{coney island}

well the trip to coney island last weekend with shawn and leah was a ton of fun! while coney island is not necessarily the cleanest of places to visit, there were quite a few things that we found particularly enjoyable and interesting...

*union square - friday afternoon we embarked on the adventure of driving into the city so that shawn could meet and photography the saw lady for his shutter on the street project. while he did that, leah and i explored union square a little. there was a great little market going on in the park there and we had a nice time checking out all of the little booths there.

*burlesque - on friday night we attended the burlesque at the beach show. this was awesome!! it was a very small, intimate show with all sorts of variety acts. audience participation was encouraged and it was such a fun time. none of us had ever been to a burlesque show before, but i can guarantee it probably won't be the last. the acts included a juggler, a two-man band, a striptease, lots of singing, and sing alongs with the audience. lots of fun!

*marcus monroe - well, i think i would be lying a little if i said that leah and i didn't have a small crush on this very impressive man. he was the juggler / unicyclist in the burlesque show, and he was very entertaining. not only was he pretty easy on the eyes, but he could be the most amazing juggler i have seen to date. he was very talented and i am glad that we got to see his performance.

*fireworks on the beach - friday nights in coney island lend themselves to fireworks on the beach. we weer luck enough to have gotten to the beach a little early and had time to enjoy some cotton candy and watch an amazing fireworks show from the boardwalk. it was great, except for one random gentleman who insisted on screaming even more random things throughout half of the show..."thundercats are go!!"

*pay toilet - yes, you read that right, pay toilet. while we were wandering around friday night waiting for the show, we discovered the need to use the facilities, so we headed over to the first ones we found. well, (and i am not kidding) there was a fee to use the bathroom!! a whole quarter granted you entrance through the turnstyle to the unclean, crowded, and un-updated restrooms. i have no idea what kind of racket they were running with that situation, but it certainly is cool to say i have actually paid to use the bathroom. i wonder what they use that money for...

*the cylcone - one of the main reasons we went to coney island was to ride the cyclone roller coaster. being a huge fan of the old fashioned wooden coasters, this was a special treat for me. of course, i wasn't expecting to pay the $8 to ride the coaster, but whatever. it was totally worth it!

*sideshow - the main reason for our trip to coney island wast to see the circus sideshow and it was absolutely worth the trip. the acts included the human blockhead, a fire eater, a snake charmer, and a sword swallower. the show was incredibly entertaining and we all had a blast watching these very talented circus freaks.

*nyc subway - saturday night shawn's friend brandon and his wife dawn came out from their home in nyc to meet us and spend some time hanging out. after convincing them that the best thing to do in coney island was see the sideshow, we practically begged them to take us into the city on the subway and show us a good time. well it didn't take too much convincing before we were on the subway and headed to times square. i absolutely love times square at night, it is such a unique experience and it was a treat for leah who had never been in times square after dark. we had a great time getting to know brandon and dawn a little better and traipsing around nyc late at night.

*cheesecake - while in the city we were looking for a nice place to grab something to eat and have a drink. juniors was the place. we all enjoyed some of new york's best cheesecake and a few drinks. (the chocolate mousse cheesecake was to die for!) yum-o!

*i finally found out what this is:

this is something i have seen from the belt parkway everytime i have driven to new york for the last howevermany years. it is something that has plagued my mind everytime i've seen it. what is it? is it a ride? why is it never moving? is it art? is it old? is it new? what the heck is it for??? and now i know. after visiting the coney island museum (which was not very good by the way) i learned that this giant red tower actually used to be an attraction at coney island called the parachute jump. it was something that was built for the world's fair and then was moved to coney island. you can learn more about it here. i know it seems kinda silly to be so excited about something, but it was symbolic to me of all the times i have wondered about coney island and its offerings as a mere passerby and now i have fulfilled some of that wonder and intrigue.

all in all the trip was a blast. i think next time we would have opted to stay in the city and take the subway out to coney island for any of the following reasons: crappy neighborhood, sucky parking, expensive unregulated cab fares, nothing else to do in the immediate area, the city is just that much better! despite all of those thins we still managed to have a great time and we got to see everything we had wanted to see. here are some of the pictures from the weekend.