Amongst the many things I always wanted to do when I visit New York and America in general, was to go to a diner where you get your coffee mug constantly refilled with fresh coffee and have a ‘real’ American breakfast. You know, something like greasy bacon with fries and eggs. An ideal place to do this in Brooklyn is Jimmy’s diner an old, small, hispter-y diner. When we visited, fairly early in the day, the place was already full of people but we were lucky to find a small spot for two. After we sat down I saw multiple groups of people coming in and leaving disappointed for the fact that they could not find a spot there. No doubt, Jimmy’s diner had an excellent menu and despite the hipster service, I felt content and full with the “hangover cure” breakfast dish I ordered and I was more than ready to jump on an hour length train ride to the Coney Island beach.
When we arrived to the beach, I wanted to try the famous Coney Island hot dogs, visit the amusement park, go on the beach, maybe sink my feet to the water and take some super fun colourful photos but coney island beach on a week day in May….. well, it was not all of the above. It was more like the Counting Crows video for Big yellow taxi ! All of the attractions were closed, the beach was empty, it was cold and there were not even a lot of people around…it was more like a scene from Mr. Robot, cold and abandoned. We agreed that it is probably a better idea to do this again next time we visit so the Coney Island beach experience was cut short there.
We took the train back to the city visited some bookstores, walked up and down the Broadway Ave and had a couple of drinks before heading to the Bronx for a Yankees game. Before visiting New York, I knew nothing about baseball, today this is still the case, even after that Yankees game. It may seem like an odd choice, going to a baseball game when you know nothing about this sport but in reality it was really fun and interesting for the following reasons:
1. We did not really care who wins or loses
The game we were about to watch that day was between two legendary rivals: the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. However knowing nothing about baseball and not being able to tell if the game goes well or not for the Yankees I was mostly focused on the atmosphere and the vibe of the people around us. I could not tell how the points were suddenly appearing on the board and following the match did not help me understand anything new but everyone was having a good time and soon I felt like a part of the group.
2. The Yankee Stadium itself is an experience
The Yankee stadium is enormous, it surprised me in terms of organisation and preparedness to deal with the weather conditions of the day. Somewhere in the middle of the game it started raining intensely but the filed was soon covered up and everyone was staying put. When everything calmed down, the field was uncovered and the game was ready to go! That impressed me a lot, if this happened somewhere in Europe either the game would continue under this terrible conditions (we have seen football games in the snow) or everyone would have been forced to go home, or the game would have been cancelled before hand due to the weather but in this case, nope! I guess money makes you want to be prepared to keep things going at all costs…..still very impressive. Further on the Yankee stadium was clean filled with shops, food and beverages at almost every corner. It goes to show why all types of people where there; families, older people, young people and well…..tourists. The Yankee supporters did not chant offensive song-slurs, throwing coins on the field or dressed like heroin addicts either – I am looking at you Greek football-.
3. It felt like a movie
I do repeat myself here but it did feel like a movie yet again! The big screen, the stadium music, the kiss and celebrity cams (Jlo was there… who I caught a glimpse of in the city too before the game), being surrounded by the Yankee’s merchandise, you know that famous New York Yankees hat that you can find anywhere in the world, Yankees t-shirts and base…..balls. We ate the most delicious -and most expensive- hot dog of our lives, drunk a huge cup of -not good- beer laid back and watched a fun game. When you are in New York you should absolutely pay a visit to the Yankees stadium it is something different to do that you will not regret it. It takes long thugs be prepared to spent a lot of time in Bronx.
By the way, I do not think that any of the Yankees fans had the same experience than me that day. They lost the game.
