i am on my way home from a successful and tiring yet relaxing long weekend in New York City. Trips to NYC are tiring just because I want to run around (almost literally- it’s so much walking!) and see everything and everyone I miss since I left the city. I accomplished a lot of my goals but managed to relax as well.
My first goal was to head straight to the fabric stores but I only made it to one. I had a hard time finding the perfect fabric to coordinate with the teal reflective fabric I have, and had just decided on something when I found a gorgeous cotton lawn in lavender with real hummingbirds and snatched it up. Perfect!
A friend gave me some remnants of vintage Liberty of London fabric she found cleaning out her mother’s things, which is of course a wonderful treat. I had been caressing them in B&J Fabrics earlier and now at last I have some!
The entire purpose of my trip was to see my talented friend Kimberley Faye Greenberg perform in three different shows in rep at the Beautiful Soup Theater. It’s been ages since I saw her perform and even though she has a powerhouse of a voice, these were plays, not musicals, so something different. That was Saturday. Friday night I went to see ” Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” which I have wanted to see since it performed in last year’s Tony Awards. It’s not The Mechnic’s sense of humor so I took the opportunity of being in NYC without him to go. Despite my $35 second-to-last row Today Tix app seat, I loved it.
Through all this I did get a chance to at last ride Citibike. I needed to get from SoHo to 21st and 1st where the Beautiful Soup Theater is, so naturally, in nearly perfect weather, I opted for bike share. It woks just like Capital Bikeshare (but the kiosk was nicer and the screen was easier to read), so not much to report there, but I was impressed with the infrastructure. Bike lane right away from the station, then the entire way up 1st Ave. I saw two signs that read “Construction in the Bike Lane” and one sign that said “Bike Lane – Bikes only.” What?! Helpful signs?! So impressed.
I also saw dozens and dozens of people on Citibikes. And people on their own bikes. And delivery bikes. Even a Whole Foods cargo bike delivering groceries! Wouldn’t that be nice? New York certainly had the feel of a bike city, where business is conducted by bike. It will be nice when DC and Arlington get to that point.
Sunday morning when I took the New Jersey Transit Light Rail to Hoboken, I saw several people loading bikes on the train, including two preteen girls. Yay for girls with bikes on light rail!
Although I barely biked in NYC, I am happy that I finally got to. There is something about using local public transportation options that make you feel part of a city you no longer belong to (or have never visited), something about bike share that makes you feel more connected to it. It isn’t enough to just walk the streets – you have to get into it, use it like a local, to really experience it. And maybe, after over five years, I finally miss the city.
tinlizzieridesagain 