Day 7! How is that possible?? Today is a big day in NYC - the anniversary of 9/11. Grey clouds abound. And, appropriately, it's raining.
We start our day in Greenwich Village, thinking we'll have breakfast at the Blue Ribbon Bakery since it got a fantastic write-up in the NY for Dummies book, but it's not open so we return to the Washington Square Diner. Today we are going to poke around Soho and Little Italy, which we saw a little bit of the other day but we wanted to return.
So, after breakfast we wind our way up and down the streets admiring the architecture and imagining what these old buildings have seen over the years. The local fire department has its doors open and people are gathering to reminisce about the firefighters who lost their lives 8 years ago. We just peek in, take a look at the tribute that's been set up, and don't stay too long. We're already soaking wet but it's not too cold so we continue our walking tour.
Eventually we make our way over to Ground Zero thinking that you can't really be in NYC on September 11th and not make a visit to Ground Zero on the day. So we do. It's raining quite hard now, and the wind is harsh. The police presence is huge - and this is quite a bit of time after the reading of the names and the formal ceremonies have finished. But there are still tons of people and it's very moving to be here. We step into St. Paul's church and look at the many tributes that have been set up - teddy bears and origami from school kids, photo displays of how the church was used for food, shelter, first aid, etc. during and post-9/11 as this was a major sanctuary for the relief of the workers. Unbelievable, really, that it was unharmed when the twin towers came down.
After paying our respects, we make our way to the Waldorf Astoria - time to see some grandeur after seeing the devastation. We also want to get out of the rain for a moment so we find a couple of super comfy overstuffed chairs in the lobby and soak up the finery of the place. It's a good thing Maya can't see me right now - I look like a drowned rat!
We spend the afternoon indoors at the Paley Museum of Television and Radio, watching some vintage TV shows. Okay I catch 40 winks while Bruce watches some vintage TV shows.
Tonight is a bit of a quiet night. We go uptown to Carmines for dinner - they serve family style, which means basically, that we should have had another two people with us as the platters (yes, I mean platters) of food were huge. The restaurant is packed, it's got a fantastic energy, the food is delicious, and we have a wonderfully relaxed dinner.
No shows tonight - it's past 9 when we finish dinner so we just head back home, say "hi" to Maya on the way past her - she's stayed amazingly dry considering it's been raining all day! And we get home just in time to see Kathy Griffin on Larry King Live. Man, she gets around!
Even in the rain, NYC is a great place to be. G'night.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Thursday, September 10 - Day 6
Oh my God, I'm still full from last night's Carnegie Deli experience. I am going to have to do boot camp diet when we get back. We just get coffee this morning - not ready for food yet.
First thing we do after coffee is walk to the Cathedral of St. Patrick on 5th Avenue. We had seen it from the outside but we both wanted to go inside. Lots of history. We get there just as Mass is starting and we decide to stay. To my surprise, even though I don't go very often, it all comes back and I still know all the words. Wow. That's a surprise. Today's reading and sermon are about the Love Thy Neighbour theme - turning the other cheek, doing unto others, giving without expecting anything in return, getting beyond the natural instinct to hate the enemy and so forth. A very timely theme considering tomorrow is the anniversary of 9/11. It's a spoken Mass but there is a singer who comes out and sings some of the passages (Holy Holy Holy, etc). It's pretty amazing to sit in on a Mass in this beautiful cathedral. Before we leave I light a couple of candles and we check out the various statues, gaze at the huge gothic spires, and marvel at this huge sanctuary in the middle of such a cosmopolitan centre. It's an amazing experience.
Our next mission is to find the Plaza Hotel - couldn't find it listed in our NYC for Dummies book, which we found strange, but had looked it up online so we know where to go. On the way we pass all kinds of high end stores and places such as Trump Tower and Tiffany. Then we arrive at the south entrance to Central Park, where there is another gorgeous fountain, all the horses and buggies lined up, and tons of people. We had been recommended to take a carriage ride through Central Park but we already have a pretty full agenda planned so we take a pass on that for now.
The Plaza Hotel is elegant, with lots of marble, gilt embellishments, chandeliers, flowers, a Rose theme in the lobby bar, Eloise stuff, high end shops, etc. Tonight is the big fashion night in NYC and everywhere you look there are signs about Fashion Night - some big event here at the Plaza. Although we feel somewhat under-dressed considering it's such a fashion kind of day but we see many many other stylistically-challenged people just like us on the street today so we don't feel out of place.
It's mid-afternoon and we have finally recovered from last night's Carnegie Deli feeding frenzy so we decide to go to Serendipity for lunch - this is a place Emily had recommended and it's pretty close to where we are. It is a cute little shop / restaurant, very ornate, with lots of selection and a huge dessert menu. Everyone seems to be drinking their famous 'frozen hot chocolate' (isn't that an oxymoron?) Anyway, the most important thing is to save room for dessert so we do... and we notice that our trip has quickly turned into the NYC ice cream tasting tour! We've had ice cream every day. So, today's choice is the sundae with both hot fudge and peanut butter toppings. which spill over the edge of the parfait bowl onto the saucer - wait til you see the photo of this one. What's another 45 weeks on LA Weight Loss when I get back!!! It's huge - whip cream, cherry, the whole nine yards - and yummy.
We waddle out of there and decide it's time for a big walk so we head off for the UN building and get there just in time for the last tour of the day. This has turned out to be a very thoughtful day, starting with the Mass, and now with the tour of the UN. We learn about the objectives of the UN, see the displays about world hunger, warzones, and so forth and we see the General Assembly. Our tour guide makes us promise to play Free Rice on-line - a fundraising initiative to eliminate world hunger. Very worthwhile - glad we took that tour - thanks for the tip, Brenda!
After a wee hotel break, we set off for tonight's play - God of Carnage - starring Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden. Wow! This is great theatre - so well-cast, sharp, funny, provocative. What a great night. My favourite line is when Marcia Gay Harden, who is very intense in the play, says: "I have no sense of humour and I have no intention of acquiring one." Fuh-nee. This is the kind of night that makes you remember why you went in to this business in the first place. So glad we got to see this!
We make a little stop at Scotty's on the way home and I think I will try to post my blog but the internet is down so I have to wait until tomorrow night. Sheesh.
Except for that minor glitch, we're calling Day 6 another fantastic NYC day. We're so thankful to be here. G'night.
First thing we do after coffee is walk to the Cathedral of St. Patrick on 5th Avenue. We had seen it from the outside but we both wanted to go inside. Lots of history. We get there just as Mass is starting and we decide to stay. To my surprise, even though I don't go very often, it all comes back and I still know all the words. Wow. That's a surprise. Today's reading and sermon are about the Love Thy Neighbour theme - turning the other cheek, doing unto others, giving without expecting anything in return, getting beyond the natural instinct to hate the enemy and so forth. A very timely theme considering tomorrow is the anniversary of 9/11. It's a spoken Mass but there is a singer who comes out and sings some of the passages (Holy Holy Holy, etc). It's pretty amazing to sit in on a Mass in this beautiful cathedral. Before we leave I light a couple of candles and we check out the various statues, gaze at the huge gothic spires, and marvel at this huge sanctuary in the middle of such a cosmopolitan centre. It's an amazing experience.
Our next mission is to find the Plaza Hotel - couldn't find it listed in our NYC for Dummies book, which we found strange, but had looked it up online so we know where to go. On the way we pass all kinds of high end stores and places such as Trump Tower and Tiffany. Then we arrive at the south entrance to Central Park, where there is another gorgeous fountain, all the horses and buggies lined up, and tons of people. We had been recommended to take a carriage ride through Central Park but we already have a pretty full agenda planned so we take a pass on that for now.
The Plaza Hotel is elegant, with lots of marble, gilt embellishments, chandeliers, flowers, a Rose theme in the lobby bar, Eloise stuff, high end shops, etc. Tonight is the big fashion night in NYC and everywhere you look there are signs about Fashion Night - some big event here at the Plaza. Although we feel somewhat under-dressed considering it's such a fashion kind of day but we see many many other stylistically-challenged people just like us on the street today so we don't feel out of place.
It's mid-afternoon and we have finally recovered from last night's Carnegie Deli feeding frenzy so we decide to go to Serendipity for lunch - this is a place Emily had recommended and it's pretty close to where we are. It is a cute little shop / restaurant, very ornate, with lots of selection and a huge dessert menu. Everyone seems to be drinking their famous 'frozen hot chocolate' (isn't that an oxymoron?) Anyway, the most important thing is to save room for dessert so we do... and we notice that our trip has quickly turned into the NYC ice cream tasting tour! We've had ice cream every day. So, today's choice is the sundae with both hot fudge and peanut butter toppings. which spill over the edge of the parfait bowl onto the saucer - wait til you see the photo of this one. What's another 45 weeks on LA Weight Loss when I get back!!! It's huge - whip cream, cherry, the whole nine yards - and yummy.
We waddle out of there and decide it's time for a big walk so we head off for the UN building and get there just in time for the last tour of the day. This has turned out to be a very thoughtful day, starting with the Mass, and now with the tour of the UN. We learn about the objectives of the UN, see the displays about world hunger, warzones, and so forth and we see the General Assembly. Our tour guide makes us promise to play Free Rice on-line - a fundraising initiative to eliminate world hunger. Very worthwhile - glad we took that tour - thanks for the tip, Brenda!
After a wee hotel break, we set off for tonight's play - God of Carnage - starring Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden. Wow! This is great theatre - so well-cast, sharp, funny, provocative. What a great night. My favourite line is when Marcia Gay Harden, who is very intense in the play, says: "I have no sense of humour and I have no intention of acquiring one." Fuh-nee. This is the kind of night that makes you remember why you went in to this business in the first place. So glad we got to see this!
We make a little stop at Scotty's on the way home and I think I will try to post my blog but the internet is down so I have to wait until tomorrow night. Sheesh.
Except for that minor glitch, we're calling Day 6 another fantastic NYC day. We're so thankful to be here. G'night.
Wednesday, September 9 - Day 5
While everyone back at Calgary Opera is getting ready for a staff meeting, here I am in NYC having breakfast at one of the many local diners close to the hotel - Scotty's. Open 24 hours. Cheap and good food.
Today is Coney Island day so we'll be crossing the bridge ... on purpose this time. It's practically deserted and although I think it would have been a blast to be here on a super crowded day to see everything in action, I really don't mind wandering down the pier and only running into a few people, most of them fishing, with a few of them catching little stuff. It's pretty windy and a bit overcast - the perfect walking along the beach day. Lots of giant sized gulls, obviously well fed. This is so different than the California beaches - this beach definitely has a "season" and the season is over for this year. It's also very much a working beach - not a resort beach - serving the local communities. There probably aren't many tourists who come to NYC for the beach - if you want a beach vacation you'd most likely be going somewhere else. That's part of the charm of this place as well. The Cyclone roller coaster is shut down but looks cool. Em - you would like it! I get some good pics - one of a gull on a fake palm tree, one of the Nathan's hot dog eating contest countdown board, etc.
We take the F line back to the last Brooklyn stop and decide to check out the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. This is where Bruce nearly gets killed as he doesn't notice the van coming at him about 100 miles an hour as he steps out onto a street. Thank goodness I have a pretty good set of lungs and manage to get his attention just in time. That was exciting in the worst possible way!
We walk through DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) district, through a park between the two bridges (Manhattan and Brooklyn) and eventually reach our destination. And right beside the Ice Cream factory, which looks more like a little white house, we also see the restaurant Rose had recommended - The River Cafe - CUTE! Not sure if we'll make it back over here to try breakfast but it's good to know where it is. We go for ice cream - yum - and highly recommend this place to anyone coming down here. The view of the Manhattan skyline is great and the ice cream delicious.
Next stop is back in Manhattan, at Century 21. Yes, Brenda - we are going shopping! I realize, once inside this massive store, that I don't really know how to go shopping. Bruce looks for some shirts and pants but doesn't make any purchases. I walk through the ladies section, at least a small part of it, but I don't know where to start because there's nothing I'm really looking for (and that's the only way I know how to shop - search and destroy kind of mission) so we don't last too too long. Then we discover the separate entrance for shoes. I DO know how to shop for shoes and we end up spending about half an hour in the shoe part and walk out with 4 pairs. That was fun!
We don't really have time to get back to the hotel before our show tonight so we just take a coffee break and then head out to see Jersey Boys at the August Wilson Theatre. Bruce has wanted to see this show since it opened. It is amazing. If the lead singer can't pull off Frankie Valli (sp?) then the show is pretty hooped but in this case all of the leads are fantastic. They nail the songs, the structure of the show is solid - some story telling, lots of the hits, some schmaltz, lots of show biz - it's great. So clean and slick. You'd never know it's been running for years - feels fresh and full of energy. We enjoyed every minute and we're so happy to have seen it.
After the show we're a bit hungry so we walk over to the Carnegie Deli - Jay had written it up in our book. I should have noticed the smirk on the waiter's face when I ordered the club sandwich. Perhaps the note "Sharing $3" written in the menu should have been a tip-off. But for whatever reason, I'm thinking it is a normal thing to order a club sandwich. And then it arrives. And this freaking sandwich is literally as big as my head. No, really. I take a picture of it. Everyone around us is looking at me. Smirking. Ha ha. Joke's on me. I sort of eat part of half of it and take the turkey and the lettuce from the other half but, unfortunately, it's pretty much a waste. This sandwich would have fed three or four of the homeless people we passed on the way over here! I'm not sure how I feel about this. The waiter only gets a small tip.
Another great NYC day. I'm full of beach, ice cream, new shoes, Four Seasons music, and way too much turkey, tomato and lettuce! G'night.
Today is Coney Island day so we'll be crossing the bridge ... on purpose this time. It's practically deserted and although I think it would have been a blast to be here on a super crowded day to see everything in action, I really don't mind wandering down the pier and only running into a few people, most of them fishing, with a few of them catching little stuff. It's pretty windy and a bit overcast - the perfect walking along the beach day. Lots of giant sized gulls, obviously well fed. This is so different than the California beaches - this beach definitely has a "season" and the season is over for this year. It's also very much a working beach - not a resort beach - serving the local communities. There probably aren't many tourists who come to NYC for the beach - if you want a beach vacation you'd most likely be going somewhere else. That's part of the charm of this place as well. The Cyclone roller coaster is shut down but looks cool. Em - you would like it! I get some good pics - one of a gull on a fake palm tree, one of the Nathan's hot dog eating contest countdown board, etc.
We take the F line back to the last Brooklyn stop and decide to check out the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. This is where Bruce nearly gets killed as he doesn't notice the van coming at him about 100 miles an hour as he steps out onto a street. Thank goodness I have a pretty good set of lungs and manage to get his attention just in time. That was exciting in the worst possible way!
We walk through DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) district, through a park between the two bridges (Manhattan and Brooklyn) and eventually reach our destination. And right beside the Ice Cream factory, which looks more like a little white house, we also see the restaurant Rose had recommended - The River Cafe - CUTE! Not sure if we'll make it back over here to try breakfast but it's good to know where it is. We go for ice cream - yum - and highly recommend this place to anyone coming down here. The view of the Manhattan skyline is great and the ice cream delicious.
Next stop is back in Manhattan, at Century 21. Yes, Brenda - we are going shopping! I realize, once inside this massive store, that I don't really know how to go shopping. Bruce looks for some shirts and pants but doesn't make any purchases. I walk through the ladies section, at least a small part of it, but I don't know where to start because there's nothing I'm really looking for (and that's the only way I know how to shop - search and destroy kind of mission) so we don't last too too long. Then we discover the separate entrance for shoes. I DO know how to shop for shoes and we end up spending about half an hour in the shoe part and walk out with 4 pairs. That was fun!
We don't really have time to get back to the hotel before our show tonight so we just take a coffee break and then head out to see Jersey Boys at the August Wilson Theatre. Bruce has wanted to see this show since it opened. It is amazing. If the lead singer can't pull off Frankie Valli (sp?) then the show is pretty hooped but in this case all of the leads are fantastic. They nail the songs, the structure of the show is solid - some story telling, lots of the hits, some schmaltz, lots of show biz - it's great. So clean and slick. You'd never know it's been running for years - feels fresh and full of energy. We enjoyed every minute and we're so happy to have seen it.
After the show we're a bit hungry so we walk over to the Carnegie Deli - Jay had written it up in our book. I should have noticed the smirk on the waiter's face when I ordered the club sandwich. Perhaps the note "Sharing $3" written in the menu should have been a tip-off. But for whatever reason, I'm thinking it is a normal thing to order a club sandwich. And then it arrives. And this freaking sandwich is literally as big as my head. No, really. I take a picture of it. Everyone around us is looking at me. Smirking. Ha ha. Joke's on me. I sort of eat part of half of it and take the turkey and the lettuce from the other half but, unfortunately, it's pretty much a waste. This sandwich would have fed three or four of the homeless people we passed on the way over here! I'm not sure how I feel about this. The waiter only gets a small tip.
Another great NYC day. I'm full of beach, ice cream, new shoes, Four Seasons music, and way too much turkey, tomato and lettuce! G'night.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Tuesday, September 8 - Day 4
25 years ago today - Bruce was playing golf with Wade in Mount Elgin, I was getting my hair and make-up done - the only day I've ever had hair and make-up done - and we were getting ready to be married. We had a really fun wedding in T'burg with all the family, great dinner, dancing, our wedding night at Susan Lowrie's house, and a honey day the next day in Niagara Falls. Good times! Now, 25 years later here we are in NYC.
Angie and Susan and David and Roberta had contributed breakfast in bed for our 25th - thank you! We aren't able to actually have breakfast in bed but we spend quite a bit of time reading through our various resource materials to select the perfect place to have our anniversary breakfast. We decide to take the subway uptown to a place called "Good Enough to Eat" which has a good write up in NY for Dummies. I notice that Maya isn't out today and wonder where she is but I'm not too disappointed not to see her as my hair looks terrible today!
Breakfast is delicious - especially the home made biscuits with strawberry whipped butter (yum) - and for our first celebrity sighting, we see Kevin Bacon seated right across from us. I think there's a sweet irony to this considering it's a breakfast place and all. Definitely worth the trip up here. We'd come again except there are several hundred other places we'd like to try as well.
We saunter over to Central Park to walk off our breakfast and catch a glimpse of the Public Theatre - sadly the season is done for this year but we get a sense of how fabulous it would be to see something here. We also see the Belvedere Castle, the Great Lawn, Cedar Hill, about a bizillion nannies, often in groups with their wards afoot, musicians, walkers, joggers and the like. Lots and lots of people no matter what time of day. We cross the park and come out right at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Just a quick walk through the lobby and gift shop as we are actually on our way to Greenwich Village today and can't do justice to the Met in just an hour or so, so after buying a booklet in the gift shop (and guess what - my change is $9.11 - sounds strange when the cash register man says: "here you go - nine eleven.") we continue on our way. Back into the park for a quick look at the Jackie Kennedy reservoir, also catching a peek at the Guggenheim exterior through the trees.
Decide to take a bus down to Greenwich Village so we can see more of the city on our way. 60 blocks down Lexington Avenue later we arrive.
First we wander a bit through the Lower East Side looking in some restaurant supply stores - it's pretty trippy seeing whisks as big as my arm, and salad bowls that look like they can hold enough lettuce to feed several hundred. We continue winding our way through Little Italy, past a schoolyard where kids are playing sports under a huge billboard advertising a MOMA exhibition with two scarey looking skulls facing off - it's like life and death side by side - weird. Then a basketball game in a public court - that's fun - looks like a scene from a movie. Lots of little shops, restaurants, cool buildings.
Time for something sweet so we visit the Washington Square Diner to share a banana split - it is sin in a dish! With whip cream a cherry on top!
Then on to Washington Square Park, right beside NYU, a park with an amazing energy - tons of people, music, and a hundred dogs. I take lots of photos of these big city dogs and wonder what it's like to be a dog in NY. We ask ourselves if NYU was the place that the characters on Felicity went to school - remember that show? Makes us want to nod our heads and say "Hey" to everyone who walks by. A guy comes up to Bruce and asks if he'll pay him a buck for a good joke. Bruce, being a nice guy, complies. Here's the joke he got for a buck - "If Iraq was having trouble invading Turkey from behind I wonder if Greece would help." Pa Dum Pum...
Then we see an oom pah band playing some Jacques Brel tunes and our day is complete - come on, how much better can it get than this??
Emily had emailed that it was the Tribeca Barnes and Noble that Kathy Griffin was going to be at and since we are going to try to catch her we decide we'd better book it over there just in case she has some fans in NYC - ya think???!! So we hop on the subway at Washington Square and head over.
Is it strange to be going over a bridge? - HAH - we either got on the wrong train or we're going to Tribeca via Brooklyn! So, after we get switched back around, go back over the water to Manhattan, back to Washington Square, get on the right train and get over to Barnes and Noble, we're way behind schedule and we can't get a wristband that guarantees the book will get signed. But we buy the book anyway - "Official Book Club Selection. A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin" and get into a huge line-up that snakes its way through the bookshelves on the entire 2nd floor. We are by far the oldest and straightest people in line and we aren't even close to being in the wristband group that gets to hear her do her schtick, but we wait it out and eventually we do inch along toward the book signing table and there she is. I bet she easily signed 500 books already and yet she is still making eye contact with each person and thanking them for buying her book. I got some good pictures and I'm very happy with my signed copy.
For our anniversary dinner, we decide on John's Restaurant - another tip from the tour guide who told our group that's where to get the best pizza. It's not too busy but crowded enough to have good buzz in the restaurant and the pizza is, indeed, delicious. Wade - that dinner was on you - thank you!!
We make our way home around 11 p.m. - we're enjoying the familiarity of the neighbourhood now and it's good to be "home" and put our feet up. That was another big day for a couple of old folks who've been married for 25 years! Who'da thunk it!
Fantastic Anniversary - thanks everyone. G'night.
Angie and Susan and David and Roberta had contributed breakfast in bed for our 25th - thank you! We aren't able to actually have breakfast in bed but we spend quite a bit of time reading through our various resource materials to select the perfect place to have our anniversary breakfast. We decide to take the subway uptown to a place called "Good Enough to Eat" which has a good write up in NY for Dummies. I notice that Maya isn't out today and wonder where she is but I'm not too disappointed not to see her as my hair looks terrible today!
Breakfast is delicious - especially the home made biscuits with strawberry whipped butter (yum) - and for our first celebrity sighting, we see Kevin Bacon seated right across from us. I think there's a sweet irony to this considering it's a breakfast place and all. Definitely worth the trip up here. We'd come again except there are several hundred other places we'd like to try as well.
We saunter over to Central Park to walk off our breakfast and catch a glimpse of the Public Theatre - sadly the season is done for this year but we get a sense of how fabulous it would be to see something here. We also see the Belvedere Castle, the Great Lawn, Cedar Hill, about a bizillion nannies, often in groups with their wards afoot, musicians, walkers, joggers and the like. Lots and lots of people no matter what time of day. We cross the park and come out right at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Just a quick walk through the lobby and gift shop as we are actually on our way to Greenwich Village today and can't do justice to the Met in just an hour or so, so after buying a booklet in the gift shop (and guess what - my change is $9.11 - sounds strange when the cash register man says: "here you go - nine eleven.") we continue on our way. Back into the park for a quick look at the Jackie Kennedy reservoir, also catching a peek at the Guggenheim exterior through the trees.
Decide to take a bus down to Greenwich Village so we can see more of the city on our way. 60 blocks down Lexington Avenue later we arrive.
First we wander a bit through the Lower East Side looking in some restaurant supply stores - it's pretty trippy seeing whisks as big as my arm, and salad bowls that look like they can hold enough lettuce to feed several hundred. We continue winding our way through Little Italy, past a schoolyard where kids are playing sports under a huge billboard advertising a MOMA exhibition with two scarey looking skulls facing off - it's like life and death side by side - weird. Then a basketball game in a public court - that's fun - looks like a scene from a movie. Lots of little shops, restaurants, cool buildings.
Time for something sweet so we visit the Washington Square Diner to share a banana split - it is sin in a dish! With whip cream a cherry on top!
Then on to Washington Square Park, right beside NYU, a park with an amazing energy - tons of people, music, and a hundred dogs. I take lots of photos of these big city dogs and wonder what it's like to be a dog in NY. We ask ourselves if NYU was the place that the characters on Felicity went to school - remember that show? Makes us want to nod our heads and say "Hey" to everyone who walks by. A guy comes up to Bruce and asks if he'll pay him a buck for a good joke. Bruce, being a nice guy, complies. Here's the joke he got for a buck - "If Iraq was having trouble invading Turkey from behind I wonder if Greece would help." Pa Dum Pum...
Then we see an oom pah band playing some Jacques Brel tunes and our day is complete - come on, how much better can it get than this??
Emily had emailed that it was the Tribeca Barnes and Noble that Kathy Griffin was going to be at and since we are going to try to catch her we decide we'd better book it over there just in case she has some fans in NYC - ya think???!! So we hop on the subway at Washington Square and head over.
Is it strange to be going over a bridge? - HAH - we either got on the wrong train or we're going to Tribeca via Brooklyn! So, after we get switched back around, go back over the water to Manhattan, back to Washington Square, get on the right train and get over to Barnes and Noble, we're way behind schedule and we can't get a wristband that guarantees the book will get signed. But we buy the book anyway - "Official Book Club Selection. A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin" and get into a huge line-up that snakes its way through the bookshelves on the entire 2nd floor. We are by far the oldest and straightest people in line and we aren't even close to being in the wristband group that gets to hear her do her schtick, but we wait it out and eventually we do inch along toward the book signing table and there she is. I bet she easily signed 500 books already and yet she is still making eye contact with each person and thanking them for buying her book. I got some good pictures and I'm very happy with my signed copy.
For our anniversary dinner, we decide on John's Restaurant - another tip from the tour guide who told our group that's where to get the best pizza. It's not too busy but crowded enough to have good buzz in the restaurant and the pizza is, indeed, delicious. Wade - that dinner was on you - thank you!!
We make our way home around 11 p.m. - we're enjoying the familiarity of the neighbourhood now and it's good to be "home" and put our feet up. That was another big day for a couple of old folks who've been married for 25 years! Who'da thunk it!
Fantastic Anniversary - thanks everyone. G'night.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Monday, September 7 - Day 3
Labour Day Monday - we sleep in a bit today - til 9 a.m. since we had gotten up so early the past three days. After showering, I set out for the corner Starbucks to get some morning caffeine. Pass by Maya on the street and say good morning. She smirks - no doubt she thinks I washed and BRUSHED my hair on her advice yesterday. I'll let her believe that.
People are setting up a street festival of some kind on Lexington - food stalls, T-shirts, scarves, sunglasses, etc. as far as I can see when I look both ways. Fun. Good smells.
Take a moment back at the hotel to enjoy my coffee and email Emily to let her know that I wasn't able to post my blog yet - ran out of battery last night. I've been thinking a lot about Emily while here and how amazing it was for her and Patti to dream up this gift for us and send us off to NYC - we appreciate it so much!!
We took Patti's advice from our travel book and chose one of the local diners for breakfast - Blooms - on the corner of Lexington and 38th. Full to the brim with people, we have to line up to get in but it's a short wait for big character, great food, good price. Thanks Patti - good advice. We'll go back there for sure.
Our first stop today will be at Macy's - have to go there on Labour Day. Walked along 34th - tons of shops. Emily, every shoe store has Ed Hardy shoes on display. Now that I know who that is it's fun to see them.
Macy's is huge. And crowded. There is just so much stuff - I am sort of breaking out in a bit of a rash just being around so much merchandise. Walk all the way through the main floor, which is quite a feat for me - the non-shopper. It's kinda fun. But we don't buy anything.
We get to Madison Square Garden just in time for a tour. Bruce has so many memories of games he has watched on TV from the Garden. We see the theatre first and learn about the amazing soundproofing technology of this facility - Penn Station is underneath, then the 5,000 or so seat theatre, then on the 5th floor is the arena - which seats something like 18,000 - and they can all be going full force at the same time with no sound spill. Pretty phenomenal. We see the Club restaurant for members, watch a video and meet a Nick's City Dancer named Melissa. People take pictures of her - she's a good sport. Then we see the Club Bar & Grill and then visit a box. It's not quite as swish, believe it or not, as the boxes at the Saddledome but it's still super exclusive. Has 12 seats and 4 bar stools. The view from here is fantastic. It's set up today for a basketball game. There are 300 events here per year and each box comes with 12 tickets for every event.
We see the Nicks' dressing room - very high doors so the tall players don't clock themselves in the head going through the door. Tour guide tells us that some of the players drink 24 bottles of water per game and the team uses 500 towels. That's a lot of sweat. We see a huge shoe - size 18 or something like that. I take a picture of it beside my foot.
We see the Rangers' dressing room - normal height doors but a bit wider for the goalies. She points out Wayne Gretzky's and Mark Messier's lockers.
In the lobby there are great display boards with a lot of the history of the Garden. Very cool tour - glad we got to see it.
We leave MSG and, on Patti's advice, we each buy a 7-day unlimited Metro Pass and take the subway back up to Time Square to get some theatre tickets sorted out. We are particularly interested in God of Carnage, Jersey Boys, and A Steady Rain (new show with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig that starts previews Thursday). None of these are listed on TKTS so we go to the theatres.
Yay - tix for under $70 for Jersey Boys on Wednesday night - we're stoked!
Yay - tix for God of Carnage on Thursday night (also under $70) - double stoked!!
Sadly, the only tix they have for A Steady Rain are $130 each - I don't think so. Even though this will probably be the talk of the town when it opens, I just can't justify paying $130 each so we'll take a pass on that one. Two outa three ain't bad. We're pretty excited.
Take the subway up to Lincoln Center. It reminds me of the plaza in Los Angeles with the opera house, theatres etc. all in one place - really cool. Walk around a bit and check out the Lincoln Center Theater (where that revival of South Pacific is playing) and the Met lobby and gift shop - I've never seen so much opera stuff in my life.
Chairs are set up outside because they've been re-screening the HD movies outside the opera house - projecting onto a screen on the front of the building all week and tonight they are showing Madame Butterfly at 8 pm for free. It's now 4:30 and there are quite a few people already gathered. Bruce and I sit for awhile, just to rest our feet, but we decide we're not going to stay for 3 1/2 hours to see the movie - I already saw it in Calgary and loved it but there are so many other things we want to do we can't justify spending the whole evening here. So we leave. We visit the Barnes and Nobles across the street - we'd read that Kathy Griffin is going to be appearing at one of the B&N stores on Tuesday and we couldn't remember which one - we thought it might be this one but, sadly, no. We'll have to keep looking 'cause we'd both love to see her!!
We take the subway down to see Carnegie Hall - another place that has seen so many amazing artists over the years. We check out the menu at the Russian Tea Room next door - holy expensive! - and decide to catch dinner at the Brooklyn Diner - The Finer Diner (hee hee), which is near Carnegie Hall. It's very charming inside - dark wood along the walls and ceiling reminiscent of an old box car diner. The food is good but a bit on the expensive side. After dinner we get a cookie the size of my head and some little pasteries (can't remember the name) for Bruce and sit outside to eat our dessert.
Beautiful night so we walk a few blocks to Central Park and walk in about 15 minutes - it's dusky so quite enchanting. Tons of people, lots of them jogging, biking, in rickshaws, carriages, it's gorgeous. You'd never know you were in a huge city. We happen upon some sort of Latin-music party at what looks like it might be part of a zoo - there are some big animals sculpted out of what might be bushes...? And tons of lanterns in the trees - it's magical. And the music is fantastic. So we sit on a bench for about 20 minutes and just enjoy it before walking at a speed suitable to our age (okay, the word would be slowly) back to the subway and back to the hotel.
Magnificent third day. Thanks for sending us here. G'night.
People are setting up a street festival of some kind on Lexington - food stalls, T-shirts, scarves, sunglasses, etc. as far as I can see when I look both ways. Fun. Good smells.
Take a moment back at the hotel to enjoy my coffee and email Emily to let her know that I wasn't able to post my blog yet - ran out of battery last night. I've been thinking a lot about Emily while here and how amazing it was for her and Patti to dream up this gift for us and send us off to NYC - we appreciate it so much!!
We took Patti's advice from our travel book and chose one of the local diners for breakfast - Blooms - on the corner of Lexington and 38th. Full to the brim with people, we have to line up to get in but it's a short wait for big character, great food, good price. Thanks Patti - good advice. We'll go back there for sure.
Our first stop today will be at Macy's - have to go there on Labour Day. Walked along 34th - tons of shops. Emily, every shoe store has Ed Hardy shoes on display. Now that I know who that is it's fun to see them.
Macy's is huge. And crowded. There is just so much stuff - I am sort of breaking out in a bit of a rash just being around so much merchandise. Walk all the way through the main floor, which is quite a feat for me - the non-shopper. It's kinda fun. But we don't buy anything.
We get to Madison Square Garden just in time for a tour. Bruce has so many memories of games he has watched on TV from the Garden. We see the theatre first and learn about the amazing soundproofing technology of this facility - Penn Station is underneath, then the 5,000 or so seat theatre, then on the 5th floor is the arena - which seats something like 18,000 - and they can all be going full force at the same time with no sound spill. Pretty phenomenal. We see the Club restaurant for members, watch a video and meet a Nick's City Dancer named Melissa. People take pictures of her - she's a good sport. Then we see the Club Bar & Grill and then visit a box. It's not quite as swish, believe it or not, as the boxes at the Saddledome but it's still super exclusive. Has 12 seats and 4 bar stools. The view from here is fantastic. It's set up today for a basketball game. There are 300 events here per year and each box comes with 12 tickets for every event.
We see the Nicks' dressing room - very high doors so the tall players don't clock themselves in the head going through the door. Tour guide tells us that some of the players drink 24 bottles of water per game and the team uses 500 towels. That's a lot of sweat. We see a huge shoe - size 18 or something like that. I take a picture of it beside my foot.
We see the Rangers' dressing room - normal height doors but a bit wider for the goalies. She points out Wayne Gretzky's and Mark Messier's lockers.
In the lobby there are great display boards with a lot of the history of the Garden. Very cool tour - glad we got to see it.
We leave MSG and, on Patti's advice, we each buy a 7-day unlimited Metro Pass and take the subway back up to Time Square to get some theatre tickets sorted out. We are particularly interested in God of Carnage, Jersey Boys, and A Steady Rain (new show with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig that starts previews Thursday). None of these are listed on TKTS so we go to the theatres.
Yay - tix for under $70 for Jersey Boys on Wednesday night - we're stoked!
Yay - tix for God of Carnage on Thursday night (also under $70) - double stoked!!
Sadly, the only tix they have for A Steady Rain are $130 each - I don't think so. Even though this will probably be the talk of the town when it opens, I just can't justify paying $130 each so we'll take a pass on that one. Two outa three ain't bad. We're pretty excited.
Take the subway up to Lincoln Center. It reminds me of the plaza in Los Angeles with the opera house, theatres etc. all in one place - really cool. Walk around a bit and check out the Lincoln Center Theater (where that revival of South Pacific is playing) and the Met lobby and gift shop - I've never seen so much opera stuff in my life.
Chairs are set up outside because they've been re-screening the HD movies outside the opera house - projecting onto a screen on the front of the building all week and tonight they are showing Madame Butterfly at 8 pm for free. It's now 4:30 and there are quite a few people already gathered. Bruce and I sit for awhile, just to rest our feet, but we decide we're not going to stay for 3 1/2 hours to see the movie - I already saw it in Calgary and loved it but there are so many other things we want to do we can't justify spending the whole evening here. So we leave. We visit the Barnes and Nobles across the street - we'd read that Kathy Griffin is going to be appearing at one of the B&N stores on Tuesday and we couldn't remember which one - we thought it might be this one but, sadly, no. We'll have to keep looking 'cause we'd both love to see her!!
We take the subway down to see Carnegie Hall - another place that has seen so many amazing artists over the years. We check out the menu at the Russian Tea Room next door - holy expensive! - and decide to catch dinner at the Brooklyn Diner - The Finer Diner (hee hee), which is near Carnegie Hall. It's very charming inside - dark wood along the walls and ceiling reminiscent of an old box car diner. The food is good but a bit on the expensive side. After dinner we get a cookie the size of my head and some little pasteries (can't remember the name) for Bruce and sit outside to eat our dessert.
Beautiful night so we walk a few blocks to Central Park and walk in about 15 minutes - it's dusky so quite enchanting. Tons of people, lots of them jogging, biking, in rickshaws, carriages, it's gorgeous. You'd never know you were in a huge city. We happen upon some sort of Latin-music party at what looks like it might be part of a zoo - there are some big animals sculpted out of what might be bushes...? And tons of lanterns in the trees - it's magical. And the music is fantastic. So we sit on a bench for about 20 minutes and just enjoy it before walking at a speed suitable to our age (okay, the word would be slowly) back to the subway and back to the hotel.
Magnificent third day. Thanks for sending us here. G'night.
Sunday, September 6th - Day 2
Holy what the...? Where am I?
Takes me a minute to figure out that I'm in NYC. Oh ya, it's all coming back to me ... the fantastic party, no sleep, the flights, the taxi, checking-in, walking and walking, eating, sleeping. Now I'm sort of up to speed and I remember. We're in NYC.
Never a good thing when you don't have a hairbrush so first thing after a shower is to run to the corner store and pick up a brush so my hair doesn't dry looking like a rat's nest. Not that I have anyone to impress but you know... grooming is always a good thing. Or so I've heard.
On the way to the store I meet the local street cat named Maya - there are some little notes posted on the brick walls explaining that Maya is meant to live on the street and not to worry - she's not lost. I say hello to her. She looks non-plussed. Just another walker-by. She shoots me a look that says "do something about your hair for god's sake!!" I assure her a hairbrush is on the shopping list.
Get back to the room and we get ready for our first full day here. Angie bought a city tour for us so we set out to meet the bus. We walk to Times Square - holy crap - what a lot of busy crazy energy and lights. You can't really get a sense of the energy - the bustle - on film or tv. It's pretty nuts. Looking forward to seeing it at night but I suspect after we see it once that'll be enough - one of those things you only need to take in once. The New Year's Eve ball is way smaller than you think it's going to be.
We pass the TKTS outlet - good to know for a later date. Tim had mentioned it as a must-know in our travel journal. Thanks Tim.
I brought along the Emily the Strange bag that Emily lent me - very smart thing to do and I've only panicked a few times about "where's my wallet???" since I'm so used to carrying it. I can sort of see the value of having a purse - you can carry a lot of stuff in it - I have maps, books, camera, tons of stuff. Who knew?
The bus tour is fantastic - the PERFECT thing to do on our first full day. Here's what we learn:
Angie - thank you so much for booking that tour for us. It was fantastic - and the best thing we could have done on our first full day in New York. I would recommend it to anyone coming here. I feel like I know something about the city now and it really gave us our bearings. Bruce also loved it - he's an information junkie and it was full of information. THANK YOU!!
Now it's time for dinner and we are hungry. We take the tour guide's advice and walk down to 9th Avenue to get some dinner. The place we choose looks promising. And cheap. And it feels good to sit down again. When my food comes, I'm thinking it's probably good to get the bad meal out of the way. Holy watery mess - my fish is coated in stringy eggy stuff and is floating beside frozen corn in something resembling murky yellowish water, with some overly smooth (read "artificial") potatoes plopped alongside. Gross! Oh well, best to get the one bad meal we're going to have out of the way early.
We end the evening on a very pleasant note by going to the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Centre). It's a gorgeous breezy night and the open air view of the city just after sunset is fantastic. I take lots of pictures and we breathe in the cool air. The lights of the city go as far as the eye can see in all directions - and you get a panoramic view from up there. What a fantastic way to end the evening - I'm already laughing about the crappy dinner. Who cares - we're in NYC!
Great second day. G'night.
Takes me a minute to figure out that I'm in NYC. Oh ya, it's all coming back to me ... the fantastic party, no sleep, the flights, the taxi, checking-in, walking and walking, eating, sleeping. Now I'm sort of up to speed and I remember. We're in NYC.
Never a good thing when you don't have a hairbrush so first thing after a shower is to run to the corner store and pick up a brush so my hair doesn't dry looking like a rat's nest. Not that I have anyone to impress but you know... grooming is always a good thing. Or so I've heard.
On the way to the store I meet the local street cat named Maya - there are some little notes posted on the brick walls explaining that Maya is meant to live on the street and not to worry - she's not lost. I say hello to her. She looks non-plussed. Just another walker-by. She shoots me a look that says "do something about your hair for god's sake!!" I assure her a hairbrush is on the shopping list.
Get back to the room and we get ready for our first full day here. Angie bought a city tour for us so we set out to meet the bus. We walk to Times Square - holy crap - what a lot of busy crazy energy and lights. You can't really get a sense of the energy - the bustle - on film or tv. It's pretty nuts. Looking forward to seeing it at night but I suspect after we see it once that'll be enough - one of those things you only need to take in once. The New Year's Eve ball is way smaller than you think it's going to be.
We pass the TKTS outlet - good to know for a later date. Tim had mentioned it as a must-know in our travel journal. Thanks Tim.
I brought along the Emily the Strange bag that Emily lent me - very smart thing to do and I've only panicked a few times about "where's my wallet???" since I'm so used to carrying it. I can sort of see the value of having a purse - you can carry a lot of stuff in it - I have maps, books, camera, tons of stuff. Who knew?
The bus tour is fantastic - the PERFECT thing to do on our first full day. Here's what we learn:
- Barney's has a great warehouse sale this week at 17th Street between 7 & 8 Ave
- Times Square is named after the Times
- There's lots of empty office space in times Square = super expensive
- Hell's Kitchen isn't just a Gordon Ramsay television show - it's an area of New York near the theatre district that has been cleaned up since its early days and has been re-named "Clinton" but is still referred to as Hell's Kitchen
- John's Pizza has fantastic pizza (or so says our tour guide)
- A Broadway theatre has to have at least 500 seats
- The soup kitchen from Seinfeld is on 55th Street
- Manhattan means Many Hills
- Uptown is up hill, downtown is down hill (handy)
- NYC is an expensive place to live
- The revival of South Pacific at Lincoln Centre is supposed to be very good
- First stop - we get off the bus - at the Dakota on West Central Park - where John Lennon was killed and Yoko Ono still lives, we walk over to Central Park and see the Imagine mosaic. This section is called Strawberry Fields - very cool. Bruce is a huge Beatles fan so this is amazing for him. I take his picture in Strawberry Fields.
- High Tea at the Plaza Hotel is fancy. And expensive. And worth it if you have the money.
- You can get a roast beef lunch at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for $10
- You can get a carriage ride in Central Park for $35 per carriage. Brenda and Rose both wrote in our book to be sure to do a carriage ride in Central Park so we'll have to make sure to do that!
- St. Patrick's Cathedral is an important landmark - we walked by it yesterday and Bruce had some stories he knew about it - he's a news nut so he knows many things.
- We get off the bus again at Rockefeller Centre - tee hee, Bruce and I were already here last night - tour guide tells us that Rockefeller believed in Art and Architecture - statue of Atlas shows importance of Art, as does the statue of Prometheus. Cool.
- 5th Avenue separates East and West Manhattan
- Public Library has 6 million books and has free tours at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. That's a lot of books.
- The Lions in front of the library have names: Patience and Fortitude.
- We get off the bus at Madison Square Park, which we are told used to be the cultural and social capital of NY.
- Madison Square Gardens has had 4 iterations - it's on our list to see - Bruce is a big fan.
- The rules of baseball were created in Madison Square Park.
- We can see the Fuller Building (Flat Iron building) from where we are standing - even I recognize it, and I haven't even seen the Spiderman movies! I take some pictures.
- The further downtown you go, the further you go back in history - that's cool!
- Greenwich Village is a fantastic place to live. It was the first place to have electric street lights and the first place ladies could shop without a man. It's super expensive to live there.
- Washington Square Park has appeared in many movies.
- Knickerbockers is a steakhouse with good food and good value.
- Soho means South of Houston. Noho means North of Houston. Brenda wrote in our book to be sure to check out Soho and Noho - we'll be coming back here for sure!
- Soho used to be called Hell's Half Acre because it burnt down so many times. Artists reclaimed it and now it's the commercial art capital of the U.S. (yay artists!)
- NYC is an expensive place to live.
- There's lots of great food near Grand and Broadway.
- Canal Street - check out Chinatown - Patti wrote in our book to check out all the neighbourhoods, Chinatown, East Village, Chelsea, Little Italy, Harlem, etc. - we plan on it!
- We pass by Little Italy, near Mullberry and Grand - tour guide says check out Angelo's Restaurant.
- Nolita - North of Little Italy is very exclusive now - didn't used to be.
- NYC was built on the backs of many immigrants who worked 14 hours a day to feed their families
- We stop at Fulton Market for a 30 minute break, walk along the pier, get some shots of the river and try to imagine the planes coming in on 9/11 and what that must have been like. Also tried to imagine those many immigrants landing in America for a better life, what they saw when they arrived, what their lives must have been like. I thought about reading Angela's Ashes, and the squalor that family lived in before they came to America and how that was their way to a better life. Wonder how much better it was for them once they got here - I' better read the sequel to find out!
- We see Brooklyn across the river - Patti, Rose, and Brenda all said be sure to go to Brooklyn so we plan on it. Might not walk across the bridge though.
- We take the Staten Island Ferry across - I get a photo of the LED moving sign because when I look up at it, it says 1:11 - HAHA! That's a very special time for me (long story)
- Hear more history about the importance of Ellis Island, how 40% of Americans can trace their lineage back to Ellis Island. Wow.
- We see a golf course on a little island built by The Donald (Trump)
- There's the Statue of Liberty. Cool.
- Staten Island Ferry runs 24 hours per day and is totally free.
- We missed the Ferry coming back - our whole group did, not just Bruce and I - so we had to wait 30 minutes. I decided to write in my book. My pen is leaking so I'm covered in blue ink. Attractive.
- On the ferry before we leave I get a couple of photos of some seagulls who are perched on the front of the ferry. They look like stowaways.
- I get the money shot of the Statue of Liberty. Tour guide tells us the story of getting the statue from the French and how it was shipped over in a bunch of crates and the American gov't had to build the foundation which was going to be super expensive so they didn't really want it. Some creative fundraising campaigns, particularly the one by Pulitzer, finally raised enough dough to get the job done.
- We see the skyline full on - amazing! He tells us why the island doesn't sink with the weight of all those buildings on it - very hard rock it's built on called shist. Cool.
- We get back to the bus and I'm happy to sit down. We drive past Battery Park and we learn that it wasn't originally part of the island but was built later using what was dug up to put in subway lines 1,2,3 & 9.
- We get off the bus at Trinity Church - was the centrepiece of 17th Century America. Some very old grave sites there.
- Walk to the NY Stock Exchange and learn a bit about the birth of America and the inauguration of George Washington. Really interesting.
- Drive past the Merril Lynch bull.
- Last stop is at Ground Zero - very moving, especially as the anniversary is approaching this week. Hard to imagine there were two towers in that space that fell into themselves without destroying the entire surrounding area, even though we saw it on TV. We look at the surrounding buildings that are still standing and try to imagine the Towers which were much taller. Impossible.
- We drive up the West Side Highway along the Hudson River and see the NY State Trapeze School - someone is getting strapped in for a lesson - cool.
- Lots of bike paths and parks along the river.
- Go past the meat packing district - used to be where the slaughter houses were, now it's full of night clubs for the bridge and tunnel crowd. The double entendre of meat market makes me smile.
- Drive past Chelsey Piers, where Law & Order is taped. Excellent! Emily, you would like this. I take a picture.
- We see where the Circle Line Cruise is - right beside the aircraft carrier "Intrepid" museum at Pier 83 (around 46th).
Angie - thank you so much for booking that tour for us. It was fantastic - and the best thing we could have done on our first full day in New York. I would recommend it to anyone coming here. I feel like I know something about the city now and it really gave us our bearings. Bruce also loved it - he's an information junkie and it was full of information. THANK YOU!!
Now it's time for dinner and we are hungry. We take the tour guide's advice and walk down to 9th Avenue to get some dinner. The place we choose looks promising. And cheap. And it feels good to sit down again. When my food comes, I'm thinking it's probably good to get the bad meal out of the way. Holy watery mess - my fish is coated in stringy eggy stuff and is floating beside frozen corn in something resembling murky yellowish water, with some overly smooth (read "artificial") potatoes plopped alongside. Gross! Oh well, best to get the one bad meal we're going to have out of the way early.
We end the evening on a very pleasant note by going to the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Centre). It's a gorgeous breezy night and the open air view of the city just after sunset is fantastic. I take lots of pictures and we breathe in the cool air. The lights of the city go as far as the eye can see in all directions - and you get a panoramic view from up there. What a fantastic way to end the evening - I'm already laughing about the crappy dinner. Who cares - we're in NYC!
Great second day. G'night.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
NYC or Bust
Saturday, September 5th - Day 1
Can't be time to wake up, surely not. But lo and behold the two hours of sleep have passed quickly past (as Monty Python would say) and it IS time to get up. 4:15 a.m. already? How'd that happen? Last thing I remember is how good it felt to lie down around 2 a.m., yes just over 2 hours ago, having been completely bagged, although elated, after such a spectacular 25th Anniversary party last night at Patti's. Emily and Patti managed to completely surprise us with a trip to NYC. Something we had wanted to do for a very long time. So thoughtful and well-executed. We really didn't have a clue! So, thank you Emily and Patti for such a special party and gift. It's something we'll never forget. Thank you everyone for being there, for the well-wishes, the gifts, cards, ideas for the trip - for everything! Bob, Brenda, Andrew, Tim, Meaghan, Jay, Randy, Linda, Doug, Onalea, David, Roberta, Brian, Angie, Rose, George, Todd, Holy Smoke... who have I forgotten? Also for the gifts and wishes from those who couldn't be there, Duve, Pam, Norma, Harry, Mom, JoAnn, Susan, Wade, Diane, Lynn, Ron, sorry if I've forgotten anyone - doing this from memory and on not much sleep!
Patti, great place for a party, loving the basement with the horseshoe bar, the deck, it all works so well. Good food. Emily - great desserts, and then the total surprise of the trip - unbelievable and overwhelming.
So, after about two hours of sleep we haul our exhausted but happy butts out of bed and set off for the airport. Emily sleepwalks to the car without even opening her eyes and squeezes another 20 minutes of sleep in before we get to Calgary International and she has to drive herself back home. Just as well there's not much traffic on the road at 5:00 a.m. on a Saturday.
Thankfully I can sleep on planes and fall asleep I do, even before we take off - drives Bruce just a little bit crazy that I can do that. We have a short stopover in Toronto to de-plane, claim baggage, fill out customs form, walk baggage through customs, re-check baggage, clear security, wonder why the guy in front of us is wearing pants with enough metal buttons to made the beeping wand sing at the top of its lungs - and get on the plane to New York. Flight from Pearson to La Guardia is super quick - barely enough time to get a second nap in. I wake up just in time to see the big apple approaching. Hard to believe that 24 hours ago we had no idea we were going to be in NYC today. Wow.
Luggage comes quickly and after a minor goof-up where I follow a women into the parkade before realizing she is trying to scam us into getting into her SUV instead of taking a real cab, we quickly make our way back to the yellow cab line-up. Bruce isn't sure what the heck I'm doing - he just gives his head shake.
Have my camera, well Emily's camera, out in the cab, at the ready to get some shots when we get to the Toll Booth and the toll guy makes the cab wait a moment while he instructs me to roll down my window and then carefully tells me, like I'm about 6 years old, that you're not allowed to take any photos of bridges or tunnels - "it's against the law so why don't you just put. the. camera. away." (over enunciate those words as you read them). It was like one of those Law and Order episodes - put. the. weapon. down. So I do. Ooops.
That is what you call a New York Minute.
Patti and Emily - nice hotel! Fantastic location. We are very happy here. It's a big room with a kitchenette, clean bathroom, kingsize bed, AIR CONDITIONING - WOOT! - small couch, a TV with lots of stations, and a gym in the basement. No wireless connection in the room but there is in the lobby so I can check in at night (like now).
We're unpacked by mid-afternoon so it's time to explore a bit. We go for a walk and quickly see what a fantastic location this is. A couple of blocks away we walk past Grand Central Station, and go inside to check it out. Gorgeous - cool ceiling, lots of people, families mostly, probably because it's a long weekend. We wander a bit, take a look at the spot where Paul Shafer and the band pose for their picture on the David Letterman opening sequence and start to realize, we're in New York City!
Wander along 5th Avenue until we come to Saks and I have to stop and look in the windows especially for Todd. Those are some fancy gowns - not sure what that one hip flap is for exactly but it's ultra glam. We go inside and walk the main floor - try a perfume and leave. Not in the mood to try on gowns today...
Next thing we come upon is the Rockefeller Centre - that's an impressive complex created by an undoubtedly complex and very wealthy oil man and philanthropist - wow, and Todd, you're right - the skating rink is smaller than you'd expect. I bet the Christmas tree is pretty amazing when it's up.
Other things within the immediate vicinity are the MOMA gift shop, NBC studio, Radio City Music Hall, the top of the Chrysler Building is visible, St. Patrick's Cathedral, so many famous places considering this was just meant to be a little exploratory walk!
Decided to eat in tonight since we're pretty bagged, and overwhelmed so we picked up some salads and sandwiches in a local deli and stayed in.
Great first day. Great birthday. G'night!
Can't be time to wake up, surely not. But lo and behold the two hours of sleep have passed quickly past (as Monty Python would say) and it IS time to get up. 4:15 a.m. already? How'd that happen? Last thing I remember is how good it felt to lie down around 2 a.m., yes just over 2 hours ago, having been completely bagged, although elated, after such a spectacular 25th Anniversary party last night at Patti's. Emily and Patti managed to completely surprise us with a trip to NYC. Something we had wanted to do for a very long time. So thoughtful and well-executed. We really didn't have a clue! So, thank you Emily and Patti for such a special party and gift. It's something we'll never forget. Thank you everyone for being there, for the well-wishes, the gifts, cards, ideas for the trip - for everything! Bob, Brenda, Andrew, Tim, Meaghan, Jay, Randy, Linda, Doug, Onalea, David, Roberta, Brian, Angie, Rose, George, Todd, Holy Smoke... who have I forgotten? Also for the gifts and wishes from those who couldn't be there, Duve, Pam, Norma, Harry, Mom, JoAnn, Susan, Wade, Diane, Lynn, Ron, sorry if I've forgotten anyone - doing this from memory and on not much sleep!
Patti, great place for a party, loving the basement with the horseshoe bar, the deck, it all works so well. Good food. Emily - great desserts, and then the total surprise of the trip - unbelievable and overwhelming.
So, after about two hours of sleep we haul our exhausted but happy butts out of bed and set off for the airport. Emily sleepwalks to the car without even opening her eyes and squeezes another 20 minutes of sleep in before we get to Calgary International and she has to drive herself back home. Just as well there's not much traffic on the road at 5:00 a.m. on a Saturday.
Thankfully I can sleep on planes and fall asleep I do, even before we take off - drives Bruce just a little bit crazy that I can do that. We have a short stopover in Toronto to de-plane, claim baggage, fill out customs form, walk baggage through customs, re-check baggage, clear security, wonder why the guy in front of us is wearing pants with enough metal buttons to made the beeping wand sing at the top of its lungs - and get on the plane to New York. Flight from Pearson to La Guardia is super quick - barely enough time to get a second nap in. I wake up just in time to see the big apple approaching. Hard to believe that 24 hours ago we had no idea we were going to be in NYC today. Wow.
Luggage comes quickly and after a minor goof-up where I follow a women into the parkade before realizing she is trying to scam us into getting into her SUV instead of taking a real cab, we quickly make our way back to the yellow cab line-up. Bruce isn't sure what the heck I'm doing - he just gives his head shake.
Have my camera, well Emily's camera, out in the cab, at the ready to get some shots when we get to the Toll Booth and the toll guy makes the cab wait a moment while he instructs me to roll down my window and then carefully tells me, like I'm about 6 years old, that you're not allowed to take any photos of bridges or tunnels - "it's against the law so why don't you just put. the. camera. away." (over enunciate those words as you read them). It was like one of those Law and Order episodes - put. the. weapon. down. So I do. Ooops.
That is what you call a New York Minute.
Patti and Emily - nice hotel! Fantastic location. We are very happy here. It's a big room with a kitchenette, clean bathroom, kingsize bed, AIR CONDITIONING - WOOT! - small couch, a TV with lots of stations, and a gym in the basement. No wireless connection in the room but there is in the lobby so I can check in at night (like now).
We're unpacked by mid-afternoon so it's time to explore a bit. We go for a walk and quickly see what a fantastic location this is. A couple of blocks away we walk past Grand Central Station, and go inside to check it out. Gorgeous - cool ceiling, lots of people, families mostly, probably because it's a long weekend. We wander a bit, take a look at the spot where Paul Shafer and the band pose for their picture on the David Letterman opening sequence and start to realize, we're in New York City!
Wander along 5th Avenue until we come to Saks and I have to stop and look in the windows especially for Todd. Those are some fancy gowns - not sure what that one hip flap is for exactly but it's ultra glam. We go inside and walk the main floor - try a perfume and leave. Not in the mood to try on gowns today...
Next thing we come upon is the Rockefeller Centre - that's an impressive complex created by an undoubtedly complex and very wealthy oil man and philanthropist - wow, and Todd, you're right - the skating rink is smaller than you'd expect. I bet the Christmas tree is pretty amazing when it's up.
Other things within the immediate vicinity are the MOMA gift shop, NBC studio, Radio City Music Hall, the top of the Chrysler Building is visible, St. Patrick's Cathedral, so many famous places considering this was just meant to be a little exploratory walk!
Decided to eat in tonight since we're pretty bagged, and overwhelmed so we picked up some salads and sandwiches in a local deli and stayed in.
Great first day. Great birthday. G'night!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)