Recently we took a trip to Brooklyn to visit my son, and to go to NYC for a Broadway show. My birthday was on Monday, May 7th, and after we found a good cup of coffee, my husband and I spent a couple of hours walking around the neighborhood on Bedford Ave.
It seems almost European to me. The shops are all so close together they share walls, mostly brick. It took me a couple of walks on each block to realize or really notice many of the stores. Either they weren't open before, or my mind just couldn't take in all the sights.
Also on the lookout for a pharmacy, I saw a Duane Reade's, which seems like the Walmart of the east coast. It was the usual small storefront, and had one checker and a few items like cigarettes locked up. I asked the checker if she had contact lens solution. She pointed to the escalator, which brought me down, down to a huge basement super drug store! A surprise to me, making me wonder what was behind all those other storefronts. I wondered how people who bought more than I did could bring their purchases to the checkstand. The kind lady pointed and said "on th' el-le-va-ta". (I was so happy to hear her Brooklyn speech, I smiled.)
Further down Bedford, near Metropolitan, is a Municipal Pool. The high vaulted ceiling of the pool can be seen from the street, and people were coming out the door carrying their towels. We have a renovated pool near us, the Richmond Plunge, so I walked into the lobby to ask if I could take a look. The lady said it was members only. I asked if they ever took walk ins. She said, "Well, only on the first Monday of the month." "Then that would be today, right?", I countered. "Could I just take a peek inside?"
"Oh yeah", she said. "Go in through the ladies dressing room", waving me along.
It was another world in there. Lots of older ladies were in different states of undress, mostly with wraps around their wet hair. There was another group standing barefooted in wet suits holding towels waiting in line for the showers. I stepped through the puddles on the floor past them, explaining that I'm just gonna take a look at the pool.
One woman piped up, "It's not a good day De-ah. ... It's va-ry gar-een.", with an accent to remind me what city I was in. Even though I had packed my bathing suit, I decided to pass.
It seems almost European to me. The shops are all so close together they share walls, mostly brick. It took me a couple of walks on each block to realize or really notice many of the stores. Either they weren't open before, or my mind just couldn't take in all the sights.
Also on the lookout for a pharmacy, I saw a Duane Reade's, which seems like the Walmart of the east coast. It was the usual small storefront, and had one checker and a few items like cigarettes locked up. I asked the checker if she had contact lens solution. She pointed to the escalator, which brought me down, down to a huge basement super drug store! A surprise to me, making me wonder what was behind all those other storefronts. I wondered how people who bought more than I did could bring their purchases to the checkstand. The kind lady pointed and said "on th' el-le-va-ta". (I was so happy to hear her Brooklyn speech, I smiled.)
Further down Bedford, near Metropolitan, is a Municipal Pool. The high vaulted ceiling of the pool can be seen from the street, and people were coming out the door carrying their towels. We have a renovated pool near us, the Richmond Plunge, so I walked into the lobby to ask if I could take a look. The lady said it was members only. I asked if they ever took walk ins. She said, "Well, only on the first Monday of the month." "Then that would be today, right?", I countered. "Could I just take a peek inside?"
"Oh yeah", she said. "Go in through the ladies dressing room", waving me along.
It was another world in there. Lots of older ladies were in different states of undress, mostly with wraps around their wet hair. There was another group standing barefooted in wet suits holding towels waiting in line for the showers. I stepped through the puddles on the floor past them, explaining that I'm just gonna take a look at the pool.
One woman piped up, "It's not a good day De-ah. ... It's va-ry gar-een.", with an accent to remind me what city I was in. Even though I had packed my bathing suit, I decided to pass.
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