A post without photos...

In the summer the Metropolitan Opera and NY Philharmonic play free outdoor concerts in Central Park's Great Lawn. About a 100k people come out and make picnics. The opera ones happen first and always coincide with the first thunderstorm of the season or crippling humidity. So I had given up on trying to be organizer of a picnic in the park. This Tuesday we were invited at the last minute by my former roommate, L. I had to work late and rushed there to meet them. It was such a swarm, getting dark, and they were not expert at navigating me into the park and through a sea of blankets. The classic line of the night was this helpful tip: "See the helicopter? We are right under that." But we did manage to hear the second half and see the fireworks! I love fireworks. This Fourth of July we saw one of the best fireworks show I have ever seen in my whole life. Our scientist friends work at NYU and their labs have amazing views. There are three barges in the East River that they set them off of. We could look out the window and see over the stage where they were filming the TV broadcast. So when the fireworks went off they filled the entire window with sparks- really amazing! Maybe, though, the best fireworks I remember were the ones when I was a kid and we had the luck of living right down the street from where they set them off. We would put up folding chairs in the driveway and "oooww and aaaww" as each one exploded. The NYPhil in the park had that effect- not so much happening all at once that you became desensitized to each fireworks' beauty. At one point, a large purple one went off and everyone in the field gasped and clapped their hands. Then we all sheepishly laughed as we had all been caught reverting to our childhood. These are actually some of my favorite times of the year, primarily because it is the time that I most enjoy living in NYC. It is an experience that is so unique it makes suffering with urban inconvenience worth it.