Rising and shining

I don't suppose many New Yorkers see their city in early morning, unless it's at the end of a big night out on the town. I certainly haven't seen too many sunrises since arriving here, struggling most days to drag my exhausted body out of the quiet, warm embrace of my bed. This past week, however, I've felt like I've been able to get a handle on my days a little better, rather than my days handling me, and I've tried to capitalise on this newfound energy - well, energy is probably a bit of an overstatement, it's more like "ability to deal with the pace of this city" - and start my days a little earlier. 

This week I ventured out for a run at some ungodly hour, and once I got over the mental and physical challenge of being awake while it's still dark, I became almost euphoric at the thrill of walking around New York before the day has begun. Accompanied only by half-asleep zombies making beelines for the subway station and rugged-up dog walkers whispering quietly to their companions, I found myself in awe of the the calmness and beauty of the city around me. The streets were quiet and clean, the sun was peeking around the building in long, warm shadows, and everywhere there was a sense of anticipation, expectation, for the day ahead. All that was possible just hung in the air. 

I've found that each day I live here more and more of the city reveals itself to me; little things - like the location of the nearest subway entrance, or the existence of a Shake Shack not two blocks from my house - as well as bigger things, like which avenues run uptown or downtown, and which subway lines have cars with seats facing the centre or seats facing the front of the carriage (well, they seem like bigger things to me). This early morning adventure was no different: in those precious pre-dawn moments, I stumbled upon a Dean & Deluca equidistance from my apartment and my subway stop (prime location), a nail salon on my street with impressively competitive prices, and a huge Church of Scientology, complete with video and book displays in the windows, right there in my neighbourhood. 

Which, really, is reason enough to get up early in the morning, right?