Cold Springs, NY - Celebrating 4th July 2010

My parents are in town at the moment for a two week visit. They often come to visit at this time of year preferring NYC at it's stickiest and smelliest for some reason. Summer is their favourite season and they like nothing better than to take the train out to Coney Island and lie on the beach all day. I think I must be adopted lying on a beach all day getting my fair skin burned sounds like hell to me, but to each their own. If I were to prioritize New York's seasons, summer would be at the bottom of the list, no question about it, autumn would be at the top of the list followed by spring and winter.

On Saturday my parents took the Seastreak ferry out to the beach in Sandy Hook, NJ while I cleaned my apartment in air conditioned bliss and watched the football - go Germany!!! I was very impressed by their 4-0 defeat of Argentina, but let's see how they do against Spain tomorrow - so on Sunday we compromised and headed out on a day trip to Cold Springs, New York.

An express train from Grand Central will you you in Cold Springs in about an hour and 15minutes and costs $22.50 per person for a round trip off peak ticket. The route runs alongside the Hudson River and so sit on the left side of the train, facing forward, for the best views. It's a very scenic trip!!

Once you arrive at Cold Spring station follow the path alongside track 1 - don't go up the stairs onto the other platform - and you'll arrive at the foot of Main Street where you can either take the pedestrian tunnel down to the river or walk uphill for the refreshments and antique stores. We plumped for the river first.

After taking in the views we headed back to Main St to browse some of the many many many antique stores. Main Street, Cold Spring is pure teeming with them, so if antiquing is your thing, then Cold Spring may well be your kind of town. Personally I would rather poke my eye out with a sharp stick, my father on the other hand....well let's just say my mother and I spent a lot of time sat on the benches lining Main St waiting for my Dad to finish his browsing.

We had lunch at Cold Spring Cafe where we overheard our waitress telling a customer that the 4th July parade would be starting in 15minutes at 2pm and that she needed to hustle if she wanted to be able to move her car, so when we left the cafe we joined the locals and tourists lining the streets to watch the parade.

It's always quite weird for me to see Americans proudly decked out in Stars and Stripes given that flying the Union Flag often stirs up accusations of racism in the UK. I'm not sure when that started, but I am assuming it has a lot to do with the Union Flag being adopted by the skinheads who aligned themselves with the British National Party back in the 1970s.

This little guy was my favourite. I love the look of concentration on his face as he tries to get his feet back on his pedals. I remember the feeling well.


A few more photos of the parade...




I don't know about you, but when I find myself thinking about how the US of A overthrew those fiendish Brits to gain their independence I immediately think....llama!!! What??


It was so hot outside I cannot imagine it was a good day to be furry!! It was a good day to get an ice cold beer though. Sadly it was too crowded to get a seat outside at the old Cold Spring Train Station which has been converted into an inviting cafe so we enjoyed the air conditioned bliss of the bar at the historic Hudson House Inn across the street instead before getting the 4.05pm train back to New York.