The Adventures of
David
Elizabeth
and Leif

Batchin’ in Brooklyn…?

Freeloadin’ on Fulton…? (wireless internet, that is)

Hiking in ManHattan…? (ok that was dumb)

My first "day off" in NYC was good. I finally got to sleep in. It looks like Planet Jamaica GAME & MUSIC will be moving into the retail space 2 floors below our flat.

After finishing my morning rituals, I threw a sweatshirt and my camera in a backpack and got on the A-Train with no real agenda other than to get some rest in the city that never sleeps. I got off the train at High Street and saw a sign that said something about the Brooklyn Bridge. I decided the Bridge looked more interesting than DUMBO so I headed that way.

As I ascended the Brooklyn side of the bridge I could see midtown through the Manhattan Bridge.

I guess I’m still a tourist even though I have an apartment here. I wasn’t bashful about getting out the camera. The pedestrians are on the left side of the bridge (mainly) because the right side is a bike lane. I can’t wait to have a bike up here…

Here’s a photomerge of the pier on the Brooklyn side.

According to the tourist info on the bridge, these cables were covered in "white lead" so mommas don’t let your kids lick the Brooklyn Bridge!

I really want to go sailing around New York Harbor. Those must be a couple of stock brokers or something since I’ve heard that sailing around here is very expensive. A lowly airline pilot probably won’t be able to afford it any time soon!

There’s just something cool about this geometry.

Man, all I need is a fanny pack to be the quintessential tourist … (or would that be the quintessence of dust?)

Is it just me, or is everything leaning to the left in this photo?

Apparently, they don’t want people climbing up the cables to the top of the bridge. Where’s their sense of adventure?

Last time I was here, I was really depressed over how ugly the city was. This time, I started seeing some beauty.

This is the Woolworth Building where my grandfather worked in the 1970’s. He started his career as a yo-yo demonstrator for F. W. Woolworths before WW-II, took a break during the war to teach Army Air Force pilots to fly, and then resumed his climb up the corporate ladder until he reached the position of vice president for the company, working in this building.

Just around the corner from the Woolworth building was the World Trade Center. Before the attacks, you could come around this corner and see the huge towers looming over you here.

From our house in NJ, you could see the tops of the towers. We visited them pretty often growing up, and this was my first time seeing "Ground Zero." Since it’s been a long time since the attacks, I didn’t expect to have much of a reaction to the site, but when I got there I was really moved. Here’s a building that was damaged during the collapse and is still being repaired.

After leaving the site, I continued east to the Battery Park City and the Hudson River. Taxi anyone?

I kept walking south to the tip of Manhattan. Battery Park is still pretty and it feels safer than it did when I was a kid and Mom took us on the Staten Island Ferry.

The line to get on the Ferry was an hour and a half, so I decided I’d do it later. Here’s a chopper taking off from the lower Manhattan heliport.

This guy wasn’t sure what to make of me.

So he made tracks (or would that be wingtip vortices?)

Further along the east river was the South Street Seaport Museum. Mom took us here several times on "field trips" when we were kids. It was a cool place.

I started getting hungry and thirsty so I put the camera away and ate and headed back to Bed-Stuy for a well-deserved rest.

This evening, I walked to Prospect Park (it’s a long walk, especially when you make the incorrect assumption that Prospect Place will run into Prospect Park…). Then I took the Q train to Coney Island. When I got there, there was a strange party on the beach playing klezmer-sounding music. I got a little closer and discovered it was a Jewish wedding … right at sunset. It looked like a LOT of fun!

I decided not to be a wedding crasher and went looking for some dinner. While walking up the beach I saw a plane that just took off from Kennedy fly in front of the moon.

I found a little shop on the boardwalk that was open and ordered a gyro (pronounced like the airplane instrument — "JIYE-ROE" — in Brooklyn). While I sat eating it, I kept hearing an errie high-pitched moaning sound. It seemed to be coming from Astroland, the amusement park that made Coney Island fameous. (BTW, Coney Island has no coneys in it anymore and is not an island either…)

Here is my official report regarding the Haunted Ferris Wheel. Sorry if you can’t read a "3g2" file … it’s an MPEG-4 I think. Real Player worked for me.

I’ve been asked about the difference between a den and a common room. I used them interchangeably in the previous blog entry, and Pop asked what the difference is. Here are some answers from wikipedia:

A den can be a family room or a room devoted to a parent’s hobbies.

A common room is a type of shared lounge, most often found in dormitories, at (for example) universities, military bases, hospitals, rest homes, hostels, and even minimum-security prisons. It is generally connected to several private rooms, and may incorporate a bathroom.

Common rooms are generally much more spacious than the adjoining private rooms, and generally contain couches, televisions, coffee tables, and other generic lounge furniture.

Depending on its location and purpose of use, a common room may be known by another name. For instance, in mental hospitals, where access is usually restricted to the daytime hours, this type of room is often called a “day room”.

Hmmmm… perhaps we’ll call our den the day room. At least when certain family members visit…