I think I rode the subway more today than I ever have on any one day. I started out the morning by following Duke Ellington's advice and taking the "A" train up to 125th Street. 125th is the heart and historic main street of Harlem. I walked along 125th and saw both the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater. It's not the original Cotton Club, but still. It's the Cotton Club. Then it was back on the subway to Fort Tryon Park at the very northern tip of Manhattan to go to the Cloisters.
The Cloisters is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and houses a collection of medieval art and architecture. In addition to the art it contains, the building itself is also very interesting. It's composed of the scavenged remains of several old French monasteries and it's at the top of a hill in a forested park that overlooks the river. I'd been wanting to visit there, but given that it is so far away from the main part of Manhattan I'd never made the time until today. Glad I did.
After the Cloisters, I got back on the train for a verrrrrry long subway ride from the northernmost part of Manhattan to the southernmost part of Brooklyn, Coney Island to be exact. I was determined to go to the beach at least once this summer. It was late afternoon when I finally got there and the beach was largely empty. It was a bit chilly and the wind was kicking up and sand was filling the air so much that it looked smoggy or hazy out. I didn't care. I was in Coney Island.
My first stop was at Nathan's famous hot dog stand to grab a hot dog with sauerkraut and a corn dog. Then I walked along the beach, waded in the ocean (brrrr!), and wandered down the boardwalk to Brighton Beach before hopping back on the subway and heading to the west side of Manhattan to see the High Line. The High Line is a set of old elevated railroad tracks that have been converted into an urban park. The tracks used to take freight trains directly into the old warehouses that used to populate the lower west side of the city. It's an interesting little park and it gives you a view of Manhattan that you don't normally get -- above the street but below the rooftops.
No rest for the weary, it was time to go back to my hotel, change clothes, grab dinner at the Bridge Cafe, and then dash off to Birdland to hear some jazz. I got there 15 minutes late but it worked out fine because the band started playing seconds after I arrived. First time I've ever made a dramatic entrance. It was Andy Farber's Big Band. I'd never heard of them before, but they were quite good. They played a mix of their own compositions, along with big band and bebop jazz. It was Birdland, it was New York, and it was jazz. I was in heaven.
When the gig ended, the night still wasn't over yet for me. On the way back downtown I stopped off at McSorley's Old Ale House for a beer (or two, actually). McSorley's is another place I'd been meaning to visit but had never done so. It's sort of cool. They serve one thing there -- beer -- and it comes in two varieties, light and dark. I went with the dark. It's probably the most unhygenic bar I've ever been in, but it was fun to go.
After finishing my beers, it was one last subway ride back to my hotel and the second day of my weekend getaway finally came to a close.
(Taken with my Nikon D90)
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