Day 3

     Our third day started with Jessica braiding my hair, then it was a brisk walk to the garment district. Any fan of fashion and/or Project Runway is familiar with the garment district. I wanted to check it out, and Jess was game. Since it was Saturday, a lot of the stores were closed, but Mood was open. Along the way, we passed this church.

We also spied the headquarters for the Girl Scouts, as alumni, we had to take a picture.  

    Check out the venting of the streets! It is crazy that beneath the streets of Manhattan, there are more than 100 miles of service pipes that bring steam to about 1,800 buildings. It's been in use since 1882.

We spied the fire department. They had Batman on the building.

Jessica matched the Mood elevator doors, kismet!

    Even the walls had fabric on them!

Look at all the pretties!

    I matched the wall! Jess found some neat fabrics for a quilt she's working on. I found some buttons to repair Henry's coat. I saw this girl with a unique shirt that she made herself, and I loved it.

    The buttons got pulled, and I took them to a desk to get a ticket before purchasing. I noticed, however, that I was overcharged. The buttons were $2 a piece, and I was charged $3.40 a piece. So I took the box up to the front to verify the mistake. The gentleman who made the ticket was quite affronted, but recognized his mistake and walked away very disgruntled. Goodbye and thank you, Mood!

    We stepped into another shop that advertised $5 a yard, and you went past all these gorgeous beaded and sequined rolls of fabric, down a wide staircase into the basement, where it was all self-serve. Jess found some fun fabrics, and I found a yard of Tabsco fabric.

  

 Then we meandered our way towards the theater district, stopping at a conveniently placed pizza shop.

The pieces were huge and delicious!

Our matinee was for The Buena Vista Social Club, a musical about Cuba's musical history. 

    The live band was amazing, and the songs were beautiful. I purchased the album after the show. We were seated right on the balcony, and the usher was adamant that nothing was to be placed on the banister. She said that once a program fell off the banister and sliced a patron down on the floor below. I'm sure it was a bit of an exaggeration, but who knows. My neighbor felt it was overeach, as she had only set her program down on it to adjust her coat. We shared a giggle about it. 

    After the show, we walked to our early dinner reservation, and I spied a few of New York's finest! Our destination was the Buena Vista. When I saw its name, I felt it was meant to be. However, once we entered the narrow, dimly lit hallway of an interior, I began to have second thoughts. While they served Latin-inspired dishes, they didn't even have Latin music playing! I was hoping for a continuation of the show, but it fell flat.

     After some delicious Empanadillas, we waited and waited for our main course to arrive. I had ordered the braised oxtail, and Jess had the chicken rollade. 

    After an unreasonable amount of time, in which I began to panic we would miss our evening cruise, we were informed that they gave our dishes to a different table, so they were being remade. They finally arrived, and though very good, our taste had soured by the experience; they didn't even try to make it up to us. We ate and hurried to our last destination of the day.

Circle Cruise's night cruise!

    We got there in plenty of time, so I needn't have worried. Along the way, we were passed by a delivery driver blaring Latin music, and we joked that he had a better ambiance than the restaurant. Jess stopped to use the facilities, and I stood at the front of the boarding line. She came out and was mistaken for a priority passenger, and that caused a bit of a hullabaloo, but it was corrected, and we boarded the ship. The seats are first-come, first-served, and though there were several passengers, there were plenty of open seats; we got a nice spot by a large window.

    The tour guide was interesting. He kept using pop culture references, some of which I didn't understand. It made him very hard to follow, but the ride was lovely, if chilly. This Pepsi-Cola sign has been in Long Island City in Queens since 1936. The Pepsi bottling plant closed in 1999. It was lowered from its original location in 2009. So now it sits in front of a million-dollar apartment building. I pity the poor person who laid out a million dollars only to have to peer through a neon sign every day.

    The Brooklyn Bridge! A nice skyline.

    And the Lady herself!

    The tour was nice, and the bus stop was just across the street. Unfortunately, we had to wait 30 minutes for the bus to arrive, but it was a nice night. We passed the Radio City Music Hall on our way back.

    It was a great day. My flight was early the next morning, so we didn't stay up too late. I did ask the concierge about getting a taxi. I was afraid the bus wouldn't get me there in time.  Turned out that getting a taxi is dead easy at 6 a.m. I said goodbye to my sister, then bundled my things into a taxi van and headed to the airport. I got there just in time to get through security and grab a milk for my shake before getting on the plane. 

    The flight home was uneventful, and I was glad to see Daniel when I landed. Jess had another day in the city, so she braved it alone, but she did great catching a few more shows and sightseeing. I think she may be ready to be a New Yorker.