Another day of wandering around New York City and running up record numbers on our pedometers. We have gotten used to seeing a lot of fresh fruits and flowers in Ecuador. New York has small corner stands throughout East Village,  with everything just as fresh but having a more polished display.

First target neighborhood was Chinatown.  We had expected something similar to Chinatown in San Francisco, but this seemed much larger and more vibrant. There were the expected ducks hanging in the windows, and rows of spices, but the seafood was the most impressive. Massive amounts of fish, much of it still live, caught with a net out of an aquarium and killed specifically for the buyer.

Wandering into a local park, we came upon a scene that could have been from 100 years ago.  Men played mahjong, while women played cards, and a small group of musicians in a corner performed Chinese music.

Adjoining Chinatown is Little Italy, which was our next destination for the day. The peripheral of Little Italy was all Chinese stores, which surprised us — seems that Chinatown is expanding at the expense of Little Italy.  Walking a couple more blocks, and the scenes from Italy began to emerge.  This region was less obvious and much smaller than the neighboring Chinatown though.

We have gotten pretty good at getting around on the subway here (which is a lot cleaner and more efficient that we expected), and took a train uptown to see “A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder” on Broadway. It was one of the best musicals we have seen, with the lead having facial contortions to rival the young Jim Carey (you know — when he was still funny…).