Fun & games in Coney Island

When you travel to New York for the first time, you may expect to feel like you are on a movie set or to experience a mild culture chock. It took me over a week, on my last day in fact, to find this sense of New York, and it came to me from visiting Coney Island. The promenade by the beach was filled with New Yorkers. Pensioners relaxing in the different cafes, locals competing in "handball" the American version, in well placed public sports facilities and orthodox Jews enjoying the Sukkot with song and dance. The icing on the cake was when two officers of the NYPD joined in the festive dance, taking a break from patrolling. From now on I do not think of Wall street or the statue of liberty when I think of the big Apple, but of Coney Island and its rich culture.