Sun April 15

I am still not sleeping properly. Very annoying. I gave up trying to get back to sleep after waking at 4 at about 6am. At about 7.30 I went off to the local farmer’s market – called a greenmarket here. Only a few stalls were starting to set up . Luckily there was a nearby coffee shop. I have only had one or 2 nice cups of coffee, but I will keep trying. I bought a few things to eat , put them into my fridge then caught the train to the Soho area. I spent the day following a guide books suggested walking route through West Village, Soho, Nolita and Little Italy. It was good . The areas are , in places, quite distinct, but in others one district merges into the adjacent one. I liked Nolita best. It did not have upmarket shops like Soho or large cafes, rather small quirky design shops and small cafes. The streets were smaller and cobbled and the buildings seemed to have a slightly more cared for feel. I wanted a stop and found some people waiting outside a café that was about to open , so I waited too and realised it was a bookshop. After my tea I spent ages browsing. It was large. McNally Jackson. A customer browsing in the children’s section told me of a children’s book about New York that her children love. We shall see if it appeals to non New Yorkers. I also found an outdoor shop with a large range of Icebreaker clothing. ( the brand of very fine lightweight pure merino clothing that I like) Far more than Paddy Pallins or any other shop in Canberra and cheaper. I bought some pants – like nice trackpants, but if my black wool pyjama top doubles as my top to wear to the opera ( well both are night attire) who knows what I will do with these pants. I also spent ages in a lovely wool shop – similar wool to the nearby one but they also had material.

There were quite a few interesting old buildings. One, the Cable Building, was uilt in 1894 and housed the power plant for the Brooklyn Cable Car – the first in the country. Another, made of cast iron was the Singer sewing machine factory. Another was the first structure to use the steam elevator developed by Elisha Otis.

I have been doing a fair bit of walking over the past 4 days and had had enough, so I came home. I got off the train at 79th street , thought only a few blocks to 82nd street as I groaned my way up the steps from the subway, set off, and was most disgruntled with myself when I looked up and saw 76th street. I had got out of the station at a different exit and had not paid enough attention and walked in the wrong direction. When I got back to 80th I went into Zabar’s, the famous deli. It is huge. I have never seen anything like it. It’s the shop Meg Ryan hides from Tom Hanks in in You’ve got Mail. As a consolation I bought myself some goats cheese, nice looking local ( Hudson Valley) yoghurt and 1 macaroon.

I have been doing my embroidery, doing sudokus on Tabatha, getting my photos up-to-date and now it is dinner and bed. That reminds me, Tabatha is proving very useful. I read the info about where I am going in a café or wherever I’ve stopped or sometimes, like in the Frick, I was able to read about different paintings as I was going around the gallery.