New York, America! (Fireworks on the East River)

Macy's is a department store and department stores aren't doing so well, thanks to online retail like Amazon.  Somehow, they are still able to sponsor some incredible public events, like tonight's Fourth of July Fireworks on the East River.  There's some irony in Fourth of July being brought to us by capitalism in spite of capitalism.  Anyway.... I'm not a crowds person and it would never have occurred to me to go, but Andrew suggested it and I like spending time with him.

Even the train platform to get to Queens was crowded.  And then we arrived and quickly joined a crowd of people channeling to one viewing spot on the river (we weren't the only ones to think of this place?).  And then we spotted some green and so channeled ourselves out and went to another spot.  We found a small patch between blankets that had been laid 7 and 8 hours before the show and ate our dinner as the sun went down over the Manhattan skyline.  Buildings were sporting their red, white, and blue for the evening, including a very visible Empire State Building.

The time arrived and we kept waiting and waiting a little longer, until the first spark went off and the show started.  Fireworks have grown a lot since I last went to a show and it really was spectacular.  Five barges on the East River shot of the same show at the same time so all the crowds could see.  Around us people held up their smart phones for pictures and spoke Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese.

And the great unfolding of the crowds.  It took us an hour to get to the train station.  The held people from going in to regulate the platform crowding, some of the trains were delayed due to unruly passengers at another stop, and we waited quite awhile on the platform.  When it arrived, it was already crowded, so we got to experience the inertia of desperate people shoving into a train car.  I ended up having plenty of room.

Another hot car on another train and two hours later we are home.  Beautiful fireworks, lovely evening, great company, many languages celebrating our country together, a very New York evening.