It was cold again today.
I know that it is probably redundant starting each post with that same statement, but the weather is quite variable.
Some days have a forecast nudging double digits and sunny, and others – like tomorrow – have a forecast low of -8°C.
So I’ll say it again. It was cold again today. And wet – very wet.
Actually, that’s a hint for today’s song.
Unlike yesterday that was 2°C all day, it only got up to 1°C today … and when you take the wind and rain into consideration, it feels like -3°C.
So it was another 5 layer day today. The ratty flannelette shirt got another wearing – that’s two days in a row – but nobody will know, and I can be quite certain that nobody will see it.
Yeah, right …
There was a forecast for snow last night. It sounded like rain to us, but what do we know?
So we got up this morning, did the usual morning stuff, put on 5 layers, picked up 2 umbrellas, and opened our front door expecting to have to dig our way out through a 3 foot snow drift.
No such luck.
What sounded like rain really was rain.
I promised some photos of our digs in Brooklyn. Nothing like Sesame Street from last year. In fact nothing like anything I’ve had before.
Our AirBnB is down those stairs. We are living in a basement apartment.
It’s very pleasant and comfortable and warm, but when I give it serious thought it seems a bit weird to be living below street level.
The photo above shows the way that we walk to get to our local subway station – Classon Ave – 1 block that way then turn right and go 3 blocks up.
The picture above is looking the other way from our AirBnB. Funnily enough, we haven’t ever gone that way yet, so not sure what is up there.
We pondered taking a subway ride out to Coney Island but there were 2 problems with that:
- Because the subway is underground, you have nothing to see for the whole journey; and
- it was 1 hour to Coney Island from our AirBnB … and while we had only loose plans for the day, we were going to lose 2 hours just travelling there and back.
So the new plan for the day was to wander NYC taking it all in. The rain will not stop us!
We had an umbrella causality before we had even made it one block from home, with one of the umbrella arms breaking in the wind. So we returned home, got another umbrella from the ones that the AirBnB owner had left for us, and we started again.
We played subway ninjas again today, starting with the G train at our local subway station, Classon Ave.
We decided to walk The High line today first thing. The G train to Court Square Station then swap to the 7 train to 34th Street/Hudson Yards Station where we start the walk.
Nothing was going to stop us, not even a little bit of rain.
So we got to 34th Street/Hudson Yards Station and it was pouring rain. Cold, wet, and miserable. Wet, wet, wet.
That’s a huge clue for today’s song. Actually, it’s the answer!
While it might seem obvious, the subway system runs on various levels … so sometimes you find that you get off one train, and go down 2 subway levels to another subway to continue your journey.
The 34th Street Station is a long way underground, so the escalator to get out to ground level is one of the longest that we have ever seen.
I contemplated “Stairway to Heaven” for tonight’s song based on the escalator ride, because it felt like we were going that far.
We got out of 34th Street Station ready to walk The High Line and it was so wet and cold that we decided not to do it after all.
So we made an executive decision that if walking in the rain was not going to happen, we needed to do something else that involved staying inside and staying dry.
What is a girl to do when it is raining? Go shopping. And where does a girl go shopping?
Bloomingdales!
So we went subway surfing again and somewhere on the way to Bloomingdales we had our 2nd umbrella causality … a gust of wind and the umbrella went inside out and snapped … and it ended up in a rubbish bin along with a half-dozen other dead umbrellas.
MBW used the sole surviving umbrella while I pulled my hood over my head and tried to stay as dry as possible.
Now Bloomingdales is no Saks 5th Ave, but it is still pretty swishy. MBW found a lovely coat reduced from $1,295 to $925.
If you stood for more than 5 seconds at the store directory trying to find something, a gentleman in a dinner suit would come up and offer assistance.
It was THAT sort of place. I couldn’t wait to check out the rest rooms.
It was pretty warm inside Bloomingdales – as I have previously discussed in earlier posts – so I started to do the disrobe dance.
Backpack and gloves off.
Outer jacket off.
Next layer off.
Hoodie unzipped.
Uh-oh – what’s this? A ratty flannelette shirt is the next layer down. Bummer, I’d forgotten about that and hadn’t expected to be in Bloomingdales.
And I thought that being 4 layers down it would never be seen 🙁
There are not a lot of people that can wear a ratty flannie in Bloomingdales and make it look good … am I’m certainly not one of them.
I suspect that most of the Bloomingdales shoppers probably thought I was homeless 🙁
We escaped from Bloomingdales without having to take out a mortgage on our house and went in search of food.
We found a Target store and replaced Frances’ (the lady who owns our AirBnB) broken umbrella.
We found a pizza joint that had “2 slices of cheese pizza and a 20oz Coke for $5.95 + tax” special, so that was lunch.
By that time we were cold and wet and we decided that there was little that we could do that we really wanted to achieve, and that did not involve walking in the rain, so we decided to call it a day and head back to Brooklyn.
It was about 2.30pm by now and there was only 2 hours of daylight remaining, so we hopped onto the subway again.
Yesterday I mentioned the way that the majority of subway travellers behave on the train – by zoning out. I had been pondering the fact that people do not engage in loud obnoxious phone conversations on the train, like can happen in Australia … and then I realised why – down in the tunnels you get no mobile phone signal, so there is not point trying to make a call.
But I have also noticed that New Yorkers make up for the lost phone time on the subway, by talking incessantly when above ground … and they normally talk with their phones on speaker so you get to listen to both sides of their conversation!
On the way back to the nearest subway station we stumbled across a Home Depot (a bit like a Bunnings, but a bit more up-market) and browsed around in there for a while.
Then we decided to go to Whole Foods Market at Brooklyn and pick up something for dinner.
They appear to be an Amazon-run grocery store, but also have a help-yourself hot and cold food and salad bar where they sell meals by the pound.
For those of you born after about 1970, a pound is a unit of weight and = 0.454kg. Just in case you didn’t know …
You can load up your little take-away box with whatever you want and pay for it by weight at the counter.
The meals are quite cheap and have lots of variety, so that has been dinner for the last few nights.
Google Maps instructed us to take our faithful b52 bus back to home, so we were both subway ninjas and bus ninjas again today.
We are certainly getting our $33 of value out of our 7 day unlimited ride Metro cards.
You only pay to get on, and you travel a journey regardless of the distance or time. Once you exit the subway station or bus, the journey ends.
And we get 7 days of unlimited journeys.
Last time we were in NYC last year, we used to hop onto the subway to cool off. This year it is to warm up and dry off.
So that about wraps up the day.
Home, dinner, coffee, chocolate.
MBW has started the packing process, so I guess that signals that we are almost at the end of the holiday.
There was one thing that happened yesterday that I forgot to report on. I had said that we spent a lovely afternoon walking down 5th Ave looking at the lights and window displays.
If you are not familiar with 5th Ave, it is a pretty exclusive street with some high-end shops.
It also functions as the dividing line up the middle of Manhattan – anything on the eastern side of 5th Ave is (eg) East 52nd Street and anything on the western side is West 52nd Street … so when you look at the street name (and without knowing exactly where you are), you can tell which side of 5th Ave you are on.
One of the shops on 5th Ave I’ve mentioned previously is Saks 5th Ave. Another is …
Tiffany’s.
MBW wanted to browse inside, but I put my foot down.
If I’m not allowed to browse Victoria’s Secret or the M&M shop on Times Square, then it only seems fair that she shouldn’t be allowed to browse Tiffany.
Tomorrow has a forecast for sunny and a temperature range from -8°C to a maximum of 3°C.
So long as it is sunny, I can deal with the cold.
I’ve already given you all the clues to today’s song, but in case you still haven’t made the connection, it is sung by a group whose name matched today’s weather … so here it is for your enjoyment: Love is all around (Wet Wet Wet).
Ciao
#G&KTAKEUSA2019