Walked downtown again today to explore some more and get some shopping down.
Sharon went off to buy some make-up and I ventured down into the B&H Photo store. I was not prepared for what confronted me. A state of the art store that was a rival size to a department store. If it is electronic in nature then they probably have it in the store.
Being the week before Christmas it was teeming with people on the hunt for Christmas presents. There were staff everywhere, hundreds and hundreds of them, most of them very obviously Jewish with the traditional hair curls and Yarmulkes. All of the staff were very helpful and knowledgeable about all of the products.
The store itself is state of the art with electronic roller tracks everywhere with products being called to various agents serving customers. The tracks were both overhead and also below the counters and had glass windows so you could see it all operating. It was really quite amazing and like seeing into a factory assembly line. Still the store felt like a retail store. The amount of product options was overwhelming. I was looking for a new high quality tripod, a compact camera and some other small items. I'm used to having 20 tripods to choose from in a camera store. This store had hundreds of them, and probably close to as many tripod heads (the bit the the camera attaches to on the top).
I would guess they had every model of camera that is available on the market in their store to try out.
After being overwhelmed initially I was able to focus and wrote down the codes of the items I wanted to purchase. Then I joined the first line where the 'agent' helped me by 'calling' the items up from wherever it is they come, and then scanning them and giving me a payment summary. I then leave this line and the items go off on a roller journey in a large green crate/box.
I then head downstairs and line up again to pay for the items at a teller setup that puts a bank to shame. From here I join yet another queue, all of the queues were very efficient and moved very quickly, and collect my items all now packed into a shopping bag.
This store is the pinnacle of efficiency. It was packed to the rafters with customers all buying goods, and yet the process was seamless and impressively painless.
After we left the camera store we continued south along 9th Avenue for about 15 minutes or so exploring the Chelsea area of Manhattan. We came across a great modern style cafe specialising in tea varieties; they also served coffee. We took the opportunity to get out of the very cold -3 deg C temperatures outside and have a nice warm drink and take a rest.
We left the cafe and headed east across to 7th Avenue and back up to where it meets Broadway at the square in front of the Macy's store.
Further north along Broadway we found a luggage store where I bought two new bags, one to replace my main travelling bag which finally gave in when the pull out handle snapped off whilst we were bringing it up the front steps into our apartment building. I also wanted a slightly bigger carry on luggage bag that had wheels and a pull out handle to save the weight of carrying a backpack around on my back whilst walking all over the various airports and train stations that still lay ahead of us.
We took the new bags back to our apartment and dropped them off then headed out to locate the diner we had been to last time we were here in Manhattan. We found it again and noted its address so we can return for the American diner experience at some stage during our stay.
As the day had now ended we walked over to 10th Avenue and found a German beer cafe and restaurant and had some drinks and german fries - more of a potato dish than standard chips or fries. Unfortunately the waitress neglected to mention that they were cooked with bacon and they bacon bits were all over the potato dish. So no German fries for me. Sharon managed to somehow pick her way between the rotting animal flesh to get to the potato. It smelled way too funky for my liking. The beer was pretty ordinary and the one glass of wine I ordered was fucking awful. I don't think we'll head back to that place.
We came home for late dinner in our apartment around 9:30pm and then showered and off to bed by around midnight.Unfortunately I couldn't sleep. It was very noisy outside tonight (even by Manhattan standards). A garbage truck stopped right outside our window at 2:30am and proceeded to crush load after load of garbage resulting in a verbal argument between the garbage collectors and some rather unhappy woman from an apartment nearby somewhere. Fun times.
Today's Weather
Wind: Variable at 7 MPH (6 KT)
