Having fulfilled my touristy pizza slice from Joe’s Pizza made famous by Toby Maguire in SpiderMan I was ready to conquer the world and the shops!
Walking in and around Bleecker Street I was so excited by the number of eateries! If I had have been fortunate enough to live here longer, I would have turned into a serious Fatty Boomba with being completely spoilt for choice in all the food places. Cafes, Restaurants, Walk Up’s, you name it, it’s here…
I missed my Gossip Girl opportunity at an Ice-Cream store whereby I had missed two of the characters by what must have been minutes as the staff were still talking about them. Having an errand to run for a dear friend, first stop was a particular shop in SoHo which was an experience in itself. I’m sure I would have spotted more celebs if it wasn’t for the fact that I had my head up looking at the array of shops, boutiques and sidestepping all the weekend shoppers. It was an extremely successful shopping expedition, which I had not intention of making purchases. The two highlighted purchases were a dress that I got for $24.95 reduced from $340 in a boutique and a pair of Onitsuka Tiger boots (bright pink cord and suede) for $19.99. I also got a couple of bargain tops and another dress. So all in all an exciting little shop stop.
If tourists wielding maps don’t annoy you in the centre of Manhattan, then they certainly get on your nerves in SoHo, and the Village…imagine walking out of the MCG after the AFL Grand Final…toe to toe, arm to arm, and then the person in front of you suddenly stops and pulls out their map! Pmfff! Head butt into the back. I refused to apologize to anyone I knocked with my bag, my person, or intentionally jabbed for not moving to the side! My only regret from the visit was not taking more photos, (other than my Chinese Lunch) but I was just captivated by what I was seeing and doing.
The next day I headed back to the village with a stop before in TriBeCa (for those who wondered where the name comes from, "Triangle below Canal Street") to see where Robert De Niro started the TriBeCa film festival, a little ornate building on the corner that could easily be missed.
TriBeCa is also home to the Holland Tunnel that connects NYC with New Jersey as well as Stuyvesant High School, one of New York City's prized Science High Schools which I am sure I have heard about in a movie!
After TriBeCa I headed back to the Village for another walk around and to sample more of the delights on offer as well as see if there was any basketball at the “Cage”. The Cage located on West 4th Street and 6th Avenue is home to some of the best Street Basketball in the US, and it is not uncommon to see NBA pro’s make a comeback to where it all began for them. The court is smaller than a standard basketball court, and there is no out of bounds. Generally it is a pretty rough and tumbles high scoring game. I caught the last minute of a youth game and there wasn’t going to be another game until later that afternoon.
The Cage is home to one of the main NYC summer street ball leagues. While most basketball courts are in isolated locations and away from sidewalks and traffic etc, the West 4th street Cage is directly next to the sidewalk, a big NYC subway stop and large street (6th Avenue) that's always flooded with traffic. Aside from a few chairs that get put down behind one of the baskets during a league game, there is no seating at this court. There's standing room behind the section of chairs, and other than that, to watch the game you either squeeze onto the sidewalk (as tons of people keep trying to walk past you) or you go behind the other basket (which means you're standing on the outside of the "cage”).
Given the game was finished, I moseyed over to watch some people play Handball. Naturally I am biased, but my brother could have whooped their butts, but it was interesting watching the different style of game. While watching I started chatting to a guy Harvey. He was hilarious and asked me out on a date; he is an actor 59 and asked if that was a problem!!!! Hahaha I said we're chatting now so consider this our date!! He said “well at what point do we kiss?” My response “Probably just before you wake up tomorrow and this was all a dream!!!” Haha he actually was quite funny and nice and I spent a fair bit of time chatting to him. His movie premiers next week and Harvey was most upset that I could not accompany him to his premier! I got back and checked it out….He plays the cop and on this YouTube clip he is the one doing the voiceover and talking from the front seat of a car http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEuyHOzFyOE (careful at work as there is swearing) and not lots about him, but his movies are also here… http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0442156/ no picture or anything of him, but you see it in the you tube clip!
After spending most of the day in the Village and SoHo, I headed towards Central Park to see if I could see any movie filming (Russell brand riding a horse in the distance was all I got) and to hang out before my Broadway night.
Naturally dinner was on the cards before my Broadway night and what better way to celebrate the Lion King than with….no not steak Greek Food. (no there isn’t a connection!) At the end of my street towards 8th Avenue little Uncle Nick’s Greek Restaurant had grabbed my attention earlier in the week. I love heading into restaurants and asking for a seat for one. Other than at Les Halles everywhere else repeat that I just want a table for one. On more than once occasion, I was very tempted to say actually my imaginary friend may like a glass of water throughout the evening, but I will settle just for one spot to eat. Teehee!
Although the spectacle of the restaurant was definitely the Saganaki Cheese …served on fire at your table (sadly I didn’t order but the table next to me did, so got the free show!). I ordered the Calamari (not game in spelling the Greek way) and zucchini fritters with Skordallia. Both were super yummy and the Calamari came with a homemade tomato sauce that had a lot of thyme and other herbs so it was very tasty. After dinner I did make a quick pit stop at the hotel….to brush my teeth!! My my that skordallia was divine but with it came ½ kilogram of Garlic!!
Onto Minskoff Theatre just off Time Square to see the Lion King.
I absolutely loved the show… My seat was fantastic, only small hiccup was lady one back to the right didn’t shut up the whole time talking in French really loudly to her kids. In good faith I hope she was translating and not being rude!! The performance was all done for free with the whole production donating their salary to the Actors Fund which supports actors in time of hardship and need. 100% of ticket purchase also went to them, so good to see that something went back to the community. Especially as the young actress playing Nala is suffering Leukemia and is currently unable to continue to perform. Sadly there was no cameras allowed in the theatre and many people got shouted at for attempting photos so my Lion King photos of the actual production are care of Google. Just to give an insight into the elaborate costumes and stage for those who haven’t seen it. Although the performers are part puppeteers and part scenery, the music, sounds and just the whole performance was spine tingling. I couldn’t have been happier with my Broadway selection and would definitely see it again!
Hard to see, but very very close to the stage…
After the show, I headed into Times Square and was no longer amazed by the hundreds of people milling around at 11pm on a Monday night. I did take great delight in listening to people cheering, oohing and ahhing when I realized what they were making the noise at…..
Times Square at night = Mounted Police….
+ Mounted Police = Big Horse Poo
Big Horse Poo = poo dropped on the ground!
Therefore REACTION = the amount of people walking through the Horse Poo as they were too busy looking up at the lights of Times Square and not realizing that they were walking through a mound (yes a mound!!) of horse poo!
So a cheer meant avoidance and a ooooooh when it was not only walked through but carried a few extra metres!
So what did you do the other night??
Oh I watched people walk through Horse Poo…ONLY IN NEW YORK!
Until the next one,
Lots of love Bee xxx
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