Fleet Week! We are overrun with sailors. I look forward to it every year and there were a couple of years when I worked in a building on the waterfront when I got to see all the ships come up the Hudson, an awe-inspiring sight, especially the ones where all the sailors in white were standing along the decks, in neat rows, at attention. Crowds of people gather every year to watch the ships arrive. It’s a happy week. It’s always good to have them all here.
I bet it is. There’s nothing quite like men in uniform and they are almost all young and buff. I’ve been married to a Marine for 30 years so I have an appreciation for the subject. I have never been in NY during Fleet Week, but I can imagine it is special. For me it evokes the image of the sailor kissing the nurse on VJ day. Happy times!
Melanie – Thank you for joining me over here. I am avoiding the SPN thread like the plague until I have a chance to see the episode. :)
Congrats on your long marriage!
And yes: There are all the young buff guys in the whites – they travel in these enormous packs – hang around outside of bars, smoking cigarettes or whatever – like, 20 of them at a time. And then there are the officers – who travel in smaller groups, 3 or 4. These 3 guys had been hoping to get tickets at Caroline’s Comedy Club -but the box office wasn’t open yet.
I found the set of photos I took of all the ships coming up the Hudson.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sheilaomalley/sets/72157629875174016
The photos are pretty crappy – but you can get a sense of what an awe-inspiring sight it is. Near the end, I had moved down to the waterfront – which was crowded with cheering New Yorkers – and in the last couple of photos you can see a huge ship going by, with sailors in white lining the decks. It was so so impressive!
Many years ago, during Fleet Week, I was doing karaoke in Koreatown with a couple of friends (as you do), and a bunch of sailors came into the bar, and we ended up merging groups and ended up doing a raucous group version of “Summer Lovin'”. It was so so stupid and so so fun.
The ships in the harbor and the sailors in white everywhere you look on our crowded streets give such a burst of energy and positivity to the city. It’s wonderful!
Be careful karyoke group merging with sailors in Koreatown…Summer Lovin’ can turn to Music of the Night in a heartbeat.
Or this…
On the Town (1949)
http://imdb.com/media/rm2550701568/tt0041716/
// Summer Lovin’ can turn to Music of the Night in a heartbeat. //
hahaha Ain’t it the truth.
And yes, I always think of On the Town when I see the huge roving packs of sailors in white headed towards the bars on 9th Street!