Street Walking in New York City

In this adventure Rooster and I go street walking in New York City. Rooster gets conned, we see a lot of art, and we finally end up at the Stonewall Inn. #New York City #Soho #Queens #Austoria #Stonewall Inn #LGBT

Street Walking In New York City

After we finished up at the park with the beautiful kitchen trees, we got on the subway and rode to Soho. Chris works in the fashion industry. He wanted to take us past his place of business so we could see where he spent his day. So, we decided to do a little street walking in New York City.

Soho is a hip neighborhood with trendy shops and artists selling their paintings on the sidewalks. We saw one store where they had antique sewing machines on shelves from floor to ceiling. Rooster wants to borrow the idea for his typewriter collection. Soho is the sort of place where you might find a celebrity strolling down the street or a con artist selling blank CDs. We saw flower shops, restaurants, and small cafés galore, but we never saw anyone famous.

How did Rooster get conned

Actually, Rooster did get trapped by two guys standing at an intersection giving away rap CDs for free. They said they were only trying to promote their brand. Rooster was gullible enough to take the CD even though he’s not a big rap music fan.

Astonishingly, the con game got interesting when the guy asked Rooster his name especially after he signed the CD with Rooster’s name as the light turned green. Anyhow, we needed to walk to keep from being run over by pedestrians. The guy launches into a conversation about a donation for the starving members of the band as we attempted to cross the street.

In short, Rooster handed the guy six dollars. The con artists asked if he could make it ten. Rooster shook his head no before he blended in with the crowd. He was now six dollars poorer, and the proud owner of a rap CD with Rooster Swag scrolled across the front.

 Loft in Soho

We walked toward the water without any further street hustler incidents. The loft where Chris works is impressive. The open concept of the place combined with the hardwood flooring and cool lighting fixtures give the space a laid-back trendy feel. It would make it a fun place to spend the day doing business hours. The racks where the designer lines hung were overflowing with next year’s clothing. The space was eerily quiet as we sat there, but I could imagine the frantic pace of a typical workday when all the employees went about hustling to sell next year’s garments to potential buyers.  I could tell by the essence of the loft a lot of business got done under that roof.

 

 

Adventure the last day in New York City

We traveled the last leg of our adventure on our feet. We’d already gone to all the places we wanted to experience when we started the trip. Richard and Chris had been fantastic tour guides, but hard to keep coming up with stuff an out-of-towner might want to see. It was time to wind down the vacation machine.

Chris needed to go back to work in the morning. Richard had one more rain-soaked day to show the parental units around the city where he decided to take up residency. We could experience one more day of play before catching the big silver bird back to reality. There were no Broadway shows or DUMBO waiting for us back in Indiana,  only the frozen tundra of the mid-west, a mountain of bills, and a couple of problems there seemed to be no solution to.

We decided to the best way to spend our day was to go street walking in New York City. There are so many layers of small communities within the giant metropolis known as the Big Apple. We’d spent most of our visit staying in Queens watching the subway role past my son’s apartment window. As a result, we wanted to go on an exploration to destinations that were important to our son.

On our last day, we decided to take the subway to the office space where Richard will be working when he goes into private practice. It was an overcast day which promised to supply a constant drizzle of rain for our last day of adventuring in the big city.  We grabbed our umbrellas and stepped onto the streets of Astoria.

Discovering the bagel

There is a delicious new food group we discovered in Astoria. It’s called a bagel. I knew they existed, but not in the form they do in New York City. The mysterious thing about this particular food group is how it combines with all the other food groups and retains a good flavor. Rooster tried one with something called lox. This lox is a form of smoked salmon. At first glance, I didn’t think it looked appetizing. He gave me a taste. The flavor was excellent.

After we finished breakfast, we caught the subway. We got off in a place Richard said was Little Korea. He must have been right because all the signs were written in Korean. The area used to be known as the Garment District. There was a doorman in the lobby of the building where Richard will have an office. He’s a licensed therapist in the state of New York.

We rode the elevator up to the eleventh floor. Once the remodeling is finished, Richard will move into an amazing office space. The construction guys didn’t seem to be in a big hurry to get it done. After we finished a tour of Richard’s future workspace, we stepped out into the rain and strolled through the Upper East Side.

We stopped in several interesting shops during our ramble in the rain. We seemed to meander forever with umbrellas held high over our heads. I ran into Lady Liberty during our street walking adventure. I swear the woman is everywhere in that city ready to pop out at you on a whim.

A visit to Stonewall Inn

We meandered until we came to Greenwich Village. Richard took us to Stonewall Inn to get out of the rain. Chris claims the place is Richard’s home away from home. The 1969 riot between the police and the inn’s patrons make the Stonewall a historical site. The Gay Rights movement started on this sacred ground.

We got out of the rain and sat down at the bar. The interior looked like every drinking establishment I’ve ever walked into only with a slight touch of class. There were the same low lighting and dark paneled walls, but I didn’t see one tacky Budweiser neon sign hanging anywhere on the premises. The events at Stonewall Inn sparked the fuse which created the movement, transforming the way the world viewed LGBT people. I met some interesting folks during our visit.

The bartender was an awesome kid who made me feel right at home. We had a stimulating conversation with one of the actors who has a part in a play about the riots. He was going to be acting in a performance later that evening. Rain poured from the sky when we left the tavern to catch the subway. The Stonewall was our last big adventure before we got on our plane back to Indiana the following morning.

 

An amazing adventure comes to an end

I know it can be tedious when people force their vacation pictures down your throat. Since this blog is about adventure, I went into great detail because our trip to New York City was one of our most remarkable adventures.

We were able to do some of our favorite things and had some beautiful surprises along the way. We flew on a plane which is something we don’t do every day. Still, I don’t like to fly, but the fear of being in the air without a parachute isn’t intense now. I could tell by the look on Rooster’s face he wanted to become a member of the mile-high club, but I refused to let him entertain the possibility.

We got to ride the subway and the Staten Island Ferry. We devoured a lot of tasteful food. A new appreciation of the bagel has cropped into our consciousness. The pizza we ate at Paulie’s located on Staten Island was interesting. (I still like the Chicago deep dish better than New York-style pizza.

New Yorkers need to give us mid-westerners a little something to brag about.) We explored the streets of one of the greatest cities in the world. My son gave me a bonus. He designed my book cover while we ambled through Astoria and Brooklyn. I like it a lot. He’s pushing me to take the risk and self-publish the first book in my Hen House series in 2019. It would be a fantastic adventure if I could manage to do it right.  This might be the year I become an Indy author.

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana, who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures click here.

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