The Bastille Day Rendez-Vous at Cercle Rouge Brasserie

A dozen or more classic French Citroens lined up on West Broadway this morning in front of the Cercle Rouge Brasserie. Lucky to have my camera handy, I snapped away at all of the fine looking auto's. I love old cars and these were in such great shape. Also puttering around past me in the streets were several French Velosolex motor bicycles.

After doing a little web searching, I discovered that the Cercle Rouge Brassarie was the final destination of a rally of these classic Citroen cars and Velosolex motorbikes that started on 122nd St. and Riverside Drive. The rally continued through Manhattan passing several L'Occitane boutiques as well as the annual Bastille Day on 60th street fair before finally landing here on West Broadway.

The sponsor L'Occitane states that the founder, Oliver Baussan, made his start "traveling in his rattletrap Citroen 2CV, bringing his naturl soaps and essential oils to the markets of Provence". More information on the L'Occitanes facebook page and at Bastille Day Rendez-Vous.  ...and you don't need to travel to France to get a Velosolex motorbike of your very own.. just go to Steve's Moped.

Play Me, I'm Yours

Earlier this evening as I ran along the Hudson river, I noticed a nice line up of handsome bears for tonight's Muscle Bear Cruise on the "Sea Tea", Now that would have been fun to go to. But since tomorrows night out will be more than enough for me, I thought I'd do a quiet evening close by.

Having been so intrigued by this whole piano in the park thing I saw early this afternoon, I walked back up to Tribeca Park and sat and listened to people play the piano. Several people stopped by to play (and well, I might add), and chat, and listen, have a smoke.. all the while, it's a very warm and humid evening,, the Empire State building aglow in lavender far in the distance.. how nice is this? How very New York.

My post earlier in the day:

New York City is placing pianos in 60 parks and other public spaces throughout the city and inviting anyone to decorate and play them.


The two-week project, dubbed “Play Me, I'm Yours,” kicks off June 21 with a one-day music festival to feature 1,000 free performances citywide. Artists, volunteers and any member of the public may decorate the street pianos and will be encouraged to play them, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office said in a news release.

I've seen the news coverage of these piano's in the parks. So, I'm walking home today and there were two piano's right here in Tribeca Park, that little triangular park at W. Broadway, Walker st. and 6th Ave.. just below Canal Street. I see one of the piano's is empty, I sits me down and remembered a childhood nursery song "Hello, is this Aunt Sarah?" I'll blame my bad playing on that broken lower "C" key.

"Play Me, I'm Yours" is the program, dial 311 or go to NYStreetPianos to find a piano near you.

View from my cellphone

Nothing like putting your underwear out for all the world to see.

World Trade Center - The Tribute Lights

My favorite rememberance to 9/11 are the Tribute Lights,, shining up into the sky for all to see in all of New York. Here is the view from my window here on Duane Street.

I Love Fireworks...

...I really do.. and this year, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage to New York, the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks took place over the Hudson River. Lucky for me as I live on the central/west/lower part of Manhattan island and I've never liked going to the east side to watch the fireworks.

I really feel fireworks "work" better on the Hudson River. Easier access for more people, I hope they continue to celebrate the 4th of July on the Hudson river in the future.

To avoid the huge crowds gathering in midtown, I walked down Chambers Street here in Tribeca to Rockefeller park in Battery Park City. It's actually the best local location to watch the fireworks because you can see both the Macy's fireworks upriver and the New Jersey fireworks at Liberty State Park across the river. It's great.

I noticed this year how many foreigners there were viewing the fireworks, I heard many languages being spoken and the language of "ooohs" and "aaahs" were understood by all.