New York day 5 October 5

New York day 5 October 5

Of blisters and heat.

First aid to poor feet

I really got the weather wrong when I packed. Expecting the highest temp around 20 during the trip, today was quite a surprise. It must have been at least 27 at times. But it was lovely to see the sun.

 Unfortunately I have been breeding a monster crop of blisters and they are taking their toll as well as my general unfitness meaning every muscle in my legs seems to be aching.  Even jelly bad aids and nurofen at not making a great deal of difference. But my desire to limit growing my blisters means we have mastered the art of catching buses now. Today we walked down to 34 th st and caught a bus across town. Then down to the corner of 9th Avenue and 30th street for the start of the high line.

Monica at the start

The high line  is a new garden planted over an old railway track no longer used.

See the rails incorporated in the walkway

 It has been planted with native grasses and plants that were naturally occurring along the line already.

Echinacea

  It seems to be an oasis for birds and natural life in the middle of quite an industrial part of town and now there are some interesting architectural developments springing up around this newly beautified area.

Taking advantage of the green

 And great street art taking it's inspiration from the graffiti New York is famous for even though there isnt as much of it around on the subway.

Well at least it's imaginiatve advertising hoarding

A well loved and used area

We got to the area that goes through the Chelsea markets and found a place making real espresso. So I had a macchiato. And it was good. Especially combined with peanut butter gelato. Yum.  Walking along looking for a seat I saw a vaguely familiar face. Sure enough it was the husband of one of my patients back home. We stopped for a chat and a photo. Nice to hear the Aussie accent although you hear it all around the place. 

Chelsea markets were calling. Set up in the old nabisco factory. Home of the Oreo it is a mix of food shops flea market and stores. The lobster market was serving freshly cooked lobster at very reasonable prices. People were taking advantage and it looked delicious. But I have never really been a fan of lobster so we found a Thai place and ate there.

Chelsea Market

We then went our separate ways. I headed off to the south st seaport to get show tickets and Monica stated to explore Chelsea. Except she got lost and ended up in Greenwich village which was also fun.

The TKTS booth at the seaport is much less crowded. Definitely the way to go for tickets. I had my purchases within 20 minutes and made my way back uptown. 

South st seaport

The seaport is a lovely place to visit of itself. A bit like the rocks in Sydney. It pays homage to the history of the city and there were lots of outside eateries and nice shops to visit. My feet were getting the better of me and I needed a rest  our tour guide had recommended the shopping area on 6 th ave between 14 th and 23 rd so I walked that strip. 

 This weekend the stores are full of sales for the Columbus Day weekend so I was able to get a few things in Gap for people at home. But I was exhausted so headed back to the hotel for a rest.

Later that night I headed back into the theatre district for the spoof show Forbidden Broadway. Rewritten regularly to reflect what is currently showing on broadway, it was very very funny. And the performers very talented. I was sitting next to a girl who had clearly seen all of the shows they were spoofing . She is a New Yorker living and working in London. She gave me a few show recommendations because after seeing everything sent up it was hard to know what would be good.

 Finally I understand what broadway and off broadway mean. And it has noting to do with location of theatre. A broadway show is in a theatre over 500 seats. 100 to 499 is off broadway and under 100 is off,off broadway. 

So even though forbidden broadway is in the next block from Book of Mormon, it is off broadway. And neither of them is actually on the street called broadway!
 I love this city