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Sunday 29 August 2010

You're my Coney Island baby...

It’s Saturday night and I’m sitting on the red couch wearing my new Yankees cap.  It’s excellent.  It might be my new writing cap.  Now, where were we?  Thursday…

Thursday morning was exciting and joyous, my external hard drive arrived safely from Australia and I was able to set up my pretty new laptop.  The sky was blue, summer had returned, and the day was off to a good start.

We had breakfast at home and headed off on the epic journey to Coney Island.  You would think two people who recently travelled from Australia to the US could survive a train journey of less than two hours without feeling the need to call it epic, but it’s surprising how quickly you adjust to not needing to travel far to find your entertainment.  Anyway, after a lengthy wait at the station before our destination we finally arrived and exited our subway carriage to air that smelled like a mix of the ocean, rubbish, and public swimming pool.

The seaside carnival atmosphere is really concentrated to about two blocks and a pier, but it is crammed in there so tightly and with so much enthusiasm it feels like its own little solar system.

First stop?  Nathan’s Famous.  Some post-visit research has told me that this is the home of a famous, annual hotdog-eating contest.   This year’s winner ate 54 hotdogs and buns in 10 minutes.  That sounds horrific.  All that aside, this place seems to have earned the “famous” part of their name, having been a Coney Island institution since 1916.

Josh and I ate cheese and bacon dogs, medium (or enormous, depends how you choose to look at it) lemonades, and shared chilli cheese fries.  They, unfortunately, list the calories next to the items on the menu board.  Let’s just say we were both somewhat disgusted with ourselves, but not so much as to miss out on this atmospheric culinary experience.

After lunch (and having made the decision not to eat again for at least the next 24 hours), we went for a walk along the pier.  Here the air smelt of the sea and only that.  The sun was hot, but as we walked further out over the water a slight breeze rose.  We sat and took it all in, looking at the numerous locals fishing and throwing about nets for catching shellfish.  The water was glittering, it was in actual fact, a perfect day.  However, gazing from an expanse of ocean to the shoreline, the lure of the carnival atmosphere was too strong to resist.

We had promised ourselves rides on the ferris wheel and the famous Cyclone rollercoaster.  And that’s exactly what happened next.  The Wonder Wheel, which opened in 1920, is a ferris wheel that has carriages that swing in and out as the wheel goes around.  It was scarier than I expected.  We squealed a bit and gripped at the cage around us… All in all a reasonable adrenalin rush!

After the Wonder Wheel we wandered around Luna Park and ate some fairy floss (or, cotton candy, in this instance).  Coney Island is home to two amusement parks, the one where the wheel is and Luna Park.  They are each about half a block in size.  The Cyclone is an attraction all by itself and not a part of either park.

Now, this rollercoaster is classic.  It opened in 1927 and runs yearly from May to September.  It looks like the kind of rollercoaster you see in cartoons and books.  It’s so old and rickety and that’s kind of what makes it scary.  That and the constant run of steep drops.  The rollercoaster is set on a narrow block and it kind of feels like you’re wound up on the first incline and then unravelled for a few violent minutes.  We exited with exclamations of “Wow, ouch!” but we also agreed that it was totally worth it!

So we took some time to sit by on the boardwalk to let our heads settle again.  To one side we looked out upon a typical American beach scene, to the other we could watch as people on the boardwalk ambled by.  One guy came past sporting an interesting accessory… There, casually draped around his neck, was a massive snake.  A real one. 

After soaking up the afternoon sun for a while, we decided to head home, that we’d probably had enough excitement for one day.  We rode our train back towards midtown, but when we got to Union Square, decided we should get off to have a look.  Neither of us had seen it yet.  So we wandered around the park with the intention of making our way home immediately after.  This brief stop turned into an extended exploration of Barnes & Noble… It is always dangerous for this duo to enter a bookstore.

We perused the shelves on all four floors of the store and emerged some hours later, having met up with Mikey as well.  Now, you may remember that earlier in this blog I said we had sworn off food for at least 24 hours.  Not so, apparently.  Josh, Mikey, and I made our way to Times Square and had an exceptionally touristy meal at TGI Friday’s.  What were we thinking?  When I move to London next week, I’m going on a diet of only miso soup… Too much American food!  (Not seriously though, no need to email me your thoughts on this one).

By now, it was about getting cold, so I decided I would make my way home.  The boys carried on exploring and I paused at the MAC store in Times Square to pick up some more make-up.  It’s just so affordable!  The assistant who was showing me the new range, put a garish shade of plum on my lips that totally clashed with my “I’ve been cavorting around an amusement park all day” ensemble, so I purchased some eye shadows and nail polish and took the subway back to Woodside.

Needless to say, I had a well-earned shower and slept very well.

Wish you were (all) here…

Love, Jules xx

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