live more permanently in the future so trying out apartments, condos and houses of different sizes and layouts is part of our plan.

After two weeks we have gotten in the groove of going to the grocery store down the street or our neighborhood dry cleaners and figuring out how to use the washer and dryer in the basement of our building. We both really love being able to just walk everywhere it's so nice to just step out of your apartment building be able to walk to restaurants and shops so easily. We're also getting the hang of the subway system of course I've used it in past trips but now we're getting adventurous and transferring from one line to another. Yesterday Ken took the subway to Penn station and then an Amtrak to New Jersey and back to visit a friend there.

Because we are on the fifth floor and face out onto the street I can really see everything going on in front of my building it's quite entertaining to watch people, dogs, bicyclists you name it go by all day long. New York is very interesting and energetic in that way there's always something happening on the street. Having lived in Los Angeles for 20 years where we spend so much time in our car we don't really interact with other people, it's been fun just to walk the streets and see all the different people going by.

We both would definitely come back and stay for several months but I don't think we would ever want to live in New York full-time, partly is the expense of it but also having spent the first part of the trip basically in the country and woods of the north east I do want to be a little bit more in a quieter and more natural area.

Trump driving by our Apt. after time at the UN