Drifting Away

Spring break was over like a breathe of fresh air after entering the white elevator of an old library building. But my rambling thoughts are still bringing me back to the dear moments I spent with close friends from back home.
I left the college on Thursday evening after work and headed to New York with friends from school. Napping in the car and holding the hand of my best Brazilian friend, Amanda, I realized how much I have missed traveling. It was like something that I had subconsciously sought but hadn't pursued after Christmas break. Since I had embarked on most of my trips alone, I had completely forgotten how it felt to have a caring company sitting next to me and drinking from my apple juice box.

After we were dropped off at Grand Central, Amanda and I headed towards the closest Starbucks. Having faced a couple of unsuccessful attempts to find seats in a decent cafe, we decided to rest in front of the Museum at Bryant Park. At 9 p.m. with suitcases and backpacks on the ground and wind messing with our hair, we couldn't have felt any calmer. We just stayed there, not thinking about anything in particular and absorbing every sound and smell. The kind of feeling that you get from knowing that the world is breathing with you and it is okay to pause and enjoy its breathing.
Actually, we knew that what awaited us after this moment was going to be wonderful. Amanda was meeting her boyfriend from another state and I was meeting with friends from high school and my hometown, Varna. We looked at each other with smiling eyes, slowly picked up the bags and left the park.

TriBeCa - the Place to Live in NY

I am probably one of the last people who should be allowed to express an opinion on best New York neighborhoods. I have spent two months of the summer and one month this winter in the city but I can proudly say that I am getting acquainted with it, and we are slowly becoming friends. Thanks to TriBeCa.
TriBeCa is located in lower Manhattan, close to Canal Street and Hudson River. Living there means easy and quick commute to any point of the city.The neighborhood offers plenty of supermarkets, clothing stores and fast food restaurants. All this is essential for living in NY but is not what attracted me to TriBeCa.








The Hudson River Park refreshing ambiance during the day and blissful sight at night impressed me the most. Walking around the park, you encounter green sceneries, old architecture and contemporary projects, and the bluest sky in New York. You look around and see people absorbed in all kinds of sport activities starting with aerobics and running to skateboarding and bicycling. A night there is as calm as the river's blurred darkness from the reflected lights of the skyscrapers in the distance. The apartment buildings are well-equipped with all necessary facilities, including doormen, fitness centers and laundry rooms. I can only encourage you to check out the neighborhood and see how it suits your needs.

A Private Park? You must be joking!

My office is located at East 23rd Street in New York so I rarely think of my lunch time as a break. I walk out of the intimidating skyscraper and here I am again, surrounded by 20 even more intimidating skyscrapers. I need to make a fast decision where and what to eat, and calculate how much time I have left. Today, in the middle of that hassle, with a sandwich in my hand, I discovered an oasis.
The quiet park at Lexington Avenue looked like the perfect place for my lunch break. From across the street I saw a dark green fence, wooden benches, and jumping squirrels, enjoying the warm weather. "From now on I am having my lunch here," I thought to myself cheerfully. The strange thing was that I couldn't find its entrance. "Okay, there are people inside, so they must have entered somehow," I tried to unravel the mystery. Two of the doors that I reached were locked, and I continued circling around my quiet oasis. "Excuse me, where is the entrance to the park," I finally decided to ask a middle-aged man with grey hair and sunglasses, who was also looking at the park with a confused expression.
"This is it but it's locked. It is a private park - it belongs to the people who live here," he pointed to the buildings around. "Only they have keys for it. That's how it is today," he laughed.
I couldn't believe my ears. A private park?
"Now where am I going to have my lunch break," I asked myself and joined the other people sitting on the outside part of the dark green fence of the Lexington Avenue oasis.