Nick C. Kirk

Closing out 2012.NYC

I had the pleasure of enjoying New York City during both the Christmas and New Years holidays. During these two weeks I found a few places to eat, museums and galleries to visit, do a bit of sightseeing and check out the local graffiti. Flying in from Newark, Jersey, I had a brief view of NYC before arriving via Holland tunnel, which is a fun experience if you have not been in such a narrow one lane each way under water tunnel. I stayed in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and down south in the East Village. The upper east and west side of Manhattan were very clean including Central Park, The Guggenheim, Academy of Design and The Whitney Museum. Once you head south, you start to experience local graffiti while walking the streets and begin to see a more diverse culture of the people. Midtown has the MOMA, Rockefeller, Diamond District (what I call the high end shopping streets with LV, Gucci, Tiffany,etc) Then you hit Time Square and TV recording studios. Further down is Macy's, Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden. Kip's Bay has a nice Imax 3d Theater. The Chelsea Art District is amazing and never ending. The East Village is quite cultural with some great Indian restaurants among others. Chinatown, Little Italy, NoHo and SoHo are all within walking distance of each other with great vibes and again, amazing food options. Downtown was crowded but seeing the 911 memorial and the building of the new towers is worth the wait. The main tower is going to stand something like 1,700 feet high, ridiculous. Took a tour of Yankee Stadium up in the Bronx. (Ranger Stadium is more impressive) As for Williamsburg Brooklyn, well, it's pretty much what the television show Portlandia is like, just more concrete. There is a ton of new age hipsters roaming the sidewalks, street graffiti that does not get painted over, trendy little food and coffee shops, I even found a great antique store. It is the new white hipster capitol of the world I think. The two weeks I spent roaming New York City were amazing and eventful, and am ready to plan another trip back. Here are just a few photos I took while on my trip. No editing, just raw pics. Enjoy.