Day 4 NYC.
What an amazing stroke of luck that I chose to visit Little Italy today! Today was the last day of the Feast of San Gennaro Festival. Several blocks of Mulberry Street were blocked off so all manner of things Italian could be exhibited and served and enjoyed.
The festival celebrates the life of San Gennaro who was the Bishop of Benevento and died a martyr in 305 AD. From the website:
He signed his death warrant when he visited the deacons, Sosso and Proculo, and the laymen, Eutichete and Acuzio, in jail. The Proconsul, Timothy, had Gennaro arrested. He underwent torture without wavering in his resolution to remain loyal to Christ. He was thrown headlong into a furnace, but by the grace of God, he come through unscratched. Furious, the agents beheaded him. His body and the severed head still dripping blood were gathered up by an old man who wrapped them reverently in a cloth. An old Neapolitan lady collected the blood with a sponge and filled a phial with the precious liquid. The Neapolitans pray to him for protection from fires, earthquakes, plagues, droughts and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
Mulberry Street 
Not sure what these are, but they look good! 
This reminds me of the PNE. 
Sidewalk seating. I don’t know if this exists all year long. 
The smells!! Mmm. 
A long line waiting for Lucy’s from the last photo. Lucy’s must be special. Other booths didn’t have the long line ups. 
Another view of Mulberry Street 
Even a ferris wheel!
A musician playing in a small concert area added to the fun.
Chinatown bumps right up against Little Italy. The change from one neighbourhood to another is remarkable – plus there was no festival in Chinatown today.
Card 11 recommended visiting the Museum of Chinese in America but when I got there, a protest blocked the entrance. The Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side pickets the Museum every Sunday and Wednesday. Volunteers handed out flyers claiming that the Museum had sold out to the establishment and no longer had the safety and welfare of residents of the Lower East Side at heart. Tourists like me stopped for a few moments and then moved on. For a twice-weekly event, the regular crowd – those with picket signs – was sizable. I decided to stay clear of the debate, and took a quick photo instead.
New York’s Chinatown looks much like Vancouver’s, perhaps with more festive street lanterns. Again streets were blocked off to make room for restaurant seating. I assume this is pandemic-related and not just for Sundays. The restaurants were doing good business this warm day.
Chinatown stretches along Columbus Park which was being well used today. More musicians working out, this time without the concert seating and with the accompaniment of calls from a children’s soccer game in the background..
I had planned to have my NYC bagel experience at Russ & Daughter’s which apparently serves the best bagel with lox in the city. I believed it when I saw the line. There must be another great bagel joint in New York …
The Lower East Side is very different from the Upper West and East sides and Midtown. It is rougher around the edges, but so alive with community as the photo in the header of this post suggests.
The Souvenir Part 2 awaited me at the New York Film Festival. Part 2 moves more quickly than Part 1, and is quite funny. It provided a good finsih to a busy day. See you tomorrow!
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