NYC1: The Halloween Parade

Back from a week in New York and lots to report but I'll take it in a suitably stately fashion and do it bit by bit as it occurs to me.

Starting off with the Halloween Parade! Got the subway downtown to West 14th Street thinking that that might be a good place to watch it pass by. And, so it seemed, did everyone else! The streets were packed and entrances to the subway were blocked off by the police so you could leave the subway but not get back into it. We eventually settled somewhere where the crowd was only 5 or 6 deep as the parade started.

The parade was mainly people walking up 6th Avenue in no particular order. Some people carried skeletons on poles, that sort of thing, but mainly it was people just walking, some in costume, some with just a mask or a wig. Marilyn seemed very popular, with platinum blonde beauties in white frocks popping up every so often.

Quite a few groups of people wandered past carrying orange flags - no idea what that was meant to be about. Most people seemed to be either (a) drinking and eating, (b) taking photos or (c) looking to pick up someone. The locals seemed to fit into (a) and (c) with tourists from all over the world and all over America (from the range of accents) fell into (b). I was in (b) but as the evening wore on I'd have liked to be in (a) - it's very tiring standing mostly still trying to watch the parade, moving from foot to foot while being jostled on all sides.

Gave up after a couple of hours (wimp, I know) and started squeezing our way up 6th Ave through the hoardes of people. Had a brainwave and walked over to 7th Avenue in the hopes of escaping the crowds but everyone else seemed to have the same idea. Great minds and all that. Still, it was nice walking uptown on a mild night surrounded by party people. The crowds became even worse by the time we reached Madison Square Garden/Penn Station - there'd been some big football match that evening (like I'd show any interest) and people were pouring into the streets. Not long after we arrived back in the bright lights of Times Square and the hotel - sanctuary!

The parade was good fun but very tiring after a hard day's sightseeing. It would have been even better if I could've seen more of it - why the lack of floats, I wonder? There were a few, but not very many. I also need to grow a few inches taller - just as in London, I always seem to manage to stand behind the tallest people in the immediate vicinity... just one of my skills, I suppose!

More New York tales to follow...