BLOOMING CONEY ISLAND

I hit the streets early this morning, first to the market on the corner, then later up a block for takeaway coffee.  That's when I noticed that Norman Thomas High School had reopened for the new school year.  All that faces the street are three sets of three metre high iron gates, leading down a short flight of steps, to a dark concourse open the other end.  Doors lead off either side, plus the building is several stories above too.

Being a dense city, do many different buildings are all set so close together.  We walk past this too, as well as a residential building for its students.  The Dunkin' Donuts opposite has a red neon sign in the front window claiming it is KOSHER.

 We wandered the seven floors of Bloomingdale's this morning.  I found it intimidating to enter, past stores within the store of all high end brands like Louis Vuitton and Burberry.  But how is this for so New York?  The colours didn't come out well but each cubby hole holds a different colour of CASHMERE SWEATERS!

 I was astounded by how many rugs you could chose from, different sizes, different colours, different styles.  There were thousands of them.

 This is Ruth from the Clarins section.  She is older than me but looks fabulous.  She had introduced herself and when she called me over to the register, I replied, "Coming Ruthie."  This seemed to delight her.  She called Robert The Tall Man and with this photo asked, "Does this mean I will be famous in Australia?"

We saw this woman walking down 34th Street, her purple, figure hugging dress hardly longer than a top, her over the knee suede boots hD rows of fringing which swayed about more than her hips as she strolled along.  What presence with this sassy outfit!

 We rode the train to the end of the line out to Coney Island.  One of the first things we see is this electronic count down clock for the next International Hot Dog Eating Competition.  Sadly, we will miss this.

 The hot dog was invented at Coney Island and Nathan's is synonymous with them, so I sampled a cheese dog there.

 A few rides were running.  This must have been jumping last weekend being Labour Day Holiday.

 This ride, called The Thunderbolt, runs the entire length of the block.  It is that orange line disappearing into the distance.

 I loved this name for an ice-cream stand here.  Coney's Cones.  It was right in the famous boardwalk.    There are rides behind a cyclone fence, some concession stands front the wide broad walk, with a sandy beach on the other side.

 That round object here is a ride.  Two people were being suspended by cable and bounced around up high.

 They use space well here, twisting up and round and back under.

 Below are some random photos out the train window on the way back into the city.

 This was a huge cemetery, between stations for Avenue M and N, viewed from either side of the train carriage.  It was vast!

 Robert worked out we could use our Metro card for the bus too.  A kind lady at the stop told us to use the ticket machine there and take the receipt on board.  Our online info was a ticket machine was on the bus itself.  We tried to ride the bus across town, but some official with a clipboard boarded part way and the driver told him he had no horn.  So we were asked to get off and onto the bus behind.  All part of the adventure.  We were headed to Pier 86 on the west side for the Circle Line Harbour Lights cruise, which was recommended by a NSW couple we met on Martha's Vineyard

On board, we saw how the outer shiny layer was being added to this new building
.

 We sailed off just after seven and, with no daylight savings time adjustment here, the sun soon set and we had spectacular views off Manhattan but also Brooklyn and Queens, Ellis Island, bridges and the Statue.  Below is the view right down 42nd Street.

The tour guide explained a lot as we went along.  One interesting fact.  The difference between Broadway, Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway is NOT their location.  It is the SIZE of the theatre.  Off Off Broadway has less than 200 seats.  Off Broadway has more than 200 and less than 500 seats.

 There were only a few yachts on the water in the gathering dusk.

 Brooklyn Bridge with the Manhattan Bridge behind it.

There was once a Pepsi-Cola factory here which was so,d for residential housing, with one stipulation: the sign remains.

 The lights of the tall buildings were simply spectacular.  So many buildings.  So many lights.

 After, I thought we were walking back to a subway station, but Robert had a surprise for me.  I had mentioned I wanted to try the famous cheesecake at Juniors's, which now has expanded from Brooklyn to this great position, just down from my Les Mis (and several other) theatre and virtually on Times Square.  What a prime position.  It took me a while to realise we were headed there!

 We even scored a table outside, to people watch!

 So my dinner tonight was a slice of their cheesecake and a vanilla milkshake!

 We walked through Times Square and near the subway station saw this showroom.  So many Steinway grand pianos displayed inside.

It seemed a fairly easy day.  Yet the Health app on my phone recorded we did 21,700 steps today.  Maybe tomorrow we will take it easy.

TEAMS, TENNAMENT AND THEATRE

We dropped a bag of washing at the Chinese laundry on the next block this morning.  For $10:00 they wash, dry and fold it.

Madison Square Garden was our destination, to take the guided tour.  What an astounding venue.  It was closed for three years (I think summers of 2010, 2011, 2012) whilst basically the entire place was rebuilt, at the tidy price of one BILLION dollars.  I asked the guide: No debt, all from savings, advanced sales, etc..

In places, the width if the concourse was doubled or even tripled.  So it is easy to walk around and access concession stands and restrooms.

The place is full of wonderful memorabilia of past events here.  There are actually four buildings that make up the complex.  The 5,000 seat theatre is completely soundproof, so it can hold an event whilst a 22,000 strong crowd watches the basketball.  They have just out down the ice for the ice hockey season.  The basketball court or concert stage can be placed over this.  

That line of blue running round the top of the food counters depicts a major event, on EVERY day of the year, including leap years, held here, with the year it was held.  This venue holds concerts, sporting events, political rallies and major fund raisers, like the one for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Today was an unusual day at Madison Square Gardens.  Called a dark day, it means no major event is scheduled for today.  So whilst we could see the major arena, with the impressive banks of seats, and glass windows into the guest suites over several levels, the photos do not do justice to the place.

 Part of the rebuild has provided magnificent city views from the public areas where the elevators whisk you up and down the seven levels.

 Billy Joel is regarded as the King here, as he has played twenty consecutive sold out concerts.  He is contracted for one concert every month for the foreseeable future.  A huge banner commemorates his achievement..

We peeped into two of the locker rooms.  In the rebuild, thought has gone into these, as sports with more members per team have been allocated more space.

 Then we were ushered into a private exclusive suite for twelve.  A company must commit to a minimum of three years to have a suite and at this level, the price is around $1.5 million A YEAR.  Apparently it is a bargain, as you get twelve tickets to 44 Knicks and 18 Liberty basketball games, 44 ice hockey games and between 50 to 75 concerts a year.

 Then we went down to an even more exclusive area.

 Comfortable chairs, side tables, several dining tables ... all to wine, dine and network.

The privileged who use these exclusive areas have to only walk a few steps to access some of the best seats in the house.  Those who wish to sit court side, however, can expect to pay around one thousand dollars a seat for the game.

The rebuilt stadium also has two elevated bridges, one each side, bolted to the ceiling so no support poles obstruct the view of others.  In fact, with the reconfigured seating with the rebuild, the claim is there is now not a bad seat in the house.

 We were not expecting a lot from the tour, but the slick way we were moved around, the information we were given, the areas we could see and the massive size of the main arena was very impressive.

Next we called in to our favourite lady.

 It was just near Penn Station and one wall had a huge image of train yards on it.

 But even better was the ceiling above half of the floor space, over the serving counter and half the public area.  It conquered up rail tracks and sleepers and looked most effective.

 We caught the Metro downtown to the Lower East Side.  I sat between a Muslim woman and a professional young African American woman.  When she looked up and noticed the older husband of the Muslim woman, she arose from her seat and walked over to embrace him warmly.  He introduced his wife and they chatted before the couple reached their station.

The young woman sat down again.  I had to know, so I asked how she knew them.  He had run the corner store of her neighbourhood when she was a little girl.  She hadn't seen him for two years and about nine years before that.  Once when she was about 8, she was in the store with her older sister.  She wanted Raisinettes, raisins covered in chocolate.  Her sister refused to buy them but another man paid for them and this was the man who took the payment.  Ever since, he has called her Raisinette.

She was so friendly.  She showed me photos and a video of her brand new niece, only born last night.  We got off the train at the same station and she directed us to the Tenement Museum, plus suggested Katz's Delicatessen for lunch.  Her name is Migna and she gave me her card, saying to phone if we needed anything.  What a lovely encounter.

The tour we chose today was called IRISH OUTSIDERS and a most enthusiastic "educator" named Lauren took our small group.  We were told the story of Thomas and Ann Moore who lived in the tenement building, how mostly German immigrants were there and how the Irish were known as 'the new Negro' and some job ads would read 'No Irish need apply'.

Families lived in 325 square foot, three tiny rooms with only one room having two windows for any light.

 Because we were so close to where the famous scene in "When Harry Met Sally" was filmed, we walked there next.  What atmosphere.  The walls are full of famous people who have eaten here.  The menu was full of wonderful Jewish options.

 Tonight, we had tickets for the play by Deborah Zoe Lauffer called INFORMED CONSENT, at The Duke Theatre on 42nd Street.  There was a light drizzle on the way, our first rain for the entire trip.  The streets were mushrooming with umbrellas.

 It was a small theatre, an intimate space the advertising claimed.  We were in the third front row and at one point in the 90 minute, one act performance, three of the five actors were performing in the aisle right beside Robert.  Talk about up close and personal

 The play covered issues of DNA testing, what do you really want to know of your future, what can you test people for.  It was both thoughtful and entertaining.  And I didn't drag Robert along to it.  It was his idea to see a play and he chose this one himself.

Only a few doors up from The Duke, and still open, was a Sketchers store.  I bought myself a new pair of shoes.

 We were intending to find somewhere nearby for dinner but the wet weather had set in and we decided to head back instead.

We stopped at the fruit street vendor a block down from our hotel. I was selecting some bananas when the canvas cover over the cart gave way slightly from the weight of water.  I was standing half under the deluge and got somewhat wet.  Robert said I really squealed when it happened.  A funny way to end a good day!