Wednesday, April 4

NJ and the Big Apple ~ Part 3

On Friday, the four of us (Mr. kenju, me and our 2 daughters), took the PATH train from Jersey City, NJ into NYC. It comes into NY right at Ground Zero (former site of the World Trade Center). The top photo is where I was peering in between a pillar and the construction mesh, to see some of the present work in the area. When we got to the main sidewalk, we heard beautiful music from a choir. They were singing the Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful. I had to snap a shot of them, but I have no idea where they were from.
The photos got out of sequence when I scanned them. The next one is a fortune from a cookie in the restaurant we ate in on Friday night. It is so apropos of mr. kenju, that I HAD to save it!

www.China46.com
This is the place we ate on Friday night. My brother-in-law met us back at our hotel in NJ, and took us here for dinner. It was a pretty good meal; abundant and tasty. We had a few things I had never eaten before, such as bok choy and some kind of tofu. I tried a little bit of everything, and my favorite was the beef and broccoli. The place is not fancy, but the service is good - and it is clean.
If you are looking for dishes, glassware and other ceramic or glass dinner wares, go to Fishs Eddy, at 88 Broadway and 19th St. or 122 Montague St., Brooklyn. They have some very different and interesting stuff, which you can see on their website as well:

www.FISHSEDDY.com

Across the street from Fishs Eddy is ABC Carpet and Home, which is a good place to shop for small gifts (as long as you have plenty of moolah!) We heard that an actress likes to shop there (I think it was Goldie Hahn, or maybe it was her daughter).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you seen the knock-off purses in NYC? There are vendors along the streets, who at the mere mention of a policeman, will pack it all up in a bedspread and haul it out of sight. It is illegal for them to sell the purses, but there are hundreds of them in NY. The better ones, the ones you can generally get for less money are in "secret" stores. My daughters and I walked along a street in Chinatown and before long, a young woman asked in broken English if we were interested in bags; mentioning Prada, Gucci, etc. We said yes, and were instructed to follow her. We walked around the block and into a boarded-up building, following her down a series of hallways in what appeared to be an unoccupied building. Soon we came to a room that had purses hanging from floor to ceiling on four walls. We looked at most of them, and asked the prices, which seemed reasonable to me, except that the bags all had very high-priced names on them, like the ones mentioned above, as well as Kate Spade. We saw some we liked, but we decided to look elsewhere. As we walked out, the woman called us back and asked what we would like to pay for the purses. We settled for $10 to $15 less than she originally wanted, and walked out with our new purses in black plastic bags. Mine is Gucci.

19 comments:

Carolyn said...

I did catch up reading. Your trip sounds fascinating! There's so much to see & do (& Buy!) in NYC. I have to get Bob to take me there! My last big-city trip was to Chicago, which was nice too! Your bag buying experience makes you sound like a secret shopper, lol! Gucci-- what a deal!!!

Anonymous said...

I saw the fake purses when I was with my wife in NYC in January. They look pretty authentic (until you touch them). But what amazed me more than the fake purses were the pirated DVD's being sold in the subway and on the sidewalk. They had DVD's of movies that hadn't yet been released. I didn't buy any, but I was tempted.

Blake

utenzi said...

That's some great shopping, Judy. I hope you love the new bag.

Anonymous said...

I NEEEEEEEEEEED that fortune!!! I've got just the person to give it to!!!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it interesting to be taken into those rabbit warrens... very sneaky.

Kape Spate. Pravda.

Actually what gets me living here is the amount of money that the natives spend on handbags on a very regular basis. This is definitely the market litmus test for what will become hot in the handbag arena...

Anna said...

What a great shopping trip indeed! :) Sounds like alot of fun...

Cris said...

Judy, my brother enjoyed so much your blog! He's supposed to be flying right now... Thanks so much!

ProducerClaire said...

I *love* your fortune cookie! Does that mean everything's better in New York...even the fortunes?
Just don't tell anyone in that containment area over there! ;)

Peter said...

Hi Judy, the trip is sounding very good hope you can maintain the pace.

srp said...

I read your description of the abandoned building with the purses and Judy.... I must say you are very brave. I don't think I would enter any kind of abandoned building with someone I didn't know leading me.... no way... I don't care for purses that much!

Anonymous said...

I just loooove your fortune cookie! I might borrow your photo for a post, one of these days ;)

Eddie said...

I enjoy your trips. You get the most out of them.

Bobkat said...

I visited Ground Zero when I was in NYC last year. It was nice to see the city repairing itself and moving forwards.

I also saw loads of these bag vendors, they seemed to be on every corner!

sage said...

Interesting and brave shopping (I would have never followed the lady into the abandoned building. Did Mr. Kenju or you receive the fortune cookie? I wasn't sure if he got it, or if you got it and saved it for him?

Glad you had a good trip.

Raggedy said...

Thank you so much for taking us along with you on your journey.
This is fun!
It sounds like you are having a blast.
WTG on the new bag!
Stay safe,
Huggles and Love,
Raggedy

Anonymous said...

What a great trip! I love New York.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

New York is amazing, isn't it?
You three girls were brave to follow that young woman, and lucky it turned out they actually WERE selling purses! (LOL)...
Love that FISHS EDDY'S Website...Much Fun!
It sounds like your trip was great fun, my dear, and lots of good food, too!

rashbre said...

Canal Street. Some of the knockoffs even have fake warrenties. I have some oakleys which were $10. A friend got 2 pairs for $8 each.

carmilevy said...

I would call that a New York Moment, for sure, Judy! I like how you capture not only photos of the city itself, but of the things we pick up as we visit - fortune cookie papers, tickets, etc. It adds so much richness to the experience of seeing a city through the eyes of others.