Rainy Mondays aren't that bad

Today was long and sticky! I started out trying one route to my internship. It was a little long and I think I'll try another route later in the week. After finding my internship (nestled in Chinatown where you would never expect to find a film company) I explored the area for a bit. I walked by a lot of Chinatown kitsch shops and some other cute stores before taking a break in a park to cool off. The park had a mist fountain, but I couldn't go in with my camera! I had planned on going to the Eldridge Street Synagogue, but I spent a lot more time exploring than I had planned, so I headed back to the Prince St. Station.

A cute family crossing Prince St.

I had to take a picture of Ina for Ryan and Matt. There's a store for her friends in the Hamptons too!

A bike chained to a sign on Prince St.

The next stop was the Essex Street Market where I planned to get lunch. I read that it was a great place for produce, fresh meats, and prepared lunch food. It turns out there's not much in the way of sandwiches and cooked food, so I headed down the street and found a nice place called Flowers Cafe. It was a fun little hippie inspired place with sandwiches, salads, and ice cream! I had this delicious sandwich called The Boardwalk. It was made up of avocado, carrots, red onions (I took those off), tomato, lettuce, and hummus, all on amazing rye bread! While I hadn't planned on it, I had to get a scoop of ice cream:

They were very generous! I haven't had mint chocolate chip in years and it really hit the spot.

The weather forecast called for afternoon rain, so this morning I decided to buy a movie ticket. I picked a film called Scandal Makers (synopsis & review here), which was part of the Asian Film Festival at Lincoln Center. On my way, I saw this cool shot of a woman with her massage chair waiting for the train!

This was a random woman playing a song on one of the Sing for Hope pianos (info). This was one of two I saw a the Lincoln Center. The other pianist was a little boy!

When I got out of the movie the ground was wet and I had completely missed the rain! I thought I would make black bean burgers for dinner, so I headed to Trader Joe's to shop (thanks to Matt for telling me where it was). I walked about 20 of the 40+ blocks and then decided to take the subway the next 20 (the rain only made the air incredibly sticky). The walk was nice and it gave me a quick glance at the lights of Times Square, but the lure of an air conditioned subway car was too strong. When I got to TJ's the windows were papered up and, peeking through the holes I could see a group of people in Hawaiian shirts having a meeting. It must be a new one! At that point I was too tired to go to the other one and decided to head home. I stopped at a bodega on my walk back to the apartment and got some rice and black beans to cook. I got back just before dark and had a nice dinner.

I know I promised to take pictures of the rest of the apartment, but I haven't finished. Here's the nook (it's a room, not the Barnes and Noble e-reader). It is attached to my room and offers a nice view of the street outside. It's a great place to watch the kids play or see the ice cream truck drive by!