Well, I'm stuck at home for the day...or at least I can go downtown and possibly to the west side. This is an interesting weekend. It didn't occur to me how easy it was yesterday to get a seat at a cafe on our block. I did observe how empty the place was as well as the corner cafe which typically has a line in front of it by 10am every Saturday morning. It didn't occur to me as I walked about with my headphones on shopping around my area for light summer clothes for the upcoming vacation. I did notice that there was an extremely high ratio of tourists to locals.
Of course, it hit me today why the city was empty. Today everyone evacuates because it's the Puerto Rican Day parade. If there's one thing you can get this diverse group of people to agree on, it's that the spinoff effects of this parade are horrible. It's impossible to navigate the upper east side and the subways are jammed with drunken partiers. This parade is the only one greeted by boarded up shops due to the damage done to buildings and people urinating in doorways. This years the mayor asked the businesses to not board up the parade route even as this year residents are starting to put up metal fences.
So, it's a peaceful day today in front of the computer reading news. Next year, I'm sure to be ready and plan a vacation on this celebration...