July 4th in NY

Last Tuesday was July 4th and USA celebrated Independence Day. The day started out slow and sticky hot. I went into Manhattan to a street festival with a friend. There were hotdog stand, french crepe stalls, homemade lemonade, gyros, knock-off sunglasses, T-shirts, jewelry, books, shoes, anything else you can think of. There were lots of people about, but then again, when is NY not full of people.


Thunderstorm rolled in late afternoon, resulting to my friend and I going indoors for a bit of window shopping at the South Street Seaport. But by 6 o'clock, the sun was out again and the air noticeably crisp and breezy. There was already a crowd gathered around the pier and in the South Street Seaport building, stating their claim of a prime spot for the Firework shows at night.

I was originally not planning on seeing the fireworks in town as there was going to be a huge crowd in Manhattan and going home will be quite a feat. However, who knows how many July 4th I get to see in the US, so my friend and I went to the promenade in Brooklyn, which is right across the river from the lower east side of Manhattan. There were already people everywhere. Some brought along picnic rugs and chairs and have probably camped out there since lunch time for the prime spots. We settled in ourselves. And it turned out we picked the right spot. The barge carrying the fireworks was directly in front of us.


The fireworks begain shortly after 9pm starting in New Jersey. Then the main event began. The crowd was treated to 25 minutes of pyrotechnics extravaganza. I thought it was well worth the wait. I found the most interest these jelly-fish like fireworks. They don't follow the normal projectile path that fireworks follow, but seem to float up just like jelly-fish swimming in the ocean!!