So I thought itwould be a good idea to go and watch the village halloween parade. It WAS a good idea and I'm glad I went, but I was also so glad to get back to my hotel room afterwards!

As I set out, the Empire State Building was lit with special colours.  

My big mistake occurred when streets were unexpectedly closed on my approach. The parade was to go down 6th Avenue and in a moment of stupidity I crossed 6th Avenue to find a vantage point. I found my vantage point, but it meant I would be captive on the wrong side of the avenue for the next 2+ hours! One hour of parade was OK. By the start of the second hour it was just more of the same and I'd had enough. There are only so many ensembles of zombies dancing to Thriller I can take.

My vantage point was about 10 blocks up from the start. But for some reason it was nearly 1/2 hour before the first characters reached us, which was frustrating many in the crowd who were more than 10-12 deep by this time. There was a massive police presence too, both to contain the crowd and maintain vigilance. Saw some really good community PR from the NYPD. 

My good move was to leave my big camera behind. It would have been awkward to navigate crowds with and a constant concern. I managed a few rough snaps on my phone; enough to remind me. But after a while it got too hard and I gave up.

The parade is a community event. As a result it was odd mix of "well coordinated, high effort" and "could barely be arsed, just wanted to walk in a parade".

As the parade seemed like it was drawing to a close I decided that walking towards the start point would be my best way of being able to cross the avenue. It ended up being a long, slow walk, shoulder to shoulder, street after street, until finally I reached a point where the barriers were being removed. Yay! Then it was just a relatively familiar trek back to the hotel, with the addition of colourful halloween characters added into the mix. Having said that, it was a fun party atmosphere. There will be many sore heads tomorrow, I have no doubt! I had dressed warmly but by now it was freezing and starting to rain.

So what do I think of this Halloween? Well, firstly I just want to make it clear: if you're into Halloween, good on you, knock yourself out, glad you like it, have one for me. But it just doesn't resonate with me. It seems to me that half of Halloween revellers want to look as macabre as possible and the other half want to look like … well just about anything! The macabre has never appealed to me, and what Halloween has got to do with dressing like Mickey Mouse (for example) is beyond me. Just saying, that's how I feel about it.

Therewere a number of other highlights from yesterday.

I took my first subway ride! But first I needed a metro card. My research indicated that I could get an unlimited 7 day pass for $30 and that the vending machines would accept $50, which was the only note I had at the time. Trouble is, when I tried the machine it was only going to give me a maximum of $8 change. So, déjà vu, off to get some other notes. This time it was easier because a nearby ATM provided options for choosing denominations. Re-armed with the right money I got my card and got on my way. 5th underground around the world successfully navigated!

After visiting the 9/11 memorial I took a number of pics of the new One World Trade Centre. Got to love a big shiny tower.

In the aftermath of the memorial emotion I stopped for some pizza. When I first saw the massive slice I didn't think there was any chance I'd finish it - but I did. Too good.

When I got to Battery Park I got my first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

All long the Hudson are the remnants of piers. Some in better condition than others. 

Then in the evening I went to a performance which was part of CMJ, a mini music festival happening at the moment. It was being held in the lobby of the Ace Hotel. The general idea was that a group of diverse musos would congregate and "play" variations based on A or E. The end result was more drone than music but quite hypnotic. And diverse was an understatement. Electric guitars, analog synths, harp, brass, violin, home made organ contraption, cell phone apps; they all added their own timbre to the overall sound. The piece went for an hour so I did little circuits of the lobby, checking in on the different instruments and hearing how the sound changed as I got nearer. And it was also bemusing to see the expressions on hotel patrons as they entered the lobby and wondered what kind of alternate reality they'd stumbled across. Gold! I loved the performance and was proud of making it out at night in NYC on my own. But I was back at the hotel by about 10:00 and ready for bed.

If you're interested, here's a video of last year's event.

So that's it. A day so big it needed three posts!