Subliminal Retreat~

That sunny day on my way to MoMa, when I exited from the Grand Central Station on the 42nd St I was stunned by the view of fully armed policemen and 'police-dog'(forgive me doggie I'm not sure about your proper title) grouped outside the building.
I thought: what's going on here? are they on some kind of mission to capture a criminal? to hinder a revolt?


but no body on the street wore a panic look, traffic was noisy, everything seems to work at its usual pace. So I really wondered why???

And I soon found the answer as I walked along the 42nd St crossing the 5th Av. The road was shut and enclosed by railed fences.
From afar, I could tell there must be some kind of gathering, likely a parade going on.


Due to the closure of the Fifth Avenue, I had to take the Sixth Av. to go up north. Well... so did the crowd moving along the same direction as the bearing I was taking.

Noticing the Puerto Rican flag and the peripheral merchandise that street vendors were selling and people were wearing, I thought: Ok~ so this parade must has something to do with Puerto Rican, but what are they celebrating? Why this parade?




I asked a few persons wearing the flags..... and they didn't know the exact reason either.....(what?) they just came for the sake of their friends or just the sake of IT! Oh Well..People are gregarious~ what can u say?


Anyways...no matter what's the cause, I felt excited too!
We turned right at the 49, 50th St. (Rockfeller Plaza) to march back to the Fifth Av.
And my god there were so many people (Puerto Ricans?) gathered along the street waiting for the parade to start.

Check out the footage I filmed to feel the 'riot' on the day~
I think I really have the serendipity of discovering and experiencing interesting and meaningful things! ^^

ater I googled and found some info about the parade on Wikipedia:

"The Puerto Rican Day Parade (also known as the National Puerto Rican Day Parade) is a locally televised parade that takes place yearly on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The parade, which is always held on the second Sunday in June honors the nearly 4 million Puerto Ricans on the island itself, as well as the Puerto Ricans and those of Puerto Rican heritage on the mainland. In 2006 more than 80,000 participants marched and nearly 2 million spectators lined the parade route[1]. The parade always attracts many celebrities, both Puerto Rican and of Puerto Rican heritage, and many politicians from the tri-state area.

The parade marches along Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to 86th Street and has grown to become the third largest parade in New York City after the St. Patrick's Day Parade & the West Indian Day Parade along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. With close to 3 million spectators annually it is one of the largest parades in the country."