Signs from all over, old photos, weird words

I went to Collingwood and Brunswick today. I saw more old signs. 

Wholesale (bottom centre). Smith Street, Collingwood

 Tescosa Suits, Wellington Street, Collingwood

 Suzanne's, Smith Street

 Lavec Ind 51. Off Gertrude Street

Opposite the sign above - H Brooks. There were several buildings

 in this area with Brooks Buildings on their facades

Johnstons Furniture, Gertrude Street

I love these Commit No Nuisance signs. This is the first I've seen 

outside the CBD - in a laneway off Gertrude Street  (stupid shadow)

Speaking of old signs, here is a blog called Preserve, which features old signs mostly in New Zealand, but also some in Australia, and a few other places. 


There's also some great signage in this collection of fantastic old photos of New York from the New York City Municipal Archives  - and this one too.  

For those of you who love peculiar and amusing words as I do, here is a collection with quirky illustrations.  An example: tarantism is a condition characterised by an uncontrollable urge to dance. 

I have finished reading The Etymologicon. I feel a little bereft now. 

Birthday get-away, mystery building, stair race

Gluten-free chocolate and vanilla cupcake

Luke and I are off to the tiny historic town of Walhalla in Gippsland for my birthday next weekend. It's perched on a mountainside not too far from Mt Baw Baw, so I expect it will be very picturesque but rather chilly.

Walhalla was a gold mining settlement that boomed in the mid-late 1800s before becoming a ghost town. It's had a renaissance as a tourist destination in the last 30 years but still retains its old world appeal. It also has a little old hillside cemetery which I'm a smidge excited about (me and my thing for old cemeteries). It has less than 20 permanent residents these days and it's quite likely we will have no mobile phone reception, so it should be a nice little get-away.

We're staying at a nice B&B. I'm hoping there will be somewhere with an open fire for dinner on Friday night.

I picked up a book at Reader's Feast today called Five Hundred Buildings of New York and I flipped it open to the page featuring a building I fell in love with while I was there but had no idea what it was. Now I know - it's the Ansonia Hotel.

I have a new thing where I try to make it to my front door before the light in the stairwell clicks off (it's one of those push-button jobbies). I have to pick up my stair-climbing pace a little to beat it.

Another remarkable tree, jigsaw, like minds

Coincidentally...today my friend Anthony sent me his photos from the Melbourne Club garden open day a few weeks ago. This is the enormous old London Plane tree in the corner of the garden. Guess what?  This tree is also in Australia's Remarkable Trees! It was planted in 1895. It's a shame the public can only enjoy its shade once a year when the posh private club opens its garden gate to the masses.

I forgot to tell you about the New York jigsaw puzzle! Look at the suitcase it comes in! One of my readers, Marg, sent me a link to it and I had to have it. I hope I can find the space to put together a 1000-word puzzle...

I heard comedian Mark Watson talking on the radio this morning about the simple pleasure of having exactly the right change to pay for your purchase, which is something I have waxed gleefully about here.  I like the way he thinks!

Speaking of money, I got an English 50p piece in my change somewhere in the last day or so. Waaaaait a minute. That's not a 50 cent coin!

Exploring, book love, pencil sniffing

Puffy heart-shaped chip!

I've had a good day today. After a nice sleep-in (during which I dreamt about a Barrel of Monkeys*) I went to Sydney Road, Brunswick for a wander. I haven't really explored that precinct much before and I decided it was time to change that today. It was a perfect day for adventuring -  sunny and warm, but with a refreshing cool breeze.

I love the old shops along the street and the residences above them, especially the ones with  the balconies overlooking the street.

I went into the Brunswick Bound bookshop and fell instantly in love with a book called One: Living as one and loving it, by Sydneysider Victoria Alexander.  I had to have it; the design is just gorgeous - thick matt paper with uneven scalloped edges, fabulous photos on every page, little pockets with removable quotes in them and a large pocket at the back for keepsakes - and I feel like it's the book I need right now. (All the other books on my to-be-read pile will just have to wait.) I even love the way it smells.

I had a Lebanese sausage pizza for a late lunch (yum) and people watched as I ate it at a table on the footpath. The little white dog of the men next to me turned its gaze on me when it got no tidbits from their table.

I poked around in clothing, discount and second hand shops. I had a delicious smoothie.

Coming home on the tram,  the driver made me smile when he said, 'Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is Daniel and I will be your driver today.'

I stopped at the supermarket on the way home for supplies. I sniffed the coloured pencils in the back to school display (I love that smell). I nearly bought a bottle of bubbles (not the alcoholic kind) after picturing myself lying on my back in the gardens blowing bubbles into the blue sky. I might make my own....

I have the flat to myself tonight. I watched New York, I Love You on DVD (*wistful sigh*) and fixed myself a couple of vodka tonics with fresh lime. How fantastic do fresh limes smell? Divine.

I'm about to have a nice hot shower and climb wearily into bed with a cool breeze blowing in my bedroom window. *happy sigh*

*pointless aside: I still have my Barrel of Monkeys from when I was a kid.  

Vintage find, the north side, statistical glee

I stumbled across a fantastic vintage store on Smith Street in Collingwood today called Vintage Garage. I don't know how I've missed it before, especially as the counter - visible from the doorway - is the front end of a bright red 50s American car.

The store is huge and full of racks and racks of clothes and shoes (mainly women's) from the 50s to the 80s, as well as some furniture, old records, jewellery, homewares and even a few old typewriters. And of course the music was cool - Beatles, Buddy Holly and Johnny O'Keefe, and Peggy Lee was singing Fever when I went in.

It's important to match your shirt

 to your furniture

I ate a toasted sesame seed bagel with cream cheese at Bean & Bagel on my way up to Brunswick Street. It was delicious - as good as any I ate in New York. *sigh* I miss New York.

Today on Smith Street I saw a man in red and black striped velvet pants and on the tram on Brunswick Street I sat near a woman wearing bright yellow clogs with red socks and a large pouffy tulle thing on her head.  God, I love that part of town. I almost hope I get evicted next year so I can move there - or better, that I could shift my current flat  over there (I love it too much to leave of my own free will). 

I love these old post boxes on Brunswick Street

I've been using the camera on my new phone a little in the last week. It. Is. Awesome. I probably don't even need to carry my Canon around with me anymore.

Last night while messing about on Blogger I discovered there's a link to my blogs' stats on my dashboard. It's probably been there for months, hasn't it? Never mind. I had a look and was pleasantly surprised. I don't get a lot of comments, so it's nice to know people are visiting, if not leaving comments. Thanks, guys.

Home again, home again

It's Lady Liberty! (surprise, surprise)

I'm back! New York was all kinds of awesome, but it's also great to be back in my beloved Melbourne (and my own bed) again. I was worried Melbourne might seem a little hokey and unexciting viewed through Big Apple-tinted glasses, but I'm actually appreciating its compactness, slower pace and less crowded spaces. In fact, I'm falling in love with it all over again.  As much as I loved New York, I will never love anywhere the way I love Melbourne. My heart will always be here.  

So...New York! What else did I do? So much! For the sake of (relative) brevity, here are the highlights from when I last blogged:

The very unassuming exterior of the Canaan Baptist of Christ 

* I attended a gospel church service in Harlem, which was just like in the movies - the choir's goosebump-inducing singing, the clapping, the amens and hallelujahs, the matriarchs decked out in their finery and, best of all, the pastor working himself up into a booming tirade in the pulpit. It was awesome!

I don't have a religious bone in my body, but I found the experience quite moving - they were very welcoming of visitors and made a special effort to acknowledge and include us in the proceedings (including passing the plate...). But it was also affecting being in the presence of such joy and passion and community spirit (no, I won't be converting).

The Mets' mascot, imaginatively named Mr Mets

* A Twitter friend from LA was also in NYC and he took me out to the ballgame - the Mets (NY) versus the Phillies (Philadelphia). I don't understand the intricacies of the game, but it's pretty hard not to get a buzz from a stadium full of sports fans and from experiencing an event that's a huge part of the fabric of life in the place you are visiting. And there were the little things that go along with it - the hotdogs, the team mascot, the singing and in-between-innings rituals, like pointing the camera at couples in the crowd who then have to pash. Everyone plays along with gusto. It was fun.

* I visited Coney Island. For anyone who doesn't know, Coney Island is a beachside neighbourhood of Brooklyn (about 50 minutes by train from Manhattan), which is home to an amusement park that has seen better days. The park still has few old iconic rides - like the Cyclone rollercoaster which dates back to 1927 - but there's also a lot of empty spaces enclosed behind chainlink fences, and flaking paintwork. As I'm a big fan of faded glory, I loved it. It's awesome in a really tacky way. I barely removed my camera from my hand.

The Cyclone

It's also home to the self-proclaimed best hotdog in New York - Nathan's. I had one and I can say confidently it was the best hotdog I had during my stay, and I ate a few in my two weeks there (I quickly learnt not to ask for cheese however. What actually is that yellow sludge? Is there a nation that has done more to ruin cheese than the US? Actually, come to think of it, they didn't stop at cheese...) 

Nathan's World Famous Frankfurters

* My LA friend, J, also took me with him to the launch of a book written by a couple of actors/comedians he knows at a classy hotel in Tribeca (famous for the Tribeca Film Festival started by Robert De Niro).  I got a copy of the book - called You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up - signed. Even though I'd never heard of the authors, I thought it would make for a more unique souvenir than an "I Heart New York" T-shirt...not that I didn't buy one of those too.

* After the book launch J and I took a cab - my first NY cab ride - to Grimaldi's, a pizza place under the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. The cabbie, who was Pakistani, was far more interested in grilling J about whether WWE wrestling is fake than he was about having an Aussie in his taxi. I guess they see so many tourists, you'd have to be from the moon to pique the interest of most cabbies.

Mmmm....pizza (it's so good I look like I'm on drugs)

It was past 10pm when we got to Grimaldi's but we had to line up to get in, such is the popularity of the restaurant. J says it's the best pizza in New York and it was indeed delicious, although much the same as a quality pizza back home, which makes me think most pizza in New York is average.

After the pizza we went down to the waterfront looking towards Manhattan where J got talking to a pair of sisters, one of whom was living literally on the same block as my hotel. Even in New York, it's a small world.

* I went to a stand up comedy show recommended by J, which was being filmed for a submission to Comedy Central. I hadn't heard of the comics, Helen Hong, Joe De Vito and Rodney Laney, but they were hilarious and there was barely a reference that went over my non-American head. I laughed my head off.

I went on my own but a couple of girls from Brooklyn sat at my table and they were very friendly. I found New Yorkers far more polite and friendly than I expected, which was a nice surprise.

I drank a couple of Long Island Iced Teas at the show and was a wee bit drunk when I left. Oops. Despite that, I found my way to the Rockefeller Centre and visited the Top of the Rock Observation Deck to admire New York at night. After that I met J, his sister and a friend for a meal. It was nice to do something normal away from the tourist beat with locals.

* I went to see West Side Story on Broadway, which I chose because I hadn't seen it and it's set on the Upper West Side of New York (where I stayed). I'm not a huge fan of musical theatre, I have to say, but when in New York... I enjoyed it (particularly the hot young guys and their toned biceps) and the Palace Theatre was beautiful.

The Palace Theatre on Broadway

* I mastered the subway. OK, perhaps "mastered" is overstating things, but I found it easy to get around on the subway system and never once ended up in the wrong place. I even managed several interchanges at a couple of the busiest subway stations without a miss-step. Travelling in peak hour wasn't that big a deal either. I made my first foray onto the subway in the morning rush hour and was a little disappointed it wasn't more chaotic! Yes, the trains were crowded, but no worse than in Melbourne. 

I didn't listen to my iPod or read anything on the subway at all for my entire stay - watching and listening to the people around me was entertainment enough.

* I visited St Patricks Cathedral (the largest Gothic-style cathedral in the US), Trinity Church and St Paul's Chapel, which are all spectacular examples of architecture. Trinity Church and St Paul's both have very old, leafy graveyards adjoining them, with many headstones so old the epitaphs have worn away. It was weird being in a cemetery in the middle of a bustling city, with people treating it like a park. They were peaceful and shady.

The graveyard at Trinity Church

* I visited the International Centre of Photography which was hosting several excellent, but quite confronting, exhibitions. One, photos by Ed Templeton, included a photo (supposedly) of a junkie on the streets of Melbourne.

I bought myself a Colorsplash camera in the Centre's giftshop, which is my favourite souvenir and I can't wait to play with it. It's a low-tech, 35 mm camera with a changeable coloured flash that bathes your subject in coloured light, producing cool, artsy type photos.

This camera is my first foray into the world of Lomography, which is a global community of creative types using this and other low-tech, old-school cameras to produce artsy pictures that don't confirm to the accepted rules of photography. It's going to be weird going back to using film and having to wait to see the results of my efforts!  

The view from the Empire State Building (Chrysler Building at left)

* Yes, I did all the other touristy things - I visited Times Square, the Statue of Liberty (a little underwhelming) and the Empire State Building, and caught the ferry to Staten Island. I walked down Wall Street past the New York Stock Exchange and went to the World Trade Centre Visitor Centre, which I found curiously unaffecting, perhaps because I didn't have time to really linger and absorb it.

Me and the Brooklyn Bridge (from South Street Seaport)

I walked the Brooklyn Bridge on a beautiful sunny morning and visited downtown Brooklyn, Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, which was a nice break from the tourist throng. I was glad to see more of New York than Manhattan, which is the only one of the five boroughs that most tourists' visit. I managed four out of the five (even if I only set foot on Staten Island for 30 minutes between ferries).

* Oh, I got an unexpected stop over in Los Angeles! My flight from LA to Sydney was pushed back a day due to a mechanical problem, so I got put up at a nice hotel for the night with a late check out and free meals in the hotel restaurant. Sweet!

After a good sleep sprawled on the plush, king sized bed, I spent half the day at Venice Beach, which was more seedy than I imagined from what I'd seen in the movies. I confess I didn't really like it much...it does have the faded glory thing going for it, but it's far more tawdry than Coney Island. I did take a lot of photos and I met a couple of hip hop artists who told me they're coming to Australia next year for the Big Day Out and have been in negotiations with Triple J, Australia's youth radio broadcaster.

Me and the hip hop dudes.  (Yes, I bought their CDs.

I don't even like hip hop much. I'm such a softie!) 
 

The rest of the day I spent and at a shopping mall near my hotel buying clean undies and toiletries (I packed in a hurry and didn't have these items in my carry on) and spending some of the money that I surprisingly had left over after New York. It was pretty much like a shopping centre back home.

Then it was back to the hotel for a shower, a feed and shuttle bus to the airport.  

The setting sun from my hotel room (near the airport)

One of the best things about my holiday was simply the fact that I was there. It took me a few days to stop walking around thinking, "Wow, I'm in New York City! I'm in another country! At last! I've done it!". I get to cross off the number one thing on my list of 101 Things to do Before I'm 40, which is to take an overseas trip. Yay!

But the best and most significant thing about my holiday is that despite my lack of travel experience, my initial trepidation and somewhat fragile emotional state, I did it on my own - and not only coped with it, but kicked arse. My experiences with my Dad's illness and death this year have already shown me that I am much stronger than I ever imagined I could be, and my New York trip reinforces that. Turns out I'm strong, self-sufficient and capable. Go, me! I feel like whatever comes my way, I'll handle it.

SQUIRREL!

P.S. See my other blog over the coming days for more - and better - photos from my trip.

Five days in...

The library entrance

Hello again from the Big Apple. My fifth day is drawing to a close, and my love affair for this place grows by the day. I feel like I'm sneaking around behind Melbourne's back, falling in love with another city. Don't worry, Melbourne; you will always be my No 1.

Since I last blogged, I have been to the library. Not just any old library, the New York Public Library, which is right up there in the library hall of fame, and for good reason. It's a jaw-droppingly impressive building. Marble as far as the eye can see, columns and arches and staircases (Beaux-Arts style, for those who are interested). But the jaw-droppingest bits were the McGraw Rotunda,  Bill Blass Catalogue Room and the Rose Main Reading Room. Simply stunning. So much ornate detail.  

Not only does is it a feast for the eyes, it has some amazing treasures in its collection - the letter Christiopher Columbus wrote to the Spanish king and queen notifying them he had discovered the New World, one of five copies Thomas Jefferson made of his draft Declaration of Independence (which contains a section abolishing slavery, which was promptly removed by Congress), the first Gutenberg Bible (dating back to the 1450s) to come ashore in America, a desk, lamp and chair belonging to Dickens and the original (now very threadbare) toy animals that inspired AA Milne to wrote Winnie The Pooh.

You can't see all of these things, but I did see the bible, Dickens' desk and the toys.

I had to abandon plans to go to the Empire State Building due to poor weather so I grabbed a Big Salad for lunch at a gourmet deli (my god, what an eye-popping array of food!) and then headed to the Museum of Sex. Yes, they do have a museum for that. It's not as tawdry as it sounds, although the first exhibit was on sex and the moving image, so you can imagine what they had on display there. Very bizarre experience seeing a money shot while you are in a room with fully dressed strangers. Also difficult to concentrate on reading the information displays with porn music and lady moaning in the background. I mean, I was there for the information after all.

The other displays were far less spicy and far more educational (unless watching a bonobo chimp orgy is your thing). I did touch a penis, however. No, no real genitals at the Museum of Sex, unlike MoMA. It was a silicone one meant to simulate the male member (not very convincingly, however).

The weather was even worse after I  emerged from touching faux penii and watching porn, so I spent some time cruising the souvenir shops (yes, I now own an I Heart New York T shirt), then headed back to my hotel, again catching the right bus and ending up in the right place. Go, me.

Today I visited the Chrysler Building, including the awesome art deco lobby and Grand Central Station, which is yet another jaw-droppingly gorgeous building, especially the main concourse with its vast blue ceiling featuring a mural of the zodiac and huge arched windows at either end.

Then it was showtime! I had a ticket to see West Side Story on Broadway. I've not been to many musicals in my life, and I've never seen West Side Story. I confess I'm not really that big a fan of musicals to be honest, but when on Broadway... I chose WSS because it's set in New York and I'm staying on the West Side.

I enjoyed it - lots of colour, great choreography and songs I recognised even if I never knew where they were from ("I feel pretty, oh, so pretty..."). Oh, and hot guys with muscular biceps. Noice.

It was at the Palace Theatre - surprise surprise, another beautiful building.

After the show I had some cheesecake (another New York specialty) and a can of Dr Pepper before heading to St Patrick's Cathedral. I walked past it the other day without knowing what it was and thought it was impressive from the outside, but today I went inside. Wow. Amazing. Can you tell I'm running out of superlatives? (Strange seeing security guard and so many tourists taking photos in a church though).

Then I headed home again. Tomorrow I'm finally going to visit the Statue of Liberty. Got to be up bright and early and down to the ferry terminal at 9am. I'm thinking I might even brave the subway in rush hour. I'm told it's bedlam - and I'm sure it is - but I'm a big girl...I'll just make sure I allow plenty of time to get there.

I also have a ticket for the hop-on, hop-off tourist bus tomorrow so will spend the afternoon pootling about on that visiting various places on my must-see list. I'm hoping the weather will be fine enough for a trip up the Empire State Building too. 

I'm in New York!!!!

Me, in Central Park.

Oh my god, you guys! I'm in a whole other country! At last! It's only taken me nearly 38 years, but finally I have set foot outside Australia! I've been in New York for three days now and I still don't think it's sunk in. 

I'm in love with the place already, and I've barely even scratched the surface. I haven't ventured too far downtown so I'm yet to see the iconic sights like the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building. I expect the love affair to deepen dramatically once I do... 

You'd think those landmarks would be the first things that I would go see, but I'm spreading out the awesomeness. Just being here is enough awesome to sustain me for now.

What have I seen? Squirrels! Sounds ridiculous to get excited by them, I've obviously never seen one before. When I saw the first one, it took me by surprise and, in my head, I shrieked, "Oh my god! A squirrel!". I took a photo of course. 

I spent Saturday exploring Central Park and it's amazing - huge, beautiful, full of people and so much to see. New Yorkers truly are spoilt to have such a vast patch of green in the centre of their huge and bustling city. The view of the skyline from the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir is spectacular and the water features are postcard perfect, especially The Lake with all the row boats punting about on it. The bridges are beautiful and the wrought iron lamps! They've got loads of olde worlde charm and there's so many of them everywhere. 

I saw a pair of geese with a clutch of gosling, loads of turtles and an owl. Yep, an owl. There was some kind of bird day on at Belvedere Castle and a woman was giving a talk about owls with a massive owl sitting on her arm. It looked pretty unimpressed, but it was awake when it should have been sleeping afterall. I felt like we had something in common.

Today I went to the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art and saw works by Warhol, Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky, Monet and Van Gogh. I got quite a buzz from knowing I was standing in front of the real deal. 

I've eaten some New York staples - hotdogs and pretzels from street vendors and chicken soup with matzoh balls. Tonight I had a toasted bagel with cream cheese and it was delicious. I foresee more of those in my future.

I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself for finding my way around without too much trouble and I've managed to buy a weekly Metrocard from a machine at the subway and catch a bus back to my hotel twice. Go, me! I should save the self-congratulations for after I work out the subway...

Sorry this has only one photo - I have loads more obviously, but it's time consuming to upload them and I'm doing this at a net cafe.

Giggling, list writing and manicuring

My friend sent me a video of her seven-month-old, Thomas, (one of my 'nephews') having a fit of giggles yesterday. It's impossible not to laugh along with him. He almost looks like he's putting it on, such is his enthusiasm. So cute and funny.  

I wrote a list of things to pack for my New York trip today. I wasn't feeling mentally ready for the trip, but now I feel a little more prepared. Love a good list.

I dislike having long fingernails, but I really like that fresh (DIY) manicured feeling.