Window on the World

I love to be in the center of the action, so you can imagine how pleased I was to be awakened by the chopchopchop of helicopters outside my window at 6:20 AM! Three helicopters hovered above the United Nations complex just 10 blocks down the street from my apartment on 1st Avenue. I jumped out of bed and quickly got ready for work so I could watch the Today Show coverage begin at 7 AM. Heads of state, presidents, kings and - most noteably - Ahmadinejad from Iran, are meeting in New York this week for the U.N. General Assembly.

I stood in front of the TV and watched Meredith Vieira broadcast to the whole nation from the U.N. Then the television shot changed to the aerial view of the U.N., and I turned my head just a little to the left to look out the window at the helicopter hovering at my eye level. I was looking at the source feeding that live shot to all of America...and I realized I truly have a window on the world!

Pictures from my window:

One of the helicopters above the U.N.

_

U.N. building

Pictures from the TV:

Meredith Vieira

_

Aerial view of the U.N. complex

Activity on 1st Avenue...groups of policeman on all four corners at each intersection from 42nd Street to the low 50's. 1st Avenue around the U.N. is closed to traffic all week, prompting "East Side Gridlock" headlines on the local nightly news.

_

A line of reporters and workers waiting to go through security to enter.

The second picture is the people seen at a distance in the first picture. I walked right through all these suits and uniforms, trying my best to pretend I belonged while still snapping a few pictures!

This is the last picture on my camera before it died, but I took a bunch on my phone that I'll have to figure out how to get to the computer!