Today we woke up to another hostel induced initiative test. Firstly the lights weren't working in the toilets; I just hope I didn't miss, like everyone else blatantly had. That also meant that I had to shower (in the one that worked) in the dark. I can think of lots of people that would look good showering in the dark. After that I had to get dressed in the dark. I'm sure I put on my pants, but I have been itching a lot today.
Having passed the test (I think) we went to brave the metro system again. This time we bought the one day pass for $7. We managed to find STA Travel in the hope that they might help us find some accommodation in Boston, but alas they were useless.
From here we walked to the UN Building for some reason. Which was a pretty naff building all in all. I think we both agreed that. It was here that myself and Mx had our first sort of Barney. Mx wanted to go to Coney Island and Brighton Beach and thought that I didn't. I was happy with that, but because I wasn't smiling she thought I wanted to go to Yankee Stadium. When will people realise that I'm quiet because I'm a quiet person. Just because I don't speak, it doesn't mean I'm not happy. And just because I don't smile, it doesn't mean I'm unhappy. All it means is that my Dad gave me his facial expressions. IT'S GENETIC!!!
Anyway it wasn't really a barney, but we headed out to Coney Island on the Metro (we're getting good now). Coney Island is all the way through Brooklyn and the Rough Guide describes it as 'one of the cities poorest districts and the amusement park is peeling and run down'. Well the Metro took us about 45 minutes to get there. I have to say that it was well worth the visit. Brighton beach was lovely and it felt good to be away from Manhattan.
As we walked down the front to the derelict Amusement Park, it reminded us of the Rotunda, Rotunda or the Ben Bon Brothers, Margate, but it was nice.
We even managed a game of Mini Golf. I won by 6 shots. And then I had a go at the driving range. But not the normal sort of driving range, this one was baseball. Basically a machine shoots rock solid balls at you to hit. The guys (or at least Beemer and Big Steve) will appreciate this, but there's nothing better than whacking a few balls to get the aggression out of you. For $2 you get 14 balls, so I suited up and had to make a choice between which sort of pitch I would like. I had a choice between slow, medium, fast and very fast. I was brave and plumped for Slow. I mean I hardly knew which end of the bat to hold.
After a couple of misses I eventually started hitting a couple of balls. By the end of it I had my eye in and the adrenaline was flowing. So I went and got another couple of tokens. This time I went for the Medium and even Mx noticed me hit a couple of them. Not sure how many home runs I got and I don't care much either, but I had fun.
It was still early so we decided to head back to Manhattan. Mx wanted to go to Staten Island so we decided to split and I headed for the Yankee Stadiums in the Bronx on the Metro's (we're veterans now). I even worked out how to get on the Express train.
Now Yankee stadium is on 161st Street. We got to 145th street (in the Bronx) when the driver announced that the train was now going to miss all the stops (including 161st street) until the end of the line. Now I looked round the carriage and didn't much fancy the rest of the journey, with the remaining characters on the train, so I decided to bail and head for the local platform. This platform wasn't much better than the carriage, so again I bailed and headed back for downtown, but not undeterred I had a B Plan.
There was one light hearted moment on that tube though. A starburst seller walked on the tube and proclaimed "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a fine selection of candies for you, all priced at a $1. Anybody interested?" Of course everyone looks the other way or buries themselves deeper into their books.
He then repeats his offer in perfect Spanish. "Okay then" he says "Nobody Spanish or English here? How about French? Voulez vous couche avec moi, c'est soir" A few giggles break out in the carriage, but still no takers. Still trying "Okay then how about African" as he recited lines from the Lion King. At this point the whole carriage was in stitches. You really had to be there, but it did provide me with some relieve from my impending doom.
I'd decided to get off at 125th Street and walk the width of Manhattan to another line to try entering the Bronx again. So I got off the Subway at 125th headed for the exit. I found myself in Harlem. I don't mind admitting that I was a little scared. I put my head down and used my famous sense of direction and started walking. It wasn't till I reached 129th Street that I realised I'd headed the wrong way and was now deeper into Harlem, bugger!! I headed back for 125th and this time headed the right way. I felt a bit threatened and considering, it's only 19 blocks up from where we're staying, it's amazing the difference. I still tried to remain inconspicuous.
By now I was thirsty so sought refuge in the big M. The bloke behind the counter didn't understand my perfect English and the huge black guy next to me asked if I was from Scotland. When I told him I was from England, he told me he has been to England. I asked where, he said Wales. I didn't have the heart to tell him.
Anyway having made it unscathed to the other end of 125th Street, I eventually got to Yankee Stadium (I was determined) and returned to 42nd Street to meet Mx in the Internet Cafe. Now between us we have done (sort of) the 5 boroughs of New York (Manhatten, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx), not bad in 3 days.
We headed to a nice restaurant on 49th Street called Joe Allens. Again it was too nice for us as they couldn't make room for us to have a table, but did offer us a seat at the bar. They did make room for the 2 blokes in suits who came in after us. It suited us fine as we had a good chat with Chris the Bar Man and Sandra and Judy, and got a little drunk too. That's why today's blog, may appear a little odd. Ohh and the Meatloaf was fab. Almost as good as my Mum's, I didn't get to taste the Apple Crumble as Mx troughed it all, before I could get a look in, I guess that was good too.
