Labor Day Weekend

And the fun continues. Last Saturday we (Dane actually got to come do something fun after a week of studying) went to Rockaway Beach. It's the only beach you can reach by metro and is free, so it was the perfect destination for our Saturday. We went with two other law school couples, and surprise surprise, after 30 minutes of swimming a big black lady in park uniform comes to tell us that we're not allowed to swim where we are and have to walk half a mile down the beach to where the approved swimming beach is. I feel like no matter how careful I try to be here, I am constantly breaking the rules, so I am getting very good at saying "Oh, I didn't know". Other than that, we had a great day. The water was warmer than in California, and there were even people out surfing. I've always wanted to live near the beach, I just didn't realize that New York would qualify.

Labor Day we went to Governor's Island to ride bikes. It is only open in the summer then on weekends and has a free ferry that goes out to it from southern Manhattan.  The Staten Island Ferry is right next to it in the harbor and most people ride it to get a view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, but I think the Governor's Island ferry is better. You have a better view of both landmarks from the island, and you're not moving or behind crusty windows, so you can actually take good pictures of them and the New York skyline.

We went there with my friends Sasha, who I knew in high school, and Marie, who I met through Sasha when they were studying abroad in Italy. They showed me around Florence then and now are giving me tips on living in New York since they've lived here 6 years as NYU students and now paralegals.

Marie has a striking resemblance to Dane's youngest sister, Carmen, and the whole day I kept turning around thinking she had somehow turned up all of a sudden.

Sasha and Marie

Governor's Island used to be a military base, so they have some relics from that period. This is a 13 star flag, and I realized that I don't think I've ever seen anything but a 50 star flag in person.  Now you get to see this picture, so you still haven't seen one in person either, but now you know where to find one.