old trip, new finds

I tell you what - I may still get carded for booze and the occasional "R" rated movie, however, it's trips like this last one that remind me of how old I'm getting on to be. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the brutal return voyage - spending twelve hours traveling through the night on a chartered bus, the seats of which are designed in such a way that it's physically impossible to sleep without being wrenched awake every twenty minutes - but I fear it's going to be several more days until I'm back to some semblance of normal. Fie, but my ancient bones ache!

Ah, well. It was a good trip nonetheless. No one got lost or kidnapped, everyone had fun, and even if our tour guide kind of sucked ("Look kids - H&M! You don't see that at home, I bet! Now go on and shop for a bit while I sit on this here bench for the next hour or so."), my students didn't know enough to know any better. Everything was just wonderful, and they had the time of their lives.

As for me, it's getting to a point where I'm starting to feel like I've seen pretty much all there is to see of the tourists' NYC, so no new wide-eyed revelations for me, alas. There were, however, a few new wonderfully strange sights I was able to add my traveler's collection. Firstly, this albino peacock:

Strange, because 1) we found it in the middle of Harlem, 2) I swear it was posing for my camera, and 3) whoever knew there was such a thing as an albino peacock?

But here it is just the same - stately, snow-white, and sorta pissed off at me for getting too close:

Next, I caught a piece of graffiti that I'm 95% certain is a real Banksy:

And even if it's not a Banksy after all, I'd like to think that a spray-painted image of Hitchcock declaring that "Life is Brutal" is a pretty rad find all the same.

And finally, I caught this on the B train to Brooklyn after abandoning my young charges in Chinatown so I could go play hookie for a bit:

Isn't that wonderful? I suppose it's fortunate I don't have to deal with the subways on my morning commute, however, I'd like to imagine that this makes the daily lives of the folks riding the B train a bit happier. It made me a bit happier, anyway.

And that's all for now. More pictures to come, but for now back to bed I go de go...