OK, it's winter. Sort of. Even though we haven't gotten much cold or snow this year, the clouds are ever-present as usual in February. Basically, my mood drops drastically at this time of year and this winter is no exeception, so in an effort to shake off the winter blues and cabin fever that I've been wallowing in for the past few weeks, I decided yesterday to pretend I was on vacation.
So, yesterday I went into NYC and was a tourist. I picked up Erin (of TWJ fame!) in the Bronx, and the both of us headed into lower Manhattan to experience things we'd never experienced before.
Our first stop was the Police Museum. It's New York's original First Precinct and is located at 100 Old Slip just down the street from the South Street Seaport. The highlights of the place are an actual jail cell that you can go into, the weapons room (apparently people actually DID carry sawed-off shotguns in violin cases--I thought that was just Hollywood), and the historical mug shot cards (one woman was arrested for being a "non-trustworthy servant"). For a suggested donation of $7, it was well worth the money. I'm also the proud owner of a new NYPD baseball cap, just like former NY Giants' coach, Jim Fassel: (http://images.sportsline.com/u/photos/football/nfl/img9651487.jpg) Yeah. I'm cool now.
The next stop was the Fraunces Tavern, which Erin, as an American history scholar, had shockingly never been to. (On Dec. 4, 1783, George Washington gave his farewell address to his troops in the Tavern's Long Room.) What we didn't know was that yesterday was Benjamin Tallmadge Day! I'm not sure exactly what's the significance of that, but to me it meant that the Tavern Museum was totally infested with reinactment soldiers! It turns out most of them were from the "Sheldon's Horse: The Second Continental Light Dragoons" (www.dragoons.info), which was effectively the first cavalry, I think. After Erin and I toured the museum, we decided to have a beer in the tavern--just like George no doubt did in that room over 200 years ago. Funnily enough, the rest of the bar was full of the reinactment soldiers, so we got to witness what the place looked like back in Washington's day. It certainly didn't SOUND like it did back then, unless the Revolutionary War Patriots listened to Madonna, but you can't have everything, I guess. Although there weren't any horses present (the soldiers all seemed to have arrived in a large rented party van--except for the one George Washington look-alike who was fussing with his SUV) they were very nice and informative folks and even Erin learned an historical tidbit or two from them. I guess they will be back (with the horses this time) in November for "Evacuation Day" which I understand takes place in Battery Park.
So, what is the reason for all this blabbering, you ask? I guess nothing much except that yesterday helped shake me awake again, and today I'm working hard at editing the second episode of TWJ. If the weather ever dries up again so I can shoot some footage in Greenwich, I should have it up on You Tube maybe next weekend (or shortly thereafter.)
Then again, meeting the Dragoons put a crazy idea in my head that I might be able to use them for this episode, and if so, it may be delayed another couple weeks. We'll see what happens this week.
Golly, vacations certainly help recharge, don't they?
