Tourist Boom

Walking along 7th Avenue near Penn Station the other day

I was struck by the number of buses disgorging visitors.

New York nowadays is a pretty exciting place to be.

You can go for even more bus tours when you get here

and see all the sights and go shopping in Macy's.

No shortage of street snacks....

or cool people to look at.

At sunset the pink light throws long shadows.

23rd Street and 11th Avenue.

Tuc-Tuc, Mandawa, India

Deities may well be able to travel in expensive automobiles as in this painting on a haveli near Mandawa. (Enlarge to see details).

Most of the rest of the population travels by tuc-tuc -- a three wheeled motor-bike/taxi. Almost all of them are elaborately and extravagantly decorated.

Or else there is the more utilitarian bus with room on the roof for extra passengers.

Another tuc-tuc near Mandawa.

And even another. Pink is a pretty popular color.

Amazing Skies All Over the Place

I think we are back to "A" in Mrs.Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday. I hope we are. If we are not, then these "AMAZING" clouds will just have to float into the blogosphere under their own steam...........
When you live in a house with no windows (the medina of Marrakech) and your courtyard is open to the sky, you spend a lot of time looking upwards.



When you stand on the roof you notice first the clouds and then the huge numbers of ariels which are not pretty.
Studying the sky is a useful and peaceful occupation.



Another shot from the courtyard looking up.



This is from the day in December when the bus had a little accident (no one hurt!) between Marrakech and Essouira, looking out across the stony desert.



Six o'clock in the morning on Christmas Eve looking East from the battlements of Essouira.



Back to recent New York. Last Saturday looking across the Hudson River at New York from New Jersey, just when the bus had emerged from the tunnel.



Last of all Sunday afternoon from the Red and Tan bus -about to descend into the tunnel.

Tour Guide

While waiting at bus stop on 42nd Street, I look up and see very modern looking tall buildings.
It is sweltering hot and bus takes forever to come.
I have a scheme to go on every bus in New York, because you see more than you do on the subway - and you get transfers.



Our local station is Penn, so I feel like a tourist at Grand Central.
It is a great deal more glamorous than Penn which is all dumpy and low- ceilinged.
So, like a tourist I take pictures.
The ceiling is celestial.
My cousin, a real tourist, arrives on the train.
I meet her by the information booth.



We go to the Frick Collection and marvel that every single painting is a miracle of its particular type.
Imagine if you could just swoop on Europe and buy every treasure you desired!
If you could sit looking at your garden with its decorative pebbled walk and across it to Central Park.
Or sit inside and look at your indoor fish pool.

If I were to recommend smallish museums I'd go for this one, The Morgan Library and the Neue Galerie.
The Metropolitan is heaven, but so many delights you end up with your head swimming and your feet falling off.



Such luxe cream paint where you buy the tickets. Such a lamp to glitter in the sun.



The outdoor pool in the side garden with exquisite lilies and lotuses.
What fun it would be to paddle in it.