19/05/2013

Rainy day, Brooklyn

We've been in New York for a week now and have spent most of that time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's huge. They have over two million objects in archive. I am beginning to wonder if we are not, in fact, masochists. The Smithsonian already kicked our asses. We went to 15 out of the 17 museums, but still left DC beaten, heads bowed, oodles of art yet unseen.

Our Brooklyn airbnb apartment,
the three windows above the grocery store.
That's M. going in the door.

Yesterday, we took a quick pass through Strawberry Fields, the John Lennon memorial in Central Park. In all, it's a couple of acres but most people just stop long enough to take a photo of themselves by the "Imagine" mosaic embedded in the sidewalk. Naturally the place has a self-appointed, Yoko approved, "Mayor of Strawberry Fields" and yesterday the Mayor was in. M. Lee hates guys like this so, when the Mayor began rounding up the tourists for his schtick, he wanted to immediately leave. I thought about staying to take a couple of photos but then decided against it. The memorial feels sweet, sad and empty. Seemed best to leave it at that.


View of the street from our apartment


As usual, we eat breakfast and lunch at home and take sandwiches with us when we're out during the day. For treats, we found a bakery in Chinatown that sells excellent red bean buns and mochi balls. And here in Flatbush, only two blocks from our apartment, Kabir's Bakery sells most delicious giant samosas for a dollar so this rainy Sunday we stayed home, had samosas for lunch and did laundry.

Small but nice, with a kitchen.

I have yet to find a place to read poetry. Places favor rap and spoken word, which I don't do, and most readings start late here in the City that never sleeps. Anyway, New York is already listed on my world tour. I read here in the '60s in the basement of St. Mark's in the Bowery before it was taken over by academics. Yes, Gingburg and Orlovsky also read that night and no, they did not speak to me, a mere girl.

Kabir's Bakery, Brooklyn
Kabir's Bakery, Brooklyn
Great samosas, one dollar.
Tomorrow, MOMA.

7 comments:

Roy said...

It all looks very inviting. I like this airbnb business . . .
It is raining here too, and muggy, and for some reason, the power keeps going off and on. Tornado watch, and all that.

asha said...

Yes. I saw...tornados in Kansas. Yikes! Be safe, you guys.

Roy said...

No Internet! I am stuck with this tiny handheld device! Can you even see this?? Aaauuugghhhhh

asha said...

Yes.We read you loud and clear. Are you guys ok? Did the tornadoes blow everything out? The reports sound terrible. Be safe.

Roy said...

Missed us by a long ways. Terrible about Moore, OK, though.

asha said...

Well, glad to hear you're all safe. Yes. The devastation is heartbreaking

Don said...

I share M. Lee's distaste for relentless self-promoters, and a public that feeds his increasing delusions. It's an interesting type, though, of which Emperor Norton may have been an example.