Our tour leader has been to NYC many times, and has
developed a
working relationship with a friend who lives in Harlem.
Her friend runs the Harlem Market, which is a Flea Market in the
heart of
Harlem. She is the only white person who brings busloads
of white
customers to the Harlem Market. We were told to get off the bus,
walk into the
Market, shop, and then walk straight back onto the bus.
So, unfortunately I wasn't able to get many pictures of Harlem
itself.
We were told not to draw attention to ourselves, and we just drove
straight to the
market and left immediately afterwards.
The Market wasn't very large, but it was wonderful. Most of the
products were
handmade and from Nigeria. Great prices. Lovely and colorful
materials,
outfits, purses, jewellery....it was great!
We did get to see the Apollo Theatre, and the building where Bill
Clinton has his office.
That was really something to learn. We had no idea that Bill
Clinton's office was in Harlem.
Picture of some brownstones where shows such as The Cosby Kids
were actually filmed.
What was a nice surprise to everyone, was the fact that
Harlem did not
look like we had it pictured in our minds. Remember growing
up all
we heard about Harlem was how terrible a place it was....the
graffitie,
run down etc. You'll be happy to know that it looks just like any
other middle class
area of NYC....very clean and well maintained.
Even the "projects" could have been any other apartment
buildings in the city.