No pictures as I left my camera at a Pirate Party (I went as a mermaid with silver fins!) the other night – that was much fun and will update you with photos asap.
But yes, New York was a fun day, if intensely tiring! We left the house at about 9am, hopped on the tram and proceeded to the train station… only when we arrived there did we clock that we were getting the Greyhound bus, which leaves from a very different place. So after a moment’s deliberation we hopped in a cab and made the 9 dollar journey to Market East Station, home to road (not rail) traveling vehicles.
On the 2 hour journey through New Jersey, Mike taught me some basic music theory written in shaky biro (it’s hard to draw a straight line on a bus) and I discovered to my dismay that I can’t wee on a moving vehicle which made things a little uncomfortable!
On arrival in New York I donned my big sunnies and dashed for the bathroom… Then we descended to the clanging, grating subway and zipped to the East Village, where I fed Mike with Falafel (from Tahini on St Marks/3rd Ave) and then Pierogi/soup/coffee (from Veselka my favourite place to do homework in my exchange student days) and finally orange and beet juice from the Vegetarian Kitchen on St Marks/Ave A. Yum!
On the subway again to Williamsburg, Brooklyn (much less pretentious than Shoreditch and much quieter with more green space and a striking 1930s open air swimming pool) to meet Jan van Woensel, my internet buddy turned very pleasant real life friend. He gave us a tour of the area and we had nice beer outside a bar called Enid – desert island style shaggy dried grass parasols over the tables – woo! At some point musical collaboration and an interview with Jan will follow.
In the last segment of our day, Mike and I went to Brighton Beach and walked along the boardwalk to Coney Island – the sun was scalding our retinas at this point. Mike’s aim was to get me on a rollercoaster as I’ve always been terrified of them, but have a thing about facing my fears, and he loves them. I was slightly horrified when we walked along the metal fence that kept the rollercoaster at bay and it roar-rattled above our heads like a dragon…
But I paid my money ($8), checked my bag, read the warning signs about blood pressure and got locked into my seat by a calmly smiling chap. Didn’t feel afraid… until the first tiny turn, over which our seat shook like a rickety power tool. A couple of minutes of awfulness followed and this was NOT fun awfulness by any stretch of the imagination, up and down, up and down, and the most jolting right angles at the bottom of every track-valley. Mike had to remind me to let go of the metal bar at the end of the ride – I didn’t even notice that I was still clinging on for dear life. Not fun! But I’m so proud of myself for doing something that scares me even if it turned out to be no fun at all, at least I tried and now I know!
Incidentally Mike said it was the worst rollercoaster ever – the bone-shaking, the sharp turns – so I don’t feel so bad.
Apart from getting on the bus an hour late on the way home (thanks Greyhound for overbooking by 35 people 
) we had a lovely, full, tiring, relaxing, frightening day together… (AT LEAST WE THOUGHT THAT WAS THE END OF OUR DAY… see next post for more details).
