celebrate israel parade 2011

today was the salute to israel parade in nyc which was called the celebrate israel parade this year. im not sure the reason for the name change but to be sure it was political. in any event i saluted israel today as well as celebrated.
as usual i got a late start and arrived at fifth avenue and sixtieth street at about 2:45. the parade always runs later than anticipated so i saw a good forty five minutes of marching. it was very spirited .
many people lined the sidewalks wearing israeli flags. one man held a sign in memory of a young woman named shiri negari who was murdered in a suicide bombing. the theme of the day was jerusalem  forever being part of  the state of israel.
i think that there were more people than usual at the parade. at the concert there were more sets of bleachers this year and they were all filled with people.

the weather held up and it was quite an uplifting day.