Saturday, August 11, 2007

staten island

shipped out an etsy order this a.m., then got dressed and went down town to catch the ferry to staten island. trip-py. it runs 24 hours, every half hour to an hour, and is free. such a beautiful day out. the ride is so cool b/c you get to see the whole harbor with no obstruction- all the little views i've seen from various parts of manhattan and brooklyn all put together. Now I would love to take one of those cruises around manhattan. staten island itself is not what I expected. I've approached it from the south by car and I know it gets more suburban. I thought the portion facing manhattan would be more urban- sort of like queens. not so. It's more like a small rural town. no pretense or desire to be cool. no starbucks. barely any cafes or shops. close to the water on the northwest tip is the small village of st. george, where I walked around. it's a historic residential district of victorian and craftsman houses. the island itself is hilly, and the houses are tucked in to the side of the hill on that side.

I caught the eye of the neighborhood drunk, who followed me around for a little while. a guy in his 50's named george lewis, who was glad to share his life story and kept asking me if I was scared of him. (slipping in that his *girlfriend* had placed a restraining order on him, just before we walked by her house, where she was standing outside) I ditched him after a while, just as he most sincerely tried to ask me out. I really stood out in that neighborhood I guess. most of the tourists just get off the ferry, turn around, and take the next one back.

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