LIRR

I got the Long Island Railroad out to Jamaica station and then the Airtrain to JFK.

I travelled right at the start of the rush hour so the train was totally rammed. It was Interesting watching the harried commuters start to de-stress after a day at the office. A lot of them aided this process with a massive can (or two) of beer, and some made use of what looked like a cocktail bar on the platform that served something a bit stronger than Bud Light!

At the moment I'm also relaxing courtesy of a glass of Pinot noir in the BA Galleries Lounge at JFK. Hopefully, this should set me up for few hours sleep as I cross the Atlantic.

At the Movies

Well not really.

It was a pretty non-eventful day as I tried to max out on the big city 'buzz' before returning to calmer waters. I then stumbled upon a movie being shot at the southern edge of Central Park.

It turns out the film is called 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' directed and starring Ben Stiller. I actually got to see Mr Stiller as he walked back to his trailer after the shot had been completed. He was a strange looking man with a head that seemed out of proportion to the rest of his body.

I was impressed with the lunch that was being served to the crew - steaming bowls of spaghetti with tomato sauce and meatballs and a fantastic looking salad. It prompted me to go in search of my own lunch - a Cuban sandwich with rice, black beans and fried plantains. Not the sort of food I'll be eating when I get back home!

 

Bagels and Baseball

Today was a bit odd.

My original plan was to go to the Met's day game and enjoy a few beers sat in the sunshine. Unfortunately the weather wasn't quite how I anticipated it would be - patchy with rain showers.

Never mind. I had things to do in the morning and then I could decide what to do later on. My first task was to get some breakfast. I went to the Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Co. and had,er, a bagel and a coffee. In fact it was an oven warm plain bagel filled with jalapeño asiago cream cheese. The bagel was perfect and the heat from the cream cheese was ideal. I've no idea what asiago is though.

After my food I did my best to dodge the rain by ducking in and out of a few shops. Rather than get an umbrella I decided to spend way too much money on a fancy TNF jacket!

Anyway the weather did show signs of brightening up so I did trek out to Queens and saw a pretty decent baseball game. St Louis won (the Mets took the series 3-1) and there were 3 home runs. The crowd was made up with a ton of school kids which meant the cheering was at a pitch that was a bit on the high side!

 

Jubilee Fever?

Oh dear.

So you've flown over 3,000 miles away from the Diamond Jubilee 'celebrations', but you still decide to wear a Union Jack vest top as you walk around New York!

At least the weather was much better in New York than in the UK.

 

 

9/11

Went to the 9/11 memorial this morning.

The actual memorial is very impressive, but the swarms of people meant it didn't feel particularly somber. I spent about half an hour walking around the two cascading pools and taking a stack of pictures.

It'll be interesting to see how it develops over the next few years and when all the other building work around the site is completed - I guess it'll remain one of the 'destination' tourist spots in New York.

Pastrami on Rye

Enough said. And no sign of Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan (yes I was at Katz's deli).

 

Private Disco

Spotted this chap dancing away in Grand Central Station. Curious to know what he's listening to!

 

Culture and Baseball

So last night I went to see a play. I don't think I've ever been to the theatre before (apart from when I saw Godspell when I was a youngster).

The play was 'One Man, Two Guv'nors' which stars James (from Gavin & Stacey fame) and has recently transferred from the West End to Broadway. I really enjoyed it, and James Corden was excellent - a real star performance. Lots of improvisation and audience interaction.

To contrast with my dose of culture yesterday, I spent this afternoon drinking beer in the sunshine whilst watching the Mets beat the St Louis Cardinals.

Yin and yang.......

 

Doughnuts

To honour the occasion I started the day with two impeccable examples from the Doughnut Plant (the Chelsea Hotel branch).

On the left is a PB&J doughnut and on the right a pistachio glazed doughnut. The PB&J one was my favourite of the two - basically a jam doughnut with a peanut butter glaze. Yum.

They were really light in texture, so, although they were total calorie bombs, they didn't feel like it!

 

Dinosaur BBQ?

Well not quite, but not far off it size wise.

This was an 'Oklahoma Jumbo Beef Rib' from Daisy May's BBQ. It was immense and said to say I couldn't finish all the meat (though I did finish my side dishes of Collard Greens and Baked Beans with Burnt Ends).