The full set of photos is available on my Picasa page...
Saturday
Whew, long day out walking... I actually got off to what felt like a late start after a shower and reading stuff online for a little bit (I'd drank a can of soda while Leena and I were on the phone so I wanted to make sure it went through me before going out...)
I got on the R train and at Atlantic Avenue - Pacific Street there was an N express that pulled up right next to it, so I went across the platform to that one, as it's faster and goes over a bridge instead of in the dark tunnel under the river. The guy sitting across from me was sleeping with a bottle of soda in his hand and actually looked a bit like Fred Flintstone on his t-shirt. At one station he got up and walked to the door, but then seemed pretty drunk or something because he couldn't stand up, then ended up sitting back down and closing his eyes again...
I got off the train at 49th Street, sort of right behind Times Square, and walked up to 55th Street and Lexington Avenue to the shoe repair shop to get my Birkenstocks. I waited in line while a woman in front of me kept the clerk busy answering questions about what they could do if she didn't like the new dye she was getting on her shoes and all that... The woman who wasn't paying attention to customers, just polishing shoes, saw me and took my receipt, but had a lot of trouble finding my sandals. Once the woman in front of me finished, the clerk helped the other woman find them.
She was going to put them in a bag for me, but I said "no, I'll put them on". My feet were aching slightly from the walk up there in the other Birkenstocks, with the softer footbed, and at first the freshly resoled pair felt a little weird, since I hadn't worn them with these particular socks in a while. But it was good to get them back. After a few blocks they felt just as comfortable as an old pair of shoes (which they are...)
I wasn't sure just what to do, so I walked down Lexington Avenue from there... I kept my eyes open for lunch, too... And about fifteen blocks down I found it... I passed an Indian restaurant and saw dhansak on the menu outside and thought, 'hmm....' Then I kept walking, saw some sushi and a good looking burger place, then thought "dhansak... Dhansak!" and turned around to get that...
The place was called Nirvana. I walked in and it was totally empty. The maitre'd didn't tell me they were closed, so I indicated just one person and he led me upstairs to the restaurant, which was totally empty, too, not a single other customer. I pointed to a table and I asked if I could sit by the window, but he said "no, the window tables are for parties of four or five only" and then pointed me to a table for two not far from the window. He said they closed at 3pm, and by then it was 2:20pm... To be fair, though, it did get a lot busier, the crowd actually doubled before I was done...
As soon as I was seated I ordered dhansak and naan. He asked "do you want rice?" and I said no, just naan. He asked if I wanted butter, garlic or spicy naan and I said "just sada naan" and he acknowledged plain naan... So I sat and waited a few minutes.
The dhansak wasn't like Leena's family's cook's at all... It had chunks of chicken in it (which I expected, ordering it from the chicken section of the menu) but other vegetables, like green beans, carrots and peas. The waiter also brought a dish of rice, saying "compliments of the house" (I assume it was just part of what was left from their lunch service to get rid of). It was good, not exactly what I expected, but good. While I was eating another guy came in and sat behind me, he also turned down the rice, but then when his meal came got a complimentary bowl of it as well...
I finished right around 3pm, paid and headed back out... I continued on down Lexington a few more blocks, then started heading towards the west, knowing one thing I was looking for was on west 34th Street, but not exactly where. Around there, too, I figured I could use a bathroom, and knew there was a public one in Penn. Station, on 32nd Street and 8th Avenue. On 34th I found the Affordable Art Fair, in a fancy building across the street from the Empire State Building, and the sidewalk and entrance to it were packed with people. After going a few blocks further to Penn. Station I didn't feel like walking back into that crowd, so I didn't make it there...
I exited Penn. Station on 7th Avenue, heading southward. The Fashion Institute of Technology has an interesting looking building, so I drifted that way, and found FIT had a street circus going on outside of there. I wandered through there a few minutes, enjoying watching people do karaoke, and play some of the games, then kept going...
A couple blocks from there I ran into another street closed off for a carnival, too... It was more crowded and had lots of kiddie rides and things more geared towards small children, was noisier and less interesting...
I made my way over to the High Line. The northern-most stair case was absolutely full of people, with a line waiting to climb up and a crowd up at the top waiting to go down. I skipped it... By the time I got to the next one down, it was pretty crowded, too. So instead I went to the Chelsea Market thinking I'd get a ginger popsicle from the stand inside, People's Pops, that specializes in them. There was a little line there, but the guy in front didn't know what he wanted. First he asked if there was anything sugar-free, to which the guy working there said no, all flavors had a little bit of organic cane sugar in them, then the customer asked "oh, they all look so good, which should I get?" and the worker said "they're all good, it's a matter of what you'd like" and the customer asked "well, if you wanted one right now for yourself, which would you get?"
At that point I gave up, I didn't feel like standing in line for all that, and I left.
I walked up 14th Street towards Union Square, but then decided to check out Madison Square Park and see if there was more to that artwork I saw the crew setting up last weekend. I also figured that would be a good place to stop and sit for a while and sip some of the water I'd carried in my backpack.
Madison Square Park was indeed crowded, though less than last weekend when there was a Sikh festival in it. Lots of people were examining and photographing a huge, 44 foot sculpture in the main lawn, Echo by Juame Plensa. Small leaves were falling off the trees, and every time there was a breeze they blew around like a snow storm. I sat on a bench there for a while, not sure how long, just relaxing, playing with my camera and trying out some different techniques. After a while, though, I started to get congested and sniffly, maybe from the stuff from the trees blowing around...
Once I got ready to move, I changed lenses on the camera and walked down Broadway to Union Square. In Union Square I walked a full circle around it, then used the public restroom there. Three days a week there there's a big farmer's market, with fresh produce, meat, honey, wines and things. One stall had fresh made apple cider at $1.50 for a cup, so I got one and it was really good cider.
By then it was close to 6pm and I was getting a little tired. But I decided to walk back to Brooklyn over the Brooklyn Bridge... It was some walk down Manhattan, but I took the subway from Union Square to Canal Street. Only once I got out at Canal Street, I got turned around and walked a few blocks in the wrong direction before I figured it out. I was waiting at a traffic light to cross along with another couple when one asked "what bridge is that?" pointing to one to our right a few blocks and he said "the Manhattan Bridge." I thought about it and realized, that it being on the right would mean I was facing the wrong direction, it should've been on my left...
So, I turned around and headed the other way, through Chinatown and down along a street lined with government buildings and courthouses. I saw the plaza I found late last year that was pretty interesting, but once I bought the 11-16mm ultra-wide angle lens, the plaza was closed for some construction. The construction permits posted listed an expiration date of April, but today it was still blocked off with construction barricades...
Near there I passed a fountain with three young women horsing around and after I'd passed one of them came running and asked "can you take our picture?" and gave me a camera. So I took a bunch of photos of them posing on the edge of the fountain, then gave it back and continued on my way...
Outside City Hall I got onto the path to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was pretty crowded, lots and lots of people, but not the most crowded I've seen it. I've seen it before with so many people that walking on it was like walking in a crowd leaving a movie theater. Today was a little better.
I took a few photos on the bridge, but with some of the construction it's hard to get a good view over it, and with all the crowds, many are blocked by taller people...
On the Brooklyn side of the bridge I walked around a bit, walked down by the water, under the bridge. I found the big park that I've seen in movies, that I couldn't quite find before, with a great view of lower Manhattan. It was cool down there. I got a few photos of the sunset reflecting off the Empire State Building in the distance, as well as some of lower Manhattan. Definitely nice down there.
But it was getting chillier with a breeze, probably from being right by the river. I didn't quite know how to get home from there, other than a general south-east direction, but not which streets go through and which don't. I partially retraced my steps to get up near the Brooklyn Bridge close to where I left it for the ground.
Then there was a park I recognized from the last time I was in that area, so I went through there. The other side of it has big businesses and government buildings, courthouses, Brooklyn Borough Hall, a university and things.
At the edge of the park, when it was getting dark and there was hardly anyone there I ran into a couple who were lost. They asked me if I knew where the nearest subway station was. I said I knew it was in the park, but when I used it before I entered the park from a different place. But I whipped out my iPhone with its map, located where we were with the GPS and from there I showed them where the subway station was.
A few blocks and I figured out where I was and remembered how to get home from there. I walked through the Fulton Mall district, full of retail shops closing up for the night, and then to Flatbush Avenue and down there till it crossed 4th Avenue, where I headed up a couple of blocks then up to 5th Avenue all the way to my apartment.
Whew, quite a walk. But it was fun. There's some places I definitely want to go back with a different camera lens...
--------------------------------
Sunday
Well, today was shorter... After Leena and I got off the phone and I showered, I got dressed and headed on out. I didn't really have much of a plan...
So, I got on the R train near my apartment. At Atlantic Avenue - Pacific Street there was a D express train across the platform, so I hopped over to that, knowing it would go over the bridge instead of the tunnels.
I kept imagining it would stop at Canal Street, despite knowing that the D doesn't, it's the N that does. When it got across the river and stopped at Grand Street, I got off there, since I'd never used that station before.
Grand Street was near Chinatown, not far from where I'd been yesterday and pretty close to Canal Street, and most of the shop signs had Chinese writing, the smell of Chinese food wafted all around, and a city street sign had an arrow pointing away from it all and said "Chinatown". I walked around some of the less crowded streets around there a little, took some photos. The lens I carried wasn't good for some of the things I wanted to photograph, but then none of them does it all...
I walked north on some street I'd never been on before, and through Little Italy, which had some interesting looking restaurants and shops. Mostly I tried to stay on the shadier sides of the streets because the sun was blazing hot out. Eventually I crossed over into the East Village, where I've been quite a few times.
As I got closer to 12th Avenue I decided to stop in at Shima for some sushi and worked my way over there. There were hardly any customers and I got a nice table by the window. This time the waitress actually recognized me and remembered that I wanted a window table last time. The sushi was great, as usual.
Back out on the street I walked up to 14th Street and to Union Square. In Union Square I caught the crowds from the Asian American and Pacific Islander Culture Festival going on. There was some Thai sort of performance going on in one part of the square, and a big stage set up at the back of the square. People handed out pamphlets related to it so I got one of those. I watched some of the performance, but couldn't really get close enough through the crowds to see more than a glimpse.
From there I walked up towards Madison Square Park, which is about eight blocks up Broadway. Just before the park I took some photos of the Empire State Building and crowds and then my camera's memory card ran out of space and the camera shut down. Actually, in the nearly four years I've been using that camera this is the first time I've filled the card...
When that happened I turned around, went back to Union Square, watched the performance a little more then got on the subway to head back to Brooklyn.
Back in the apartment I offloaded the last few weeks' photos from the camera and started a load of laundry and that's that...
Saturday
Whew, long day out walking... I actually got off to what felt like a late start after a shower and reading stuff online for a little bit (I'd drank a can of soda while Leena and I were on the phone so I wanted to make sure it went through me before going out...)
 |
| Just a random scene while I was out walking... |
I got off the train at 49th Street, sort of right behind Times Square, and walked up to 55th Street and Lexington Avenue to the shoe repair shop to get my Birkenstocks. I waited in line while a woman in front of me kept the clerk busy answering questions about what they could do if she didn't like the new dye she was getting on her shoes and all that... The woman who wasn't paying attention to customers, just polishing shoes, saw me and took my receipt, but had a lot of trouble finding my sandals. Once the woman in front of me finished, the clerk helped the other woman find them.
She was going to put them in a bag for me, but I said "no, I'll put them on". My feet were aching slightly from the walk up there in the other Birkenstocks, with the softer footbed, and at first the freshly resoled pair felt a little weird, since I hadn't worn them with these particular socks in a while. But it was good to get them back. After a few blocks they felt just as comfortable as an old pair of shoes (which they are...)
 |
| I like this sign! |
The place was called Nirvana. I walked in and it was totally empty. The maitre'd didn't tell me they were closed, so I indicated just one person and he led me upstairs to the restaurant, which was totally empty, too, not a single other customer. I pointed to a table and I asked if I could sit by the window, but he said "no, the window tables are for parties of four or five only" and then pointed me to a table for two not far from the window. He said they closed at 3pm, and by then it was 2:20pm... To be fair, though, it did get a lot busier, the crowd actually doubled before I was done...
As soon as I was seated I ordered dhansak and naan. He asked "do you want rice?" and I said no, just naan. He asked if I wanted butter, garlic or spicy naan and I said "just sada naan" and he acknowledged plain naan... So I sat and waited a few minutes.
The dhansak wasn't like Leena's family's cook's at all... It had chunks of chicken in it (which I expected, ordering it from the chicken section of the menu) but other vegetables, like green beans, carrots and peas. The waiter also brought a dish of rice, saying "compliments of the house" (I assume it was just part of what was left from their lunch service to get rid of). It was good, not exactly what I expected, but good. While I was eating another guy came in and sat behind me, he also turned down the rice, but then when his meal came got a complimentary bowl of it as well...
I finished right around 3pm, paid and headed back out... I continued on down Lexington a few more blocks, then started heading towards the west, knowing one thing I was looking for was on west 34th Street, but not exactly where. Around there, too, I figured I could use a bathroom, and knew there was a public one in Penn. Station, on 32nd Street and 8th Avenue. On 34th I found the Affordable Art Fair, in a fancy building across the street from the Empire State Building, and the sidewalk and entrance to it were packed with people. After going a few blocks further to Penn. Station I didn't feel like walking back into that crowd, so I didn't make it there...
I exited Penn. Station on 7th Avenue, heading southward. The Fashion Institute of Technology has an interesting looking building, so I drifted that way, and found FIT had a street circus going on outside of there. I wandered through there a few minutes, enjoying watching people do karaoke, and play some of the games, then kept going...
A couple blocks from there I ran into another street closed off for a carnival, too... It was more crowded and had lots of kiddie rides and things more geared towards small children, was noisier and less interesting...
I made my way over to the High Line. The northern-most stair case was absolutely full of people, with a line waiting to climb up and a crowd up at the top waiting to go down. I skipped it... By the time I got to the next one down, it was pretty crowded, too. So instead I went to the Chelsea Market thinking I'd get a ginger popsicle from the stand inside, People's Pops, that specializes in them. There was a little line there, but the guy in front didn't know what he wanted. First he asked if there was anything sugar-free, to which the guy working there said no, all flavors had a little bit of organic cane sugar in them, then the customer asked "oh, they all look so good, which should I get?" and the worker said "they're all good, it's a matter of what you'd like" and the customer asked "well, if you wanted one right now for yourself, which would you get?"
At that point I gave up, I didn't feel like standing in line for all that, and I left.
I walked up 14th Street towards Union Square, but then decided to check out Madison Square Park and see if there was more to that artwork I saw the crew setting up last weekend. I also figured that would be a good place to stop and sit for a while and sip some of the water I'd carried in my backpack.
Once I got ready to move, I changed lenses on the camera and walked down Broadway to Union Square. In Union Square I walked a full circle around it, then used the public restroom there. Three days a week there there's a big farmer's market, with fresh produce, meat, honey, wines and things. One stall had fresh made apple cider at $1.50 for a cup, so I got one and it was really good cider.
 |
| A shop near where I went the wrong direction... |
So, I turned around and headed the other way, through Chinatown and down along a street lined with government buildings and courthouses. I saw the plaza I found late last year that was pretty interesting, but once I bought the 11-16mm ultra-wide angle lens, the plaza was closed for some construction. The construction permits posted listed an expiration date of April, but today it was still blocked off with construction barricades...
Near there I passed a fountain with three young women horsing around and after I'd passed one of them came running and asked "can you take our picture?" and gave me a camera. So I took a bunch of photos of them posing on the edge of the fountain, then gave it back and continued on my way...
I took a few photos on the bridge, but with some of the construction it's hard to get a good view over it, and with all the crowds, many are blocked by taller people...
On the Brooklyn side of the bridge I walked around a bit, walked down by the water, under the bridge. I found the big park that I've seen in movies, that I couldn't quite find before, with a great view of lower Manhattan. It was cool down there. I got a few photos of the sunset reflecting off the Empire State Building in the distance, as well as some of lower Manhattan. Definitely nice down there.
Then there was a park I recognized from the last time I was in that area, so I went through there. The other side of it has big businesses and government buildings, courthouses, Brooklyn Borough Hall, a university and things.
At the edge of the park, when it was getting dark and there was hardly anyone there I ran into a couple who were lost. They asked me if I knew where the nearest subway station was. I said I knew it was in the park, but when I used it before I entered the park from a different place. But I whipped out my iPhone with its map, located where we were with the GPS and from there I showed them where the subway station was.
A few blocks and I figured out where I was and remembered how to get home from there. I walked through the Fulton Mall district, full of retail shops closing up for the night, and then to Flatbush Avenue and down there till it crossed 4th Avenue, where I headed up a couple of blocks then up to 5th Avenue all the way to my apartment.
Whew, quite a walk. But it was fun. There's some places I definitely want to go back with a different camera lens...
--------------------------------
Sunday
Well, today was shorter... After Leena and I got off the phone and I showered, I got dressed and headed on out. I didn't really have much of a plan...
So, I got on the R train near my apartment. At Atlantic Avenue - Pacific Street there was a D express train across the platform, so I hopped over to that, knowing it would go over the bridge instead of the tunnels.
I kept imagining it would stop at Canal Street, despite knowing that the D doesn't, it's the N that does. When it got across the river and stopped at Grand Street, I got off there, since I'd never used that station before.
I walked north on some street I'd never been on before, and through Little Italy, which had some interesting looking restaurants and shops. Mostly I tried to stay on the shadier sides of the streets because the sun was blazing hot out. Eventually I crossed over into the East Village, where I've been quite a few times.
Back out on the street I walked up to 14th Street and to Union Square. In Union Square I caught the crowds from the Asian American and Pacific Islander Culture Festival going on. There was some Thai sort of performance going on in one part of the square, and a big stage set up at the back of the square. People handed out pamphlets related to it so I got one of those. I watched some of the performance, but couldn't really get close enough through the crowds to see more than a glimpse.
 |
| The Andy Monument - for Andy Warhol... |
When that happened I turned around, went back to Union Square, watched the performance a little more then got on the subway to head back to Brooklyn.
Back in the apartment I offloaded the last few weeks' photos from the camera and started a load of laundry and that's that...
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