I woke up on Wednesday morning and was happy to see the sun shining into my bedroom. It would be a decent day. I started up my phone, answered a text message from dad and looked at the weather. It would be cloudy later, but no rain until much later in the evening.
I walked to the beach and spent the next 4 hours in the water, feeding the pigeons, and hanging out on the beach.
The water was freezing cold again and with the wind, I felt a bit of a chill. Hey, I love it and it did remind me of the polar plunges I did in the past.
I had a delicious Russian lunch at Volna Cafe. I ordered warm borscht and rice, along with Kompot. Kompot is a Russian fruit juice and it was delicious. It almost reminded me of a cranberry juice because it wasn’t overly sweet. Fruit juice that had the right amount of sweetness. The borscht was delicious too, with an extra hint of dill.
When I was taking photos, I noticed the older women cutting the potatoes and preparing other food, I had to snap some of them.
I signed up for a memoir writing workshop, free through Gotham Writers, that was being held that Wednesday night at Bryant Park at 7:30. I left my Air BNB at 4:30 and caught the 4:50 Q train to Manhattan. While I was on the train, I chatted with because I told her I loved her bag. She let me take a photo of her. I found out she is originally from Bensalem and moved to Coney Island last year. She absolutely loves NYC for the same reasons I do: a lot to do and you don’t need to drive.
When she hopped off at Atlantic Ave./Barclays, she gave me her Instagram username. When I bring back the Happiness Box Project Instagram page, I’ll add her.
I hopped off at 46th Street and walked to The Little Beet. I discovered them two years ago thanks to Gluten-Free Living magazine; they serve only GF foods. The law in New York City is one MUST show proof of vaccination to dine inside. I showed my proof and I was still the only one dining inside The Little Beet. It felt odd to be the only one in a restaurant in Times Square. I ordered a beet falafel and it was delicious.
After dinner, I decided to take photos in front of Radio City Music Hall and the fountain.
On my way to my class at Bryant Park, I passed a peanut vender.
I try not to get political here. When I was walking to my workshop, I passed by a peanut seller and Fox News. I didn’t realize Fox News was headquartered in NYC, but this whole thing was hilarious. Nuts 4 Nuts was selling their goods outside of Fox. Nuts for Nuts, indeed.
I arrived at Bryant Park and it was gorgeous. I’ve never been to Bryant Park before and wow. Just wow. As I wandered, I discovered a yoga class. I asked the coordinator where the reading room was, she pointed to it, and told me about all the free classes that are offered. Thursday night was free salsa dancing and I told her I’d try to attend.
Memoir class through Gotham’s Writers Workshop. Cullen Thomas was the instructor and it was amazing participating in a workshop in person instead of Zoom.
Of course, selfie with the instructor at the end! Such an awesome evening!
I then explored Times Square. What fun!
As I was walking to the subway, a couple approached me and asked me to take their photos since they saw my DSLR camera. I obliged, for free.
Don’t worry, I edited them. They gave me their email addresses and I emailed them the edited photos.
I made my way to the subway and of course, I had to take photos of the subway. Beautiful architecture and I wanted to capture the COVID scenes.
I made it back to Brighton Beach at 10:30 and as I walked back to my Air BNB, this beautiful cat greeted me. I loved running into him.
I headed to my room and began to write my note for Wednesday.
I put the note into my travel Happiness Box, turned out the lights, went to bed and dreamt about Day 3.
The Happiness Box Project 