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After Leena and I got off the phone I showered and got dressed to head on out...
Getting out of the apartment building I started to walk uphill towards the F train station, but then at the next street corner up I couldn't decide if I should do that or not... The weather was so nice and pleasant (i.e. cloudy, cool breeze and a somewhat wet fog) and I realized I had no particular plan for the day or anything special to do, so I thought I'd walk...
I must've stood at the corner for two cycles of the light, starting to walk one way, then the other, then the first... Anyone watching must've thought I needed help or something...
In the end I figured I'd walk, the weather was great, I didn't really have anywhere to be, and no need to waste a ride on my subway MetroCard (I haven't bought the monthly, unlimited pass...) So, I turned up 6th Avenue here in Brooklyn, and since I haven't walked on that street as much as 4th, 5th or 7th Avenues, so I might as well sight see there. From 6th Avenue, almost every other block had barricades cutting off access to one street other another on either side, pretty much all for block parties for the day.
When I got up to Flatbush Avenue I popped in at the big Target to use the bathroom, then back out on the street. I followed a different path up towards the bridges than usual, through more residential neighborhoods, and that was nice.
The rain was picking up a little, though, and I was getting a bit wet, especially the front of my shirt from walking into it, but not drenched, just sort of a slow soaking...
By then I had an idea where I wanted to go, too, Shima, in the East Village for sushi. So when I was close to both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge I decided to take the Manhattan Bridge, since the way it's angled means I'd end up in Manhattan slightly further north, in Chinatown, rather than at the top of the financial district, and closer to where I wanted to go.
As I was across Jay Street from the walkway entrance to the Manhattan Bridge, and two blocks from the Brooklyn Bridge, a guy who was walking ahead of me for a couple of blocks turned around asked me "which direction is the F?" and I had to ask, "you mean the F train?" and he said so... Unfortunately, he was going the wrong way, so he made a face when I told him it went to the Jay Street - MetroTech station about six or seven blocks behind us... As soon as he walked back the other way, another guy who'd been standing a little distance approached me and asked "where's Jay Street?" so I pointed to the sign next to us and said "this is Jay Street." He asked if it went far the other direction, the way I'd just come and I told him it did, so he went up that way, too...
So, then I got onto the Manhattan Bridge. I walked it once before, sometime last fall. Today because the rain it was virtually empty of walkers and runners, which I found nice. I took some photos, but it was raining enough that I worried my camera could get wet and damaged, so I put it away after a little bit. I played with a panorama photo program on the iPhone with some of the graffiti to get a long, long photo of it.
Once across the river in Chinatown, I walked up Bowery until I hit 4th Street in the East Village, where there was a street festival going on. One singer was on a stage in the rain, getting wet, playing a guitar and singing. He sucked, and was playing some song I vaguely recognized, but doing it really badly, but looked like he was having a good time (and to be fair, was probably a hell of a lot better than me!).
I got to Shima as the rain was picking up and I was pretty wet, so it was great to get inside for lunch. The service was unusually slow, and I didn't recognize either of the waitresses, despite having been there quite a number of times before. I overheard one of them apologizing to other customers for not knowing a particular dish from the dinner menu because she was new there. I didn't get too upset with the slow service because it was pouring outside, so the longer I stayed in the more I dried off...
I also got an earful of the "soap opera" at the next table, with a 50-something woman and an older Japanese man. Mostly it was just her talking, and talking and talking… They must've been dating off and on for a decade or so, then it sounds like he broke up with her leaving a note, "sorry, I'm just selfish" and she's trying to get him back, or something… Near the end she said "we've known each other for years and I still don't have your address" and he refused to give it to her for a while, then caved in and wrote it down, and I heard her say "and the apartment!" and then he wrote something and she said "apartment 2, just 2? I don't think so! Write the whole apartment number down!"
Meanwhile, on the other side of me a lone woman, maybe in her late 20's or early 30's came in and sat down. She ordered a cup of tea to start with, then took her bag and went to the restroom, came back and started reading a book and sipping her tea. Then when the busboy, who didn't speak English, came by she said she'd like to order, but I couldn't figure out what he said. But before a waitress could come to take her order, I saw her get up, grab her bag and dash at high speed to the exit. There was a loud *BANG* as she burst out the door… All talking stopped for a moment in the restaurant, then a customer near the door said "shit, she broke the glass."
As I was finishing lunch it was almost 4pm and I was surprised how late it was, since I usually get there earlier in the afternoons, but then I remembered I walked instead of taking the subway, so it made sense... And the rain had stopped by then, too.
Out on the street I walked across Manhattan to the High Line. It was more crowded that I expected in the rain, but not terribly so. By then it wasn't really raining, just foggy and misty and gray, my idea of perfect weather...
I had to wait under the High Line for a few minutes while a wedding party got their photos taken on the Ganesvoort Street Stairs at the southern end of the park, going up. When they were done, I dashed up from the the southern end to the bathroom at 16th Street, and then strolled leisurely up the new section to 30th Street. I took some photos with my longest lens on the way up, then at 30th Street I swapped lenses and put a wider one on the camera. I walked back down again, taking pictures with the other lens. On the balcony of one of the apartment buildings right next to the High Line was a banner someone put up as a marriage proposal to a girl.
At another part of the park, overlooking 10th Avenue, I saw another wedding couple with their photographer. They had an assistant blocking traffic so the photographer could take the couples' pictures in the middle of the street...
I made it to a part of the park with a bunch of seats a little before 6pm and figured I'd stop there and read until close to 7pm. Some of the benches were wet from the earlier rain, but I found one that was dry enough for me to sit on without soaking my rear end, and relaxed there for a bit, reading and watching people coming and going. At that section there's a sort of fountain where it's just a thin layer of water running over the concrete into a drain, and in sunny weather it's jam packed with people taking off their shoes and walking in it. Today it wasn't, but one little boy really loved it and ran up and down that section at least ten times, splashing in the water and giggling...
And another well dressed, but obviously not wedding, couple with a photographer and a bright red umbrella were going up and down the High Line, posing in various places.
At about 7pm I put my book away and went down to the lower end of the park to see the dance performance going on. A dance troupe was redoing its very first performance, from the 70's, on the rooftops of buildings around the High Line. The dancers were in bright red uniforms, scattered around so each could see at least one other. One of them was the leader and others followed the moves. The dancing itself wasn't very appealing, not nearly as much as the concept of it, with dancers all around, and the fun of trying to see if I could actually find all of them.
I didn't stay for the whole performance, because frankly, I didn't find the dancing itself very engaging once I'd seen the spectacle of it, so I went down to 14th Street. I stopped at a place for a cantaloupe frozen yogurt that was pretty good, then in Union Square I caught the subway back to Brooklyn.
Once in the apartment I changed and brewed a cup of tea, but then decided that since the weather's cool, for a break from hot summer, I should go out and stock up on ice cream. This way I can carry it home without it melting too much, so that worked well. I'm not eating ice cream much in the hot weather, though, it just melts faster than I feel like I can properly enjoy it.
I like baking cheesecakes, but with my cheesecake "partner in crime" out of the country right now, not being able to eat a whole one myself (nor should I!) nor being able to share at work since while all the ingredients may be kosher, I don't keep a kosher kitchen, my mother suggested I bake them as cupcakes, which I can then freeze to take out one at a time for a while…
I haven't bought a mixer yet, so I had to mix it up with a fork. That takes between an hour and a half to three hours, depending on how thoroughly I feel like mixing it. Since I started late, I got kind of tired early and left the batter a bit lumpy.
