Harlem

I went on a walking tour of Harlem that was organised by the hostel I was staying at. Although Harlem has a bad reputation I can guarantee it is nowhere near as dangerous as people say it is, it just looks like a slightly poor neighbourhood, and there's hardly any white people on the street at all (people do tend to stare a bit) but I felt quite safe and would definately go back there.



Ed, our guide is a little man that lived in Harlem and the Bronx when he was younger. He's retired and he takes people from my hostel on tours of the suburbs. He's really cool!



This tree pattern on Malcom X avenue was made up of different coloured bricks.



Apparently in NY if you return a plastic bottle to a recycling point you can get 5 cents back, so there's people all over the city (especially in dodgy neighbourhoods collecting masses of plastic bottles and selling them on to plastic bottle merchants that then take them to recycling plants.




An ingenious solution to lack of parking space in NYC, just drive your car onto a ramp and stick it on top of someone else's...




Grafiti in Harlem in front of the Abbysinnian Baptist church where we heard the gospel choir sing, my goodness, that was a religious experience and a half! The service started off quite sedate, but by the end of it all the ladies in their white gloves and sunday best were bopping away to the music.