The city that never sleeps

It's hard to believe that we've actually made it here. But it feels so good, and so right. We find ourselves loving it a bit more each day as we settle into our normal lifestyle and discover where to get all those things that make life enjoyable, affordable etc. Some of those things have included the beauty of Central Park, a Kmart store, a GROCERY store, a good Church, places to run, and subway routes.
Our apartment is really cool and we're loving it more than we expected to. It's a great size for what we need and is in an excellent location - close to EVERYTHING! The subway station is about 200m or so away and one subway takes us to most places in the city.
So far, I'd have to say that our street is busy and noisy but safe. People are out and about with friends until about 5ish in the morning, so we hear lots of people noise until then. The good thing is that it is HAPPY people noise - not loud abuse etc. People like to drive up our street with their radios blaring and last night someone thought it was cool to walk around the neighbourhood blowing continuously on a whistle! It's all part of the fun, though. Oh, and the horn honking...It's great. I actually do love it because it's so funny! We see cops around all the time, but again, in a good way. Yesterday some were talking to someone near our apartment, and I thought "Oh great. What's happened!' But they were just smiling and chatting and munching on some food from the takeaway. All good stuff.
During the day, people from our street (residents and shop owners) fill the 'sidewalks'. At first we were threatened by this (possibly because we were lugging all our worldy belonging with us) but we now love it as part of the culture of the street. It's very different to what you'll see at Times Square or Central Park, but very cool.
Now for some pictures of our apartment:

This is in our kitchen - I was amazed by how big it was for a New York kitchen where no one is supposed to cook. The oven is bigger than the one we had in Australia! This is another thing we are happy about - being able to cook our own fresh food!


This is our bathroom - pretty clean and does the job.



This is our living room with our bedroom through the doorway. We haven't got any bedroom photos at the moment because it's a bit of a mess (still unpacking). But the bedroom is a good size as far as I'm concerned - and has an air-conditioner.


This is a night view of our street from the fire-escape. We're not sure yet if you are allowed to sit out on the fire-escape, but it's fun not knowing!!!
More photos coming soon....