New York the ninth

When the F Train gets to Brooklyn there's this one part where the track pops out into the open (turning from subway to aboveway) and it was just so Beastie Boys Root Down video that my iPhone spontaneously started playing Ill Communication.

(Also, I later on saw some b-boying at the 34th Street station - and thus was fulfilled all my New York dreams.)

The part of Brooklyn I saw, around Prospect Park, is very cool.

The part of Brooklyn I saw is also around the pie shop. I had a steak and cheese pie! In New York! It was, sadly, a disappointing pie (totally over-seasoned, either to cater to local tastes or cover up for a lack of real flavour). The flat white was tremendous though. However, the barista is not ready for understated Kiwi compliments - I told him the coffee was [pause for emphasis] pretty good and I think he thought I was telling him it was average. Heh.

Prospect Park - delightful, squirrels, autumn, etc.

Avenue XTREEEEEMEEEE!

Aaaand...spontaneous trip to Coney Island! I got all excited when I saw that was the final destination of the F Train, so after my pie stop I jumped back on the subway and went to there. Go Whitefish!

Soarin' Eagle. Headfirst into terror.

That's, like, the Atlantic Ocean!

Art at the Coney Island subway station.

Then I went back to Manhattan and to here. It was horrid, like Harrods to the power of 70. I'm still hating every second of it. I did buy a coat though, so bring it on, super storm! 

This evening I walked along the High Line, which is an old elevated train track converted into a walkway and garden.

From it you get awesome views into the city.

And awesome views of awesome art. Awesome!

The High Line ends at the Meatpacking District, a boutique-and-bar-filled neighbourhood so cool that it's probably already so over. I was there right on nightfall and saw several groups being dropped off in stretch Hummers - when that kind of tacky element arrives, you know it's past time to be looking for the next big thing.