A Day At Coney Island

The tower behind DeaSha used to be the basis of a parachute ride. Unfortunately it is no longer in operation. Here we were standing on a fishing pier that was busy with people and their fishing poles.

The large ferris wheel in the background is one of the few of the original rides that is still working. But it did not interfere with you know who being on her cell phone either sending or receiving a text message.

Coney Island is the home of the original Nathan's hot dogs and the hot dog eating contest. According to this sign the contest takes place each July 4th.

DeaSha and Dad with the Coney Island beach in the background. Almost no people on the beach this morning but alas, we did not bring our bathingsuits.

The Cyclone roller coaster is still there and still going. Since 1927! Wow that is old.

Here our lovely model points out an information plaque for a wall of 3-d art.

These coy fish are made of concrete and shiny ceramic tiles. I think she likes them.

Don't know what kind of fish these are supposed to be except maybe "blue" fish.

After Coney Island we went for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry - DeaSha seems to think it was a secret.

While waiting in the Ferry terminal we were entertained by a pretty darn good cellist. Each spring NYC holds auditions for people who want to play/act in various places within the public transportation system. The subway stations are the most in number but the ferry station seems like a good spot too. Each hopes to be "discovered", to sell some CD's they have of their music and to put out a hat for "donations". This fellow seemed to be making out pretty well in the donations department.

While DeaSha enjoyed the view we were both deep into our current novels.

Manhattan and all of New York City is truly a town of water. We see ships, barges, cruise liners and tugs everywhere. Go far enough in any direction (with the exception of the Bronx) and you will run into water - most likely salt water.

DeaSha's Second Day of Her Excellent Adventure

Traveling in New York City? Then follow the lady's advice here and don't go anywhere without your Metro card!

Our day began in Bryant Park. Each Thursday performers from musicals on Broadway come and perform signature songs from their show for one hour.

Today there were performances from members of Young Frankenstien, Rent, Grease, and Legally Blonde the Musical. There were lots of people there. We saw business people on their lunch hour, day care center groups of children, retired people, etc.

This is the cast from a Broadway show that hasn't yet opened. It is called 13 (could you guess maybe from what it says on their shirts?).

Bryant Park could be considered small compared to Central Park but it is a busy place. Tables are set aside for playing chess, checkers or backgammon with all of the equipment supplied by the park. A reading area has portable carts with newspapers, books - both children and adult, and magazines. All of the reading material is also supplied by the park. In addition to the mid day music, on Tue thru Thurs there is music at 5pm and we have a carousel. While sitting in the shade there were 4 bocci games going on under the trees. Yes, you guessed it, that equipment is supplied by the park. BUT these dominoes are mine. We decided to play a couple of games.

All of this concentration paid off for her. She won almost every game.

Games DeaSha did not win were taken by John. See how hard he is thinking?

Next we hopped a bus and went to Columbus Circle. This is one of the main entrances to Central Park. Here we ate hot dogs and got some honey roasted peanuts.

Ever the photographer, I decided that it is boring to only take snapshots of people smiling. So . . . here she is in an unsmiling pose!

Since we actually were in Colombus Circle I thought a photo with the statue dedicated to Columbus in the background would be appropriate. Easier said than done. So many people, so many cars, so many signs!

We finally wandered into Central Park. Many of the bridges look like pieces of art in themselves. We walked for a while and then sat at one of the many baseball fields. Games were going on with teams from the Broadway Softball League. We watched the team from the show Mary Poppins play against the team from In the Heights. Mary Poppins lost. :>(
The next game was the team from Enchanted Atlantic against Chicago. Then the rain came and we headed for shelter in an Au Bon Pan restaurant.

DeaSha's First Day on New York City Visit

Very first on all of our lists, of course, was to say a big "hi-ya" to our resident two (almost three) year old.

The three hour Circle Line boat ride around the entire island of Manhattan is a great introduction to this wonderful city. And here we go!


One of the popular cruise lines had a ship in dock today so thought we would take a photo of it. These ships seem to get larger and larger.

The photographer and the photographed captured by Dad.

On a balcony in the seaport. Taking in the view.

And here is Mom acting like a sightseeing guide (or trying to).

In Times Square with her Dad.

We found Wall Street and DeaSha found the best part (?) of the famous Wall Street bull.

It was warm today and someone was enjoying sipping on her soda. (pretty isn't she?)

In the background is the Brooklyn Bridge. Under the bridge is one of four man-made waterfalls that are part of a public art exhibit. The falls are lit at night and will be up until October.

This photo is at the Fulton Market/Seaport area. We visit there often and wanted to show it to DeaSha.

Our Circle Line cruise took us past the Statue of Liberty. We learned that the sculptor used the body of his mistress as a model and put his mother's head on top. Interesting!

There are a variety of street performers around town. Some are the Statue of Liberty, one is a bronzed angel with huge wings that open up but this bronze cowboy caught our eye. He, as all of the others do too, had a wooden box in front of where he was standing for people to put in a donation. When you put money in the box he moves. One time a small boy put money in. The cowboy gestured for the boy to come near and they then had a slow motion draw down and shoot out. Well, DeaSha put a dollar in his box and then walked away. He ran after her, caught her arm, tipped his hat and posed for the photo below.

DeaSha was a little surprised at this photo opportunity but reacted graciously.

This is inside of Toys R Us. In the background is the operating 3-story tall ferris wheel.

DeaSha does not appear to be concerned about being under this giant dinosaur inside of Toys R Us. He is automated, roars, opens and closes his mouth and moves his head side to side.

Things We Have Seen Walking This City

At the South Street Seaport there is a butterfly store. We visit the seaport several times each week. And I visit the butterfly store every time.

The butterfly, besides being varied and beautiful, represents many things to many people. Beauty, rebirth, religious significance.

We have also seen butterfly displays at street fairs. Each specimen comes from a butterfly farm and they get to live their normal lifespan. They become "art" only after their natural death.

We visit Bryant Park pretty regularly also. In the background are huge slotted pieces that rotate and form a solid surface. Movies are shown in the park and the schedule is displayed on boards around the park.

We have seen many, many fountains. This one is in Bryant Park (behind the main New York City Library - the one with the big stone lions out front) and is just the right height for an almost three year old little girl to splash with her hands. Having fun!

We had lots of fun on the carousel in Bryant Park. We had two rides but then we had to go home because it was nap time.

On our latest visit to the Seaport we ran into a duck race that was to raise funds for the Special Olympics. Each duck was $5. The fire department came first and gave us a wonderful water show.

They say there were approximately 25,000 ducks in the race. As you can see, all of the ducks were contained with one area and towed up the East River getting ready to start the race. Lots of tourists were participating and seemed to have fun.

There was a display in the mall at the Seaport on human rights. Ear phones were hanging from a framework. Each set of phones was labeled with a language. The United Nations statement on human rights was being read in each of the many languages. We even saw one that was in Thai. Here John has tried on the headset labeled "English".

A lot of the languages we saw we never heard of before but these two are pretty well known.

Another photo from Bryant Park. We have attended their "music at 5" a couple of times. It is on Tue to Friday I guess for people to listen for 30 minutes or so before they begin their commute. There is also a reading section with tables, chairs and umbrellas. A cart with books, magazines and newspapers is rolled out each day by park employees and you can read as long as you want. There are a lot of childrens' books too. On this day the large lawn area was being watered in preparation for the free HBO movie showing that evening.

We try and walk between 3 and 5 miles each day just exploring the city streets. We spotted this restaurant and I just had to take a photo. Although the name is East Palace a close-up of the window reveals both Tex-Mex and a Noodle House under the same roof. Here a Noodle House is Chinese/Japanese food. Interesting!

Speaking of signs - we also saw one that declared NYC is the most diversified city on Earth with over 200 languages spoken here each day.