After walking around the Great 4th of July Festival on Water St for what seemed like forever, we decided that enough is enough. It was wayyyy too hot to be walking around under the blazing sun. It was so humid and hot, I actually felt physically sick. Kevin suggested that we should head over to the South Street Seaport area to hangout. With it being on the waterfront, the breeze might help us feel a little cooler. If all else fails, we could walk around the Pier 17 mall and enjoy the air con for a bit. Also, he remembered that Puma is having some sort of World Cup event all month long at the Seaport and said that we could check that out too. Air con at the mall? World Cup stuff? Sounds good to me..let's go!
From the moment we walked into the South Street Seaport area, we saw red colored themed tents everywhere. I went up to the site map and found out that it was a pretty big event and that there were quite a number of things going. The whole event is sponsored by Puma and it's on daily from June 11 to July 11, in conjunction with the World Cup. Apart from being able to watch live World Cup matches on big screens, there are also other things that you could do.
From the moment we walked into the South Street Seaport area, we saw red colored themed tents everywhere. I went up to the site map and found out that it was a pretty big event and that there were quite a number of things going. The whole event is sponsored by Puma and it's on daily from June 11 to July 11, in conjunction with the World Cup. Apart from being able to watch live World Cup matches on big screens, there are also other things that you could do.
I guess the one thing that really stood out was the Puma Football Pitch. They have tournaments and football clinics going on daily through out the whole month. In between those 'official' events, everybody is invited to just go in and kick the ball around. They have short matches where you can just team up with strangers, form teams and play a game. I think that is an absolutely brilliant idea, since football is a game that brings people from all over the world together.
There wasn't any tournament or clinics going on while we were there. However, there were kids in the Puma Football Pitch, playing a game. It was really fun to watch how this game just brings everybody together. Those kids didn't know each other before they stepped into the pitch but once they started playing, they all became friends. I could gage from their accents that they were probably tourist, hailing from different parts of the world, but because of this event, they had the chance to play football with total strangers, right in the heart of NYC. How cool is that? Good job Puma for coming up with this idea!
There were also small stalls all over that sold supporter jerseys/t shirts for the various World Cup teams and other World Cup souvenirs too. I tried looking for a vuvuzela but I couldn't find any. Hmmm, maybe you can only get it in Africa :P
If you are not looking for a particular team jersey, you could also go to one of the two Puma Retail Containers to pick up some Puma merchandise. I didn't go in to check the retail outlets out (I'm not really a big Puma fan, sorry...) but I saw many people coming out of those containers with bags and bags of merchandise. I guess they must have some sort of good deals in there.
Here is another cool thing you could do at Puma City NY. If you were to buy a jersey or t shirt at the event, you could bring it over to this booth and they will personalized it for you there and then! You could also add in Puma graphics to make it a one of a kind souvenirs. For those of you who doesn't really want to spend a lot of money for a souvenir, Puma has a free Photo Booth, where you can enter and get a souvenir photo for FREE! We were too lazy to line up just to get our photos taken, so we decided to pass up on that.
From Puma City, we headed over to the Mall at Pier 17 to hang out. It felt so good to escape the heat for a bit and we enjoyed ourselves just walking around in the nice air con mall. We knew that we could get a great view of the East River, Brooklyn Heights and the bridges from the top floor of the mall, so we headed outside to check it out. Look at all the comfortable deck chairs! Too bad they were all taken. If not, it would have been pretty relaxing to just sit there in the breeze and shade, just enjoying the view of the waterfront.
Check out the awesome view! No, not of my sun burnt face! :P I was referring to the view of the East River as well as the three bridges that connects Manhattan to Brooklyn. The one closest to me is the famous Brooklyn Bridge, followed by the Manhattan Bridge and the furthest one of all is the Williamsburg Bridge. You can also see the ever so popular Water Taxi Beach in the foreground. We initially wanted to head down there for a drink and maybe some snacks but it was just way too hot. The best time to go hangout at the Water Taxi Beach is after sunset. That's right...when the sun goes down, things begin to heat up at the Water Taxi Beach! From what I hear, it's an awesome place to party - with reasonably priced drinks and pub food.
Here is another photo of the 'BMW' bridges (Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg) and the East River. You can also see the Circle Line River Cruise ferry just under the Brooklyn Bridge. Jumping on the Circle Line Cruise is one of the best ways to see Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. You can buy the tickets and board the ferry right here on Pier 17. After all the walking and stuff, it was already time for dinner. We decided to hail a cab and head over to Little Italy to search for a yummy 'road side' restaurant. More about that in my next post!!
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