Friday, July 21 - first day

Woke up at 5:30 am, declared the wide windowsill overlooking the Hudson and the Washington Bridge (in direct competition with KC) as my favorite spot. Fiery sunrise with pink sky and glittering facades beyond the Hudson - good morning New York!

Our first exploration tour takes us down Riverside Drive under a highway to the park on the Hudson. There's actually a trumpet-playing musician sitting on a bench next to the basketball court under the 30-meter high steel structure practicing scales. I dismiss the briefly considered suspicion that Christian might have staged it just for us...

In the park we find climbing bars and splashing water - an unbeatable combination for Cecilia in her element! Then we climb up to our neighborhood in scorching heat. We feel as exhausted as the store sign of the fruit and vegetable vendor that was perhaps pink 20 years ago... At home, we take a siesta first. Decide to go out again around 5 and take the ferry to Staten Island to experience the skyline from the sea - approaching New York from the edges.

A thousand times seen images are overwritten.

Warm wind, light, incredible variety of hundreds of commuting New Yorkers around us on the ferry. The over 100-year-old venerable and at the same time tiny skyscrapers, standing terrace-like in front of the gleaming skyscrapers. So beautiful, so big, so unbelievably impressive!