SATURDAY 25th JUNE 2016 - MOTO BORGOTARO, BROOKLYN & BUBBA GUMPS

There was a  spring in Paul's step today.  We planned to visit Moto Borgotaro but we had also been told that the owner is a grumpy-bum and the shop is rarely opened to the public.  We went anyway.  We caught the subway to Brooklyn Metro and immediately felt the difference compared to the Manhatten side of the river.   We strutted our stuff walking many blocks past gorgeous old buildings, only two to three stories high.  There was a lovely sense of peace and calmness about the place.   I was also soaking up the environment thinking of the 3xtimes great grandparents perhaps walking the same streets.
We finally got to Union Street and walked towards the docks.  It's a very industrial area that's being turned in to the latest trendy area to live.  We spotted the shop just as the roller door was going down.   Paul actually was almost on his knees trying to attract the owners attention before the door closed completely.  He succeeded with only inches to go.
We introduced ourselves as being from Australia and that we'd came all this way to see his shop.  He had no choice but to let us in.    And to our surprise Peter was a really lovely fellow and we spent two hours chatting about all things to do with old Italian motorcycles.  That is all he works on.  He had some quite rare bikes in there including two SFC Laverda's, one being completely original and unchanged since the day it was built.   The  media had recently taken many photo's of it to do a glossy magazine feature about the bike.

 

Following on from that wonderful visit we went to the shop next door -  Union Garage - and checked out their selection of bike accessories.   One thing of interest in that shop was a JANUS.

We walked back through downtown Brooklyn and found ourselves at the beginning of the Brooklyn Bridge.  Well, there was nothing for it than to walk across the bridge back to New York Central.

After that long and memorable walk we found ourselves in Washington Square Park.  There was dancing and singing and joy and festivities.  By this time we've formed the opinion that every single person in New York City is gay.   And then we learnt that the next day was Gay Pride Day of which a couple of million people were gathering to celebrate their chosen sexuality.

Paul met a friendly little Mexican fella on the way home...

We also, without planning to, revisited the Empire State Building to see the city lights at night.  The queue was very L-O-N-G.   However, when they saw my walking stick I was ushered right to the front and up we went.   Waiting time amounted to about 30 seconds.  We were real pleased with ourselves, and considering it was nearly midnight, grateful as well.

We hadn't eaten and decided against our better judgement to go to Bubba Gumps for a feed.   Turns out our better judgement was right.  The meal was horrible in every sense of the word. 

And that ends another day of exploring New York City and Brooklyn.