A Brooklyn kind of day

 

Subway art of two frogs sweeping up old subway tokens

Saturday, April 2

Atlas took my suggestions and things that they wanted to do and came up with an itinerary for each day, which is great.  Today had us meeting at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn for a market.  I followed Google Map's directions and ended up on a platform to take the wrong train to the wrong part of the city!  I texted Atlas and they told me that I was taking the wrong train.  I went to ask the information desk and they asked if it was in Brooklyn and while they were slowly figuring it out on their computer, Atlas texted me which trains to take.  Thank goodness!  So I have ditched Google Maps for New York and downloaded Citymapper because Atlas has had good luck with that.  We walked around the market for awhile, admiring the flower seedlings, the produce, and other food products.  Then we found a halal food truck and ordered food to eat in the park by the not-in-use fountain.  I had a falafel gyro which was very good, though a little dry because I didn't get the sauce.  Unfortunately, I took the pictures at the market with my camera and my SD slot is not working, so those photos are missing. 

An arch at Grand Army Plaza

Our next stop was Times Square in Manhattan because we had tickets to the matinee of Come From Away.  We were in the lottery to get tickets to other Broadway shows (including Hadestown) but didn't get them.  Come From Away was awesome!  It was about 9/11 and the 38 planes that were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland in Canada.  More people descended on that town than lived in Gander and all of the surrounding communities.  It is about the town coming together to provide for these displaced people and the relationships that they formed and the relationships formed among the passengers. The characters are based on the actual residents of Gander as well as the actual passengers of the planes that were landed there.  It ends with the 10-year reunion of the passengers and residents.   It has won many awards and been nominated for many more.  Wonderful music and acting!  The 8-person pit was on the stage for the whole show and came out to the edge of the stage to play more music after the curtain calls--fun music!

Times Square

The stage

The program

After that, we made our way to Mom's Kitchen for dinner.  I had a cheddar mushroom burger with curly fries.  Very filling--couldn't eat it all! 

Finally, we made our way to the Reliquary Museum of New York for a burlesque workshop show that Atlas wanted to see.  A friend of theirs had organized it and was the host.  We were a little early, so we walked around the museum.  It is a very tiny museum built out of the collections of a man in the neighborhood.  The collections are all about the city.  He has a wall full of depictions of the Statue of Liberty and Memorabilia from the World Fairs that have been held in New York.  There is a collection of bottles of tap water from all over the city that reminded me of my son's collection of dirt/sand from various places he's been in the world.  The show was in one of the rooms of the museum.  Chairs were in a circle with printed notecards and pens on the chairs.  The performers were workshopping (trying out) new acts and we were to write out feedback on the cards--what we liked, what to change, etc.  I wasn't expecting it, but they all did a striptease.  Most were very playful and fun.  One came and put her hands on my shoulders as she danced in front of me.  The ones that seemed to be having fun doing their performance were the ones that I liked the best.  It was my first experience with experimental art!   

A coffin from Ghana that was donated to the  Reliquary Museum

After that, we separated--Atlas to a bus and me to the subway back to Manhattan.     

I love all of the beautiful mosaics in the subway stations;
some are more elaborate than others.