saturday night

One of those nights that reminds me why I love bicycling in the city so much. Deb biked in to get her hair cut, and I biked in later to meet her at Temple Korean in the East Village. The ride in was super-fast... I've gotten so used to riding in to work with a heavy messenger bag that I feel free whenever I ride without it. Took the Manhattan Bridge into the city at dusk. It was clear and about 42 degrees, no traffic. Saw two other riders on the bridge but that was it. 25 minutes door to door.

We had a nice meal at Temple, where we usually just order a pile of appetizers one after another. The woman sitting next to us turned out to be someone who live down the hall from me in college. For dessert, we were hoping for the carrot cake at Spring Street Natural Restaurant, which is dairy-free and awesome. We called to make sure they had it on the menu tonight, then cycled the 25 blocks or so down to Soho. Now, at 8:30 on a Saturday night, Soho becomes a parking lot. Traffic from uptown, the Holland, Williamsburg, the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge all converges, and the streets are packed curb-to-curb with well-dressed party people looking sullen and late. Stressed-out girls in the highest of heels vainly flag cabs that aren't coming because traffic isn't moving. Through all of this we glide across 9th Street, down 2nd Ave, right on Kenmare, and lock our bikes to the signpost immediately in front of the door. Carrot cakes and coffee, sitting at the bar.

On such a clear, cool night, I figure that the view will be sweet on the Brooklyn Bridge and the tourist load will be low, so we head straight down Lafayette, on a new, wide painted bike lane. There's only about ten other people on the whole bridge, most of them on bikes (of course, not counting the honking rows of unmoving cars fifteen feet below us). The skyline has that hyperreal quality Manhattan gets on exceptionally clear days. We slow at the top to take in the panorama (from straight ahead, moving to the right: the east tower, the Promenade, Red Hook, the Verrazano, Staten Island off in the distance, the tiny Statue of Liberty, the Financial district, the west tower, Chinatown, Midtown looming with the Empire State Building all blue for some reason, the other two East River bridges, Dumbo...), but we don't stop.