I always tell my non-New York friends that the best thing about the City is that there's always something going on. You can walk to the grocery store and find that Third Ave. has been closed down and turned into a five block long street fair.
I had been back in NYC for less than 48 hours, and Ines (my friend who has graciously allowed me to crash on the couch of her not-so-humble abode in Williamsburg Brooklyn) asked if I wanted to go with her into the city so she could run some errands. More specifically, to exchange some towels at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I told her I'd go with, since I hadn't actually made it into Manhattan yet.
We hopped on the L, and a few stops later we were headed up the subway steps to Union Square. It was just as I had left it. The hot dog vendors and cheap bag stalls were in exactly the same place and the scent of exhaust migled with that of hot dogs, vomit and candied nuts...Ah.
We crossed 14th St to Union Square and I laughed to myself at what a cliche it was. Exactly what you'd expect to see in New York and nowhere else. The steps at union Square remind me of a train terminal or airport arrivals gate. People sit and wait on their friends or chat with friends they've just met up with to see where to go next. Past this outer ring, is the performers section. Today's entertainment was a group of what I'm sure are NYU students filming what looks like nothing at all, some guys practing their breakdancing, a man with a sign promising information on UFOs and a one-man rally bringing awareness to the government's 9/11 consipracy. Seeing it again, this time through a tourist's eyes, I realize just how random NY can be. Ines, on the other hand, trudges on unphased and uninterested.
When we get to the top of the park, where it opens up into a large asphault slab used for the tri-weekly farmer's market, we see what looks like a giant TV screen. We ask a man passing out booklets what's going on , and he explains that the Manhattan Short Film Festival is showing tonight at 7:00pm. All week they have been screening the top 12 films in cities around the globe and having viewers vote for their favorites. Tonight was the grand finale where the winner would be announced.
Perfect, we decided, it was free and fun. And since I had spent five hours yesterday on the couch catching up on this season of Entourage, it was a nice change from returning to Brooklyn and watching more HBO on Demand.
We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond, wondering through its 2 stories and 1 billion square feet of homeware, and Ines made her exchange. We got back to the Festival just in time to get really good seats. The films were great (definately better than those at this year's Trop Fest in Sydney). And as we sat their in Union Square, sorrounded by traffic, huddled under Ines' fluffy new towels for warmth, watching a giant blow up screen showing short films from around the world, I thought, I LOVE NEW YORK!
