The weekend of June 26 and 27, 2021

 

Saturday

We went on a Free Tours by Foot to the East Village. The two hour 2 pm tour was titled "Alternative New York" and the tour guide was Kathleen. It was excellent, as those tours always are.

Then we walked to Il Corallo Trattoria, which we had just been to last week, but loved it. The prices are good, they have seafood dishes, and although the inside is small and not much atmosphere, their outdoor tables are nice.

Sunday

We went to the 9 am church service, then returned home, and then ventured out to Coney Island. Google Maps said we could pick up the Q train from WTC, which we usually can't, so we were curious about that but there it was, with the R and the W. Must have been temporary.

We walked the beach this time, all the way to the end of Coney Island where there's a fence and we could see beachgoers on the beach at Seagate.

Then we walked back by way of the boardwalk, got on the F train, and headed up to a restaurant called Lavagna. I had pasta with rabbit. Mike had salmon. The restaurant is tiny, and old world, and has menus. It's lovely and the food was great.

Then decided that even though Lavagna is in the East Village, we wanted to walk to the Christopher Street PATH station so that we would plow right into Pridefest folks. It was fun.

Parking at VYV

 

1. Two dollars for two hours
2. Five dollars for twelve hours
3. Twenty dollars for twenty-four hours
4. Pay with debit or credit on the way out
5. Entrance is from 6th street aka Thomas Gangemi Drive if you're headed east from BBB
6. Make a right immediately before the rr tracks

Travel to Philadelphia from Jersey City and back

 

Note: To see some scanned items from 2021 Porchfest, see the file called 2021 Porchest on G drive.

Yesterday, June 5, 2021, we traveled to West Philly for the Porchfest festival. Here are some key points about the day.

1. The website for Porchfest is https://westphillyporchfest.com/
2. If you go to that website on your phone, you see an interactive map 
3. Also at locations where they are selling t-shirts, they are also giving away free hard copy maps
4. The hard copy maps were a little easier to read and understand, while the phone app had a little more information about each porch's music
5. We left the house at 10:20 to meet the 10:42 PATH train at Grove Street 
6. The PATH train was so delayed that we made it to Newark Penn with just three minutes to get on the Amtrak train
7. The reason we took Amtrak was because Amtrak had been offering deep discounts. So deep that our trip would be cheaper than taking NJ Transit and changing trains at Trenton to get on the Septa. The tix were $17 a piece. The downside of Amtrak, which we were reminded of, is that they don't run often, and the tix are for a specific departure time. Anyway, we did get on the Amtrak train
8. The train had dining cars with tables. It was nice to sit at a table for the entire trip. The three of us had plenty of room. They have a car that sells food and water, but Mike reports that the food isn't very good, and anyway, we had food with us.
9. Upon arrival at the 30th street station, we had to figure out how to get a Septa trolley ticket for Dwight. That's because, unlike Mike and me, Dwight does not have a Septa card. 
10. We bought day trip tickets for Dwight at the kiosk at the 33rd street station. Two dollars and fifty cents each. So we bought two for a total of five. The machine takes cash, even coins, or a credit card.
11. Amtrak is fast, so we got there in a little over an hour. Arrived around 12:35. Took the trolley to Maddie's house. Google Maps did me dirty and sent us to the wrong place because it dropped Maddie's house number from their Kingsessing address. But we managed to meet up with Maddie.
12. We spent a few hours checking out the bands, and then walked to a Mexican restaurant called Copabanana where Maddie had made reservations for 5:15 for outdoor seating. The food was great and the service excellent.
13. We spent about two hours, and then parted ways. Maddie took the trolley home. Mike, Dwight, and I walked to the 30th street station, only to find that the next Septa train wasn't until 9:30, yet it was only 8 pm. So we Ubered home for $170. We took a loss on the Septa/NJ Transit tickets.
14. The next day I looked up whether Megabus would have worked for our return trip, but it too had a big gap between 7 pm and 9 pm. And when I tried Bolt Bus, the website seemed to not be working
15. Maddie suggested that next year, they could make the reservations, which is what they ended up doing this year, after I screwed them up. They recognize that they're the ones with the food restrictions. Just be sure it's not sushi or vegetarian because I don't like those.

Whale Watching on Memorial Day

 

This pic was taken by the cabin crew. Here's some information about our day.

1. Memorial Day, May 31, 2021
2. I was with Mike and Dwight
3. The trip was to be 12 noon to about 3:30 but ended at 4:30 because our sightings started at 3:15 pm!
4. We took the PATH to 33rd, then got on the Q train and took that all the way to Sheepshead Bay. We did that just so we didn't have to change trains at Barclay Center/Atlantic Avenue
5. This was American Princess Cruises, just like we did a few years ago. But now they don't depart from Riis Landing any more. They are now leaving from Pier 3 2498 Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay. We like this location better than Riis Landing. Very easy to get to. Their location is across the street from Applebee's
6. The website is American Princess Cruises
7. We thought we'd been skunked, until 3:15 pm when suddenly two Humpback Whales gave us a great show. That's why we returned to shore an hour late
8. They allow soft sided coolers, so we packed sandwiches and water. They also sell chips, hot dogs, water, soft drinks, and liquor
9. The cabin is big, and has nice big tables to sit at and eat
10. It was a cold day, only reaching the low sixties, and with the wind in the ocean, we thought we would be cold and need the cabin, but we dressed properly in winter coats. We didn't need hats or hoods but we did have them with us. I wore long underwear and a down shell under my Moynihan jacket
11. On the return trip, we took the Q to Barclay's Center, then picked up the 4 train and took that to the Bowling Green stop in lower Manhattan and walked to Ulysses on Stone Street for dinner. Mondays is lobster day so I had the lobster