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January 22, 2006

Ice Skating

On Saturday, when it was absurdly warm for a January day, Derek and I went ice skating at the Wollman Rink in Prospect Park. The Wollman Rink is so retro it could easily be converted into a Williamsburg themed-bar-of-the-moment. The architecture is from the 60s, and the snack bar really doesn't seem to have changed much since it opened. There's fabulous greasy food -- fries, pizza, hot dogs, etc. -- and of course, there's a "party room" for kids' birthday parties (there's always one going on). The rental area and the lockers and the picnic tables look exactly like the ones that would have been at any ice skating rink in the 80s. I always have a range of childhood flashbacks when I go there. The gazillion 8-10 year-old kids running around probably has something to do with this.

We stood in line, got crappy rental skates, and then joined throngs of skaters of all levels in circling around and around the ice. At first, it took a little courage to cross over from the rubber floor to the ice at the edge of the rink (if you haven't skated in a while you'll be a bit wobbly, especially if you are a grown-up) but it's so much fun once you get going. It's like Frogger -- the ice is packed with people who might fall on their faces at any moment or skate right in front of you, so you have to maneuver your way around. Various pop classics (Elton John, songs from Grease) play on the speakers, and little girls in various figure skating outfits abound. It's like morphing back to your life as an eight-year-old for a few hours, only when the Zamboni comes on and you get to go to the snack bar, you can buy whatever you want.

Posted by csageday at January 22, 2006 10:13 PM

Comments

Posted by: kaitlyn at January 23, 2006 10:25 AM