Guided by Sandy (preface)

Coming to Manhattan is always a joy. I visited the city a dozen times and probably will do so a dozen more. On business or just for fun, New York has always been there.

So when I boarded from Amsterdam on October 27 for a week with about 20 scheduled meetings and a panel session at a conference on hyperlocal journalism, again I was full of expectations.

Sandy decided differently. The conference was canceled, all the meetings were postponed. Simply because I arrived a day early in New York and all of my interlocutors couldn't come anymore. And I couldn't leave. Crossing the East River was impossible, let alone leaving on a plane.

So what to do? I was alone, no appointments left, a rare occasion to explore the city on my own. So after visiting some good friends for lunch on Sunday, I asked the great people from ACE Hotel (on 29th & Broadway) to lend me a bike, they did, and I peddled south on Broadway.

What followed were four days in a rare combination of excitement and horror. Guided by superstorm Sandy, carried by a handmade bike from Brooklyn and led by my curiosity, I discovered a city that was ignorant on day one, anxious on day two, helpless on day three, and fully rebuilding on day four.

This is my bike (on 57th and 5th)...

...and in the next four posts, day by day, this is what I saw


First post in this series: Preface (this post)
Second post: Ignorance
Third post: Anxiety
Fourth post: Helplessness
Fifth post: Epilogue
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