Week 42
October 24, 2016
East Village
Flat Iron District
Train In/Out: Fairfield, CT
Miles walked: 6.6
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M1 with m.Zuiko 17mm
I had a special friend with me today. We explored the East Village and the Flat Iron district...and ate...a lot. Food is generally not a focus of Magic Mondays but with a friend along it's always fun to try out new places. We stayed for sunset and were up on a rooftop for that. Got chilly when the sun went down!
Onward.
Even referees need to shop for jewelry. ;)
I wanted to stop at The Algonquin Hotel because they have a cat that lives at the hotel and my friend and I are huge cat lovers. Unfortunately, Matilda was having quiet time in the back office. Despite my strong hints with both employees I talked to, they did not bring out Matilda for us. I totally understood, the cat would probably be harassed all day if they took her out everytime someone asked. The hotel staff were beyond welcoming, however, and told us to look around all we liked. They had a cat theme to their decor and their bar was called...well...I think you could guess given the pictures below (bar had nothing to do with cats).
Any guess as to the name of the bar?
Matilda has a tree fort like structure in the window of the hotel and hangs out there quite a bit (not today, however) so people can see her as they walk by. I shall go back another day and see if she is in the window. To be continued...
This is Matilda (grabbed the image off the internet). :)
This beautiful young woman was handing out free Vitamin Zero waters. Score.
Loved the sign. Funny how we can experience many of those emotions in a single day sometimes! Not quite sure how "sleep" fit in, though.
Welcome to Interesting Things...!
The Airstream sign grabbed my friend's attention so we walked down this street. There was a curious car parked out front (you can just make out the car to the left, a '70's something).
In this car was a penguin and an owl. Just sitting there on piles of books. The super ironic part is that my friend and I were talking about penguins Sunday night, and on the train into the city. She had joked Sunday night via text that she hoped there was no animal cruelty on a Magic Monday and I replied that I would take clubbing penguins off the day's agenda. And coincidentally, my daughter changed my avatar pic on my Netflix account to a penguin on Saturday. Penguins have ALWAYS been my favorite. Anyway, we took this as a little sign that all was right in the world (at least at that moment!). I study spirituality so I always look up the "animal totem" meaning if an animal keeps coming up for me. Here is what the Penguin signifies, from: http://www.spirit-animals.com/penguin/
He is reminding you that although things may seem chaotic right now there is a definite order in this chaos. Know that by continually moving forward with your plans and dreams and handling each small piece as it comes to you – you will see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is usually the most chaotic just before a big breakthrough happens.
It was perfect for me.
Memorial outside of an East Village police station.
Welcome to my #PeopleLeavingDrinks page! Well done.
Popped into a store called White Trash. There are all sorts of eclectic stores in the East Village. This one had unique clothing. The cats, of course, grabbed my attention.
...and back.
Time for another snack! Stopped into Big Gay Ice Cream for a cone. They were really into Bea Arthur.
Isn't this sign awesome?
Came upon an area with a bunch of quotes done in chalk. I felt like all three resonated with me for different reasons.
Stuck on a graffiti'd door. Random, to me. Of course it probably has significant meaning to someone else. I love the randomness of the city.
Way to embrace the scaffolding and decorate it!
We stopped into this church to take a peek. Very pretty but there were a number of people praying so I did not want to run around taking photos. However...
There was this, umm, gazebo? In thinking about this today, maybe it was a Quiet Room for little kids? We had no idea what it was for. Let me know if you have a theory.
It was Carry Wood Furniture Day for Interesting Things...!
More chalk quotes, this time in Union Square park. "Nothing Fails Like Success"
I also really liked the quote on the back of the person's jacket on the right.
The Farmer's Market in Union Square was still going strong.
The thickness of the stalk on this pumpkin seemed way out of proportion to the size of the pumpkin. Wowza.
We stopped for a glass of wine and some people watching at The Box. The Box is this little freestanding building on a partioned off area of the street between Eately and Madison Square Park. They are open from 4 - 8pm from around May - October. They sell wine and simple app type food. While we were sitting, I noticed that these two women walked up to this guy (a stranger) and asked if they could interview him. He agreed. It was too noisy to hear the interview, my friend thought maybe it was questions about the election. They reminded me of the two girls in Central Park a number of weeks ago that I photographed; those girls were doing their #100 Dreams project where they wanted 100 people to write down a dream on a Post-It note and stick it to their board. Who knows...maybe it was them!
We met this sweet doggie in Madison Square Park. The owner was friendly and wanted to show us the tricks he was teaching the dog, including the dog posing for photos which is why this photo is so cute.
This was their High Five!
Photoshop is being a PITA and would not let me do selective color on this photos. I wanted to have the fire engine and little boy's hat in red. WTF Photoshop...in all my nerdy years, I've never become friends with Photoshop, it's my nemesis. Clearly today it was giving me the finger.
Yes, this seems to be a tail.
This photo would be awesome if that was a Leg Lamp in that window!!
There were many waves of Jewish men coming through the Flat Iron district and up Broadway. They were often chanting/singing and some were even running. At one point we saw this flag. Not sure what it was all about. I asked a friend but haven't heard back as I'm working on this page.
I love this photo. I was standing on the sidewalk and wanted to snap a photo just to show how much [cheap] jewelry is in all these stores on Broadway. The guy didn't want me to take a photo and put his hand up as I took it. This was, of course, the only photo I got but I couldn't resist sharing it.
Another architecture intersection. Not as good as the one I took on Week 34 in SoHo, but nice.
And what time is it always? :)
My plan was to stop at Up on 20 which is on the roof of the Hyatt in the Flat Iron district. I forgot how chilly it's getting now so we were a tad cold but did enjoy a glass of wine and a couple of appetizers. Beautiful sunset.
Favorite of the day. This was the result of me climbing on a couch I wasn't supposed to take a photo over the glass wall. Worth it.
The bank's name just cracks me up. OMG, and I just noticed it also says "Try Any Card" on the ATM. Perhaps you can "hope" that one of your cards will give you magic cash.
Awkward.
And that's a wrap on a fantastic Magic Monday. Perhaps not as many pictures as usual, but my friend and I always have a million things to talk about. :)
Next week is going to be a Boo-tiful trip to the city.
Until the next Magic Monday!
xo,
~MC
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