New York I

It's not often that I cross the border; this is probably the first official time I've crossed the border on a long trip in over ten years. I had forgotten about the fact that Homeland Security is a little over the top; I had wanted to get to Pearson at my usual one hour before flight time, but my father, who was dropping me off at the airport, insisted on bringing me two hours early.
Well, turns out he was right: the lineups, security checks, etc, did take 1 1/2 hours to get through. On the plus side, my passport got stamped with clearance by Homeland Security (I love passport stamps!).
So, New York. The Big Apple. Gotham City. Whatever you want to call it, it's big. I was told about 8 million people in the boroughs that make up New York City. I managed to meet a nice elderly couple from Maine who were also public transiting it into town, so we travelled together to get to the Upper West Side, where I was meeting a friend for a walk and for dinner.
Walking is great in this town. Too bad I forgot the sun goes down by 5pm, so photo taking gets a bit limited. Managed to walk a bit of the Upper West Side, and then subwayed down to NoHo and Soho before dinner. Nice.
It's definitely a busy, rush-rush, money kind of town. We sat for dinner at 6pm, and the place was deserted. However, by about 6:45pm, all the suits started coming in, not to eat, but for cocktails and after-work snacks. What? How uncivilized, to leave work at that hour! I was told most New Yorkers don't get around to eat till 8pm at night, mainly because of the work hours. We then headed to a place that serves rice pudding exclusively. Strange. Apparently, there's also a very famous and busy restaurant here that only serves hot dogs. I can't imagine places like that surviving in Toronto; the novelty factor is a little bit too high - that being said, the rice pudding place was busy! Crazy - how much rice pudding can a person eat?
I'm staying with another friend who lives up in Harlem while I'm here - it's been surprising, as both of my friends' places have been surprisingly much larger than I had assumed most people's places in New York would be - I manage to get my own guest room to sleep in, and I can actually walk around and dance in their living rooms. I am not sure if this is exceptional, or the rule, but I'm certainly enjoying it anyways.