Here's an interesting collection of shops next to the courthouse. If you can't see clearly, they are - Vietnamese restaurant, bail bondsman, acupuncturist, bail bondsman, tavern, bail bondsman, lawyer.
Noticed this sign on the way back...
If you're texting, you're unlikely to notice this sign!
Back to say hello to everyone then off towards Brooklyn Bridge. Got myself a bagel with cream cheese and wondered around, feeling quite the New Yorker - except for pulling out the camera. How much of a hurry are these people in? (Note the LED sign)
Can't even wait in line. Although there might be a line for the pick up.
Got on the train for Brooklyn to go to LeeLee's Valice - a shop featured in Big Brooklyn Style, which has just started on Foxtel and I have liked the look of the clothes. This is likely to be my one and only shopping session.
Wasn't sure I was on the right train so stopped to look at the map in the carriage. A guy sitting just up a bit called out, "where are you headed?" I said "Delancey Street to get the F train downtown." He told me exactly where it was and which stairway to take. When we got to the stop, he said to go up there, second set of stairs - not the first. Trouble was he had it in his head that I wanted to go uptown so I just walked down those stairs til the train left, coz he was watching me to make sure I was okay, then went back up and over to the downtown stairs. What a sweet guy. Again, these New Yorkers!
Note to self - when going to a specific place, take the street number as well as the street name.
I wandered a fair way down the street, knew it wasn't that far so wandered back up. Went into Dunkin' Donuts and stood in the queue to get something so I could use their free Wi-Fi. By the time I connected, looked up the address, I was still three back in the queue so I left. Don't like their coffee, don't need their donut and they were too slow.
Walked up to the shop, quite looking forward to this and the gates are over the doors - closed! What??? Realised they just don't open til 11 so came down the street to a coffee shop to wait. The guy serving me said, "were you here for the shooting the other day?" Yikes. No. I asked if it was a safe area. He replied, "It's Brooklyn." So that was encouraging. It was a pretty neighbourhood, though.
Back to the store and the lady was very interested in Australia - her daughter had done a project on it last year and she had tried in vain to find some Vegemite. She brought me stuff to try on - just loved doing that! She came at me with a belt and little cardigan and I had to refuse. I did explain that I wasn't normal when it comes to shopping and not to judge all Australians on me.
For a shop that I went to because I liked the printed dresses I had seen, I came away with a black skirt. The material on the dresses had a polyester feel to it - it probably wasn't, was probably quite the thing but I didn't love it. She was going to the effort of wrapping it beautifully with a bow. I said not to worry coz I would be discarding the packaging pretty quickly, but she would not be dissuaded...
Here it is before I put the skirt in my bag and threw the packaging in the recycle bin.
And it took forever! I had already been there way too long.
Stopped for a slice of pizza, got back on the train and after a couple of stops backtracking, came out at the Brooklyn Bridge. It was not at all obvious - you'd think a bridge that size would be easy to spot. Found it eventually and began the walk across.
It was fabulous! Loved it. Great view, traffic going underneath, lots of people walking across (mainly going the other way). I had thought of hiring a bike and riding across, realised I had delusions of fitness and walked instead. If you offer to take a couple's photo for them, they tend to return the favour...
It was a great view all the way over...
Have to say Tyra Banks has a lot to answer for - all the young chickie babes posing their way for photos everywhere you go. (I have no photos of this phenomena, just an observation.)
Down the other side and onto a train to the city. Walked up to Central Park to sit for a little while then headed down to Rockefeller Plaza to do the studio tour. Took a while to find Central Park too - how does a park that big become difficult to find? When I got to Rockefeller, the tour was sold out for the day so I'll have to try and get in tomorrow. Stopped for a coffee and a much-needed sit down.
Had a wander around the Plaza - saw where they ice skate at Christmas...
..and the entrance...
I went up to a table to sit down for a while and as I arrived at the table, another lady walked up to it too. We sat down and chatted for an hour or so - she was up for the day from Baltimore. We compared travel notes and had a lovely restful chat. We both had very tired feet.
And the note to self from Brooklyn - already discarded! I didn't take down the address of the theatre where I was to meet Shaun and Brett for dinner. So I walked up to where I thought it was, couldn't find it, or a Starbucks or Maccas for the Wi-Fi, so had to go all the way back to Rockefeller for their Wi-Fi. Got the address and doubled back to get to the theatre, thankfully on time.
We went to a lovely restaurant for dinner where I had a very delicious fish in beurre blanc sauce with capers with mashed potato and spinach - it was so good!
Off to the theatre to see Big Fish - a new musical still in previews. We wanted to see this because it was directed by Susan Stroman - the queen of Broadway direction and choreography and starred Norbert Leo Butz - a king of Broadway actors.
I didn't love this theatre - it was tired and rundown, but still, it's a theatre. The show was great - more like a play with music. Norbert was absolutely brilliant. He carries the show and basically has to be sensational or the show would suffer. Some of the effects were fabulous - the trees becoming dancers and the whole daffodil scene was beautiful. It was a very good production but there were a couple of shaky sections - which would be why it's still in reviews.
The others wanted to go for a drink but I wanted to go to the night court so I left them in a bar and went off to the train. The court, as I discovered this morning, is literally a five-minute walk max from our place.
I had read that the night courts were really interesting and so thought I would go along. Quite a daunting place - up through security, bag scanned, through the metal detector, down the dingy corridor and into the court.
There are - obviously - no photos of this section!
This place is a hive of activity! Lawyers, the prosecutor, judge, heaps of police, officials (not sure what they were), prisoners and family members (or maybe they were Looky Lous like me)
They whipped through them pretty quick. It was just arraignment so I think they were basically coming before the judge and she was determining bail or jail. The crimes of the defendants I saw were basically drug possession or assault. They all got off with bail except one guy, who had to back through the barred doors.
The prosecutor had to go from one case to the next to the next whereas the lawyers had only one or two clients so they could prepare more. The prosecutor seemed on the ball though.
There were five or six guys sitting up the front waiting for their turn. As they all went through and left, was thinking that must be it for them for the night. But no, they opened the back gate doors and brought in another five or six guys. They go through from 5pm to 1am. And 95% of them were black men.
Started walking home - felt very safe because there were a lot of police around. The bail bondsman shops had their neon lights shining.
This was a Loony-free day (unless the prisoners count). Had a couple of false alarms - man yelling on train platform was just yelling at his girlfriend. Man on train talking animatedly to himself looked like he was an actor learning lines. Had a very likely suspect when I heard a woman yelling and shouting but it turned out to be this...
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