The big trip is done and I couldn’t be happier. New York is always a good time and all, but really, when it comes down to it, I just can’t spend too much time there anymore. It’s not the city in which I grew up at this point and it just tires me out.

First of all, it’s just massively more crowded than it ever was, and I don’t find that invigorating. Instead, I find it annoying when you can’t find any sense of space or peace.

Second, it’s god-awful expensive. ‘Nuff said.

Finally, it feels as if there is no light in the city and there is certainly no sky unless you happen to be high up in a buildiing or in Central Park. I found myself actively missing a sense of the natural world around me and on my first day home, I walked out of my building and was shocked for a moment at the open space around me.

That’s not to say we didn’t have a good time. We did. It was wonderful to meet Melissa’s new boyfriend Homer, to hook up with old friends I haven’t seen in years, to watch my cousin get married and to visit amazing museums such as The Whitney to see their Calder exhibit (superb and fun, BTW), and MOMA for the Van Gogh show (as always, his paintings get right to the source of the light and beauty and make it jump off his canvas). But I love my home city now and am relishing the difference between here and there (though, I will always miss the food in NYC. Although we have about 4 dozen H and H bagels in the freezer, I’m already trying to figure out when I can get back to buy more!)

I took some time to put together a Google Map of our trip. It includes some more information about the places we went and walks we took (kinda geeky I know). I thought I could add pictures to the placemarks, but something is not working UPDATE: I figured it out. Google has you add an extra step when putting a picture on a map that is stored in Picasa. Dumb!). I’ll try to fix it, but in the meantime, you can also look at the pictures on their own (there’s wedding pics too).

View Larger Map

So I take some of what I said yesterday back. There is some sustainability here. Like, for instance, an entire store called Sustainable NYC. There also seems to be an effort on the city’s part to increase the amount of bike riding here. I’ve seen a good number of bike lanes all around midtown and in The Village. Even up in Inwood, way at the Northern tip of Manhattan where we’re staying, there’s bike lanes. There’s also this, which Melissa says just recently appeared.

Covered bike parking with a bicycle map for the city is pretty cool. We also discovered a community composting garden on the Lower East Side. In fact, we found a ton of little gardens in the midst of an extraordinarily peaceful part of the city (at least on a Friday midafternoon). The gardens were really pretty, though locked, and still somewhat lush.

On the giant and extravagant wedding front (which is the whole reason we are here after all), yesterday was the first event. We got off to a raring start with a huge rehearsal dinner at City Crab. About 40 people sat around tables cracking into King Crab and Lobster (both okay to eat per Seafood Watch), chowing down on popcorn shrimp (which I felt bad about), muscles and clams. Mmmm-Mmmm good. My cousin and his finance gave the bridal party (of which I am a part) all gifts last night. Michael got us guys beer steins and a grooming kit, both with our names etched on them.

The scene itself was decidedly un-extravagant feeling (though I can bet it cost an arm and a leg since this is NYC.) I was impressed at the Yankee Stadium-decorated cake though.) I’m pretty sure the real show is coming up in a few hours. My uncle confirmed that the price tag for the whole thing broke the six-figure barrier(!) and my mom, Alexis and I got a look at the bride’s 14-page schedule events. That document starts at 7;30 a.m. with Jen rising and shining, continues with her hair and makeup starting an hour later, Michael’s at 10 and continuing in 15-minute increments through the rest of the day.

Again, at our wedding, there were people camping and we decided to tell the wedding party where to stand about 5 minutes before the first guests arrived. Two sides of the family I guess.

Anyway, I’m off to put on my tux now so we can go to the hotel and do the whole picture thing. According to my copy of the schedule (I only got a three-page version), we’re doing pictures for almost two hours and then a rehearsal of the ceremony for half an hour. Hopefully there’ll be a time for a drink or two too. But it’s not written down, so I’m not betting on it.