Manisha, Manhattan, and more pictures

Tonight is Kim's birthday but today was my chance to visit my local city of lights. I was inspired to act as a tourist again by my friend Manisha.* She came for an impromptu overnight visit en route from Bogota to Mumbai a few weeks ago and was so excited to be in America for the first time that this was her reaction to my license plate:


Or, likewise, at an American flag and subway car:



Her best smile though? Reserved for a post-dance party trip to a punjabi greengrocers.

[Seriously, she looks like a starving woman in a feast!]

It was a miserable day for pictures but I managed to catch a few things I'd never seen before. My favorite example? The sad panda wandering near Wall Street. Somehow so fitting...





All in all it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon, even if the weather was a bit dreary. That night was a pirate-themed birthday party for Kim in a board game bar (nirvana for Kim, let me tell you) so weather stopped being a factor. My failings at BananaGrams, however are another story entirely...

* Manisha, the best CouchSurfing host in history, with whom I stayed (you may recall) for a week in Manizales, Colombia in October 2008.

Snow Hiking (remix)

I went hiking today in the Trexler Nature Preserve. I might never get used to this. Skies so clear and fields so white. It's amazing in such a quiet and simple way. In addition to the scenic pictures below, all along the little four mile, snow-covered trail I saw rabbit and deer prints. As cold as I was, I can only imagine how they felt...