Snowy Central Park...

I think it might be nearly 3 years since I last saw Central Park totally covered in snow. The last time I think it was a work day and I was off-sick, so when I went for a walk around it was really quiet, and the snow was still falling so it had silenced the sounds of the city. Today though, it was a busy, beautiful Saturday, the snow had stopped and the sun was out - as was everyone with a camera! 

The park looked absolutely amazing in the sun and snow. I felt incredibly lucky when I stepped out of the subway station and saw this view...

I'd never seen the park looking like that - not with gorgeous blue skies and a thick blanket of snow over everything. It was so stunning - I couldn't wait to get into the park and walk around and take some photos. 

There were loads of people around, lots of lucky holiday makers who were on holiday during the snow, families going sledging, runners braving the elements, there were even skiers out in the park! It was fantastic, all walks of life, all different characters, all out enjoying the snow together. Everyone looked so happy, I don't think you could be unhappy when you're surrounded by such a beautiful setting really.

Anyway, I'm afraid I took a LOT of photos - I've edited them down a bit, but there's still quite a few...

 and here's one just for Tom...

When I said there were all sorts of characters out in the park - I meant all types! This man was standing in the middle of the road with his headphones on, dancing away and waving his little flag...

When the wind blew and all the snow came off the trees he looked a bit like an arctic explorer, about the claim a new mountain for the United States of America...

It was such a fantastic and unforgettable morning - I'm glad there wasn't so much snow that the trains stopped working, but I'm glad there was enough to make it feel like an adventure. I loved wading through the snow drifts and trying not to slip on the icy patches.

I just wish I'd taken a sledge with me...

Glowing Icicles...

Off Duty...

As I was making my way from 5 Pointz to the N Train I found lots of taxi shaped piles of snow...

 

Snowy Chrysler Building...

White Wash...

So, Nemo wasn't quite as bad as they made out... well, not in Brooklyn anyway.

I woke up feeling all excited, I couldn't wait to open the curtains and see deep deep snow covering everything. But when my alarm went and I looked outside, it didn't really look that impressive. 

There wasn't the 18 inches of snow that we were promised, but there was definitely a good 6-10 inches, and the strong winds had caused some drifting so there were some big piles around.

I thought I'd go out and take some photos anyway as six or so inches of snow is better than no snow, so I put on my long-johns and braved the cold. 

First stop, Five Pointz...

 

Nemo...

I've been hoping for some snow to make all this cold weather worth it. Never has the phrase 'be careful what you wish for' been more apt. It would appear that New York's in for another (potentially) historic storm - this time it's snowstorm Nemo!

The snow's supposed to arrive late Friday night with a couple of inches, then building up to a couple of feet by Saturday morning... right when we're supposed to be flying to Miami! Some areas of New York are predicted to get up to 38 inches of snow - that's half of me!!!!

Our flight has already been cancelled and I'm currently on hold to Expedia trying to rearrange our trip. So the plan was for Abi to be on the beach for her birthday, but I don't think you could get much more opposite if you tried.

I'm sure there'll be more Nemo News to come - but for now, Miami will have to wait.

Early Spring?

This weekend Punxsutawney Phil made his prediction...

We're going to have an early spring (apparently)!

I can't really remember if any of the Groundhog Day predictions have been right or now, but an early spring would be fine by me!

Out & About...

Coat Check...

A Night At The Ballet...

Last night we went to the see the New York City Ballet!

As part of a campaign to get more 'youngsters' interested in the ballet, the NYC Ballet have collaborated with (my favourites) street artists Faile to create two nights of art and ballet.

Tickets were released a few weeks ago, and sold out very quickly due to the very nice price of $29! Luckily I'm on Faile's mailing list so we were able to get some before they went on sale properly, but even being part of the pre-sale didn't ensure us orchestra seats... but it didn't matter as we were on the front of the 4th balcony and had a fantastic view.

Before the ballet all the ticket holders were able to enjoy an exhibition of brand new Faile pieces - all inspired by old ballet costumes and old promotional posters and playbills...

 The pieces were all created out of lots of different sized blocks of wood and canvas's and metal plates, all painted or screen-printed or engraved - they were absolutely amazing - I especially liked the petal plates they'd made...

The next part of the exhibition was a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge tower made up of similar sections...

 The sheer number of elements to all these pieces was incredible, I wouldn't even know where to start it I were them. Not only did they design and paint and produce each individual element (painted on 5 sides) but they slotted them all together in a huge jigsaw puzzle...

 It was great seeing some of the images I've seen pasted around on walls in Manhattan and Brooklyn - I remember seeing some Faile in some alley in SoHo the very first time I visited New York in 2004 - and now I was seeing the same images (in colour) as part of a fancy exhibition at the ballet!

There were some people there who were mega Faile fans and were spouting off lots of trivia about them, there were others who were saying 'Oooh I've seen that thing on a wall in my neighbourhood' and then there were some people who didn't know anything about Faile but were there purely for the ballet. So it brought a great mix of people together for the evening.

The ballet itself was good - there were 4 sections and all the music and dances were supposedly based on or related to the art work... I think they were pushing it a bit there, but they were all modern pieces, from the 70's, 80's 90's and 00's.

We really liked a couple of the sections, but there were a couple of very questionable moments of 'interpretative' dance (I can't stand interpretative dance!) - a 40 minute long performance with 'dancing' to the soundtrack of a squeaky door and people sighing... it was the longest 40 minutes ever!

Despite the squeaking door soundtrack the costume for that particular section was pretty amazing. The female dancer was wearing a huge (reeeeeally huge, it covered nearly the entire stage) floaty dress that had elastic attaching it to the ceiling, so when she moved it created these amazing billowy waves that looks liked slowmotion water... so that bit was great.

Apart from the dodgy dancing, the whole night was absolutely brilliant, I loved the art and it was amazing to see Faile's work in a proper exhibition environment rather than on the walls of Brooklyn (although I'll never get bored of seeing their pastings on the walls either).

To top the whole awesome evening off, we got to keep some art and take it home! Each ticket holder got given a little box like this...

Inside each box was a little wooden block...

The wooden blocks were taken from the pieces that were created for the subway adverts to promote the evening... it was such a great idea. Each block is totally unique and each side is painted with something different!

Not surprisingly there are already a load of blocks on ebay with people trying to sell them for $200 each!!! Needless to say, we're keeping ours.

It was such a great night and it felt brilliant to be part of such a special event. The second night is happening in May, all the tickets are sold out, but someone at work has a couple of spare, so we might be tempted to go along again - I'm not sure if the art will be different, but the dances will be and so will the little wooden blocks!

I'm going to go and read my Faile book now...