Friday Carousel and Watertower

Today was a muddle.  The sightseeing highlight came unexpectedly at the end.

I had my morning cup of coffee at Bryant Park. I find it easy to just sit there, not read or plan or even think much.  I checked -new flowers in the ladies restroom. I spent a while talking to a guy who was trying  to sell copies of his cookbook. We  talked mainly about soul food and how it is changing to accomodate more modern tastes eg less fat. .I also looked at the books on the Reading Room rack. There were several anthologies of author’s writings about New York.      What a pity, I will have to go back and have a read.  I walked to my next planned destination.

There is a new museum recently opened -a museum of  maths (or rather math). I had planned to get there when it opened at 10 . I got there more like 10.30 and was hit by a wall of sound. Far too many school kids.  No thanks. The museum is on the edge of Madison Square Park, where i had not been before, so I wandered around . There were lots of people siting chatting, playing with kids, reading etc. There was an art installation called Red, Yellow and Blue. I quote from the pamphlet   "this work...envelops 3 lawns within MSP with 1.4 million feet of undulating,  layered nautical rope covered in over 3500 gallons of paint". The shapes were quite pleasing to look at. Sort of like waves or sand dunes.

I walked on, further south and stopped in at a  giant homewares / furnishings shop, ABC Home that I had been told about. It was full of lovely stuff.  This was not on todays agenda, but it was interesting. I looked in a few more shops on my way to The Broken Kilometre. This is a place I tried to go to before and went to 393 broadway, not west broadway.  Not sure why i  bothered.  It was rather peaceful in a weird way.  In a large bare rooom, timber floor, old white pillars with fancy tops, tin ceiling, there are 500 highly polished round solid brass rods each 2M in length and 5cm in diameter. The 500 rods are placed in 5 parallel rows of 100  rods each. I sat and looked at it for a while. Then i walked to the housingworks cafe where i have been several times before for lunch. On the way i had an ethical problem. There were 2 well dressed women in front of me talking about going to this shop and that shop - fancy brand names.  One lady, the leader, said to the other  that   one of the shops was in Prince street and Prince street is ahead and to the right. No it is not, I thought. We past it several blocks ago. Would you like a look at my map? I thought.  Should I have said anything? . They walked on several blocks chatting to each other   with me following. The leader stopped at pedestrian  stop lights ( as I did) and said to the other 'you know what,  i am lost'  I looked around and saw that  2 young men standing nearby had heard her. Both women had loud voices-i wasnot trying to eavesdrop. I was sure the men would help, but i could have saved them several blocks of walking.

Lunch was a nice sandwich in very pleasant surroundings. Its a good feeling when you like a  place once, then  return and still like it. Doesnot always happen.  I sat there for a while thinking of  everything and nothing and everyone close to me and noone and decided i didnot want to go to the maths museum.  I  decided to go to DUMBO an area Down Under Manhatan and Brooklyn Overpass. Once again old warehouses being converted to expensive apartments, little shops, interesting cafes. There is an interesting foreshore ( ie. edge of east river ( I suppose a river can have a foreshore bit it sounds a bit funny) )  park.  Situated there is a lovely old carousel. This carousel was originally built in 1922 and installed in Ohio. It was bought by a NY couple in 1983. It was in bad disrepair.  The carousel was bought to NY and restoration started in 1985. It opened in September 2011.  So, having set a precedent in Central Park, I had to have a ride. Much more frivolous than the maths museum.

I wandered around the park a bit more and found a really interesting sculpture. The Watertower.  It is the same size as the 19^th century style wooden barrels used to store water on NY roofs. These water tanks are in lots of iconic pictures of NY  .  This new watertower is made of 1000 scraps of plexiglass.  It reflects light in an interesting way and apparently it is lit from the inside at night time. It was only installed recently.

Home, dinner and now bed.. I will put some photos here  tomorrow. I think I have a few good ones of the watrertower with the Brooklyn bridge in the background.