Day Four- October 6th 2012

10-6-2012

So the night before Keith let me borrow his bike to get a late night sandwich in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood. It was so fun to be able to ride through Brooklyn at night. I loved skateboarding, walking, and taking the train everywhere but being on a bike was even better. I could stop wherever I wanted and it's not as much work as skateboarding and walking.

Keith was actually excited that I was taking the bike out at 10 pm to get a sandwich. He told me he always offers his bike to the airbnb guest that come to visit but I was the first one to actually use it. So the next day I took him up on his offer again and decided I'd explore as much of New York as I could on a bike.

Symbols, signs, signals that represent so much and still, no matter, someone else will always have their own interpretation, and opinion. No matter the connotation, I've always liked shoes hanging on power lines. 

Riding around gave me the opportunity to find all kinds of street art. And there was so much of it in Williamsburg. Almost every industrial area that I passed, the walls were covered in murals of all sorts. Definitely felt the love coming from these dilapidated walls. 

Something really beautiful about being in this city was noticing how many different kinds of people live in New York. It's unlike any city I've ever been to. You get such diversity, living in the same neighborhoods or right next to each other. A perfect example of that was when I went to get Tacos in the Sunset Park neighborhood. I passed by a Chinese neighborhood that had Chinese stores all along the street and two blocks later the businesses were all taquerias, and Mexican markets. 

Ilknur, the woman that I stayed with brought up a really good point about how New Yorks culture is so mixed up and diverse because people from all kinds of backgrounds and countries live there, so it's almost impossible to describe what "New Yorkers" are like. It was nice to see that mix everywhere I went. 

And of course, since I was on a bike, I had to cross the Williamsburg Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan, then go back into Brooklyn via the Brooklyn Bridge. Even though there was a bike lane for the Brooklyn Bridge, it was the scariest bridge to be on because of all the tourist packed like sardines on that bridge. I had to yell "yo!!" a couple of times to not crash into the people that would step into the bike lane because they weren't paying attention. 

The amount of parks that I sat and took breaks at in new york probably greatly outnumbers all the parks I've ever been to in my entire life. And that is saying a lot because I love parks, but wow, it seems like every neighborhood had two or more parks. It's a nice break from all the craziness. 

I was so lucky that the weather was just perfect for an all day bike ride, slight breeze, leaves everywhere, and a cloud here and there. 

Keith and Ilknur were such great host, and I had the most amazing time staying with them, and it just happened that I found out about this Turkish (Ilknur is from Turkey) specialty market near Coney Island so I thought I would get them some things from there to say thank you. It was also an excuse to ride down to see the Wonder Wheel one more time.

Said Wonder Wheel :)

So it was my last night staying with the best couple in all of ny, and of course I had to write them a note telling them exactly how great they were. Come to find out, I was such a dummy, I thought the entire store had products from Turkey but not everything was. So the only thing I got them that was from Turkey were the drinks :| Didn't realize that until I got back to their place and checked the labels. But I think Keith and Iknur were appreciative anyway.

By far, this day was my favorite day.