Carol, Connie, and I drove down to New York City for the week immediately after Connie's dance class Saturday afternoon. There we met up with Carol's sister, Susan and her daughter Megan. Susan stayed with us at our beautiful rented apartment, One River Place, for the first day, and Megan stayed until Wednesday. New York is a madhouse. Within 2 hours we were already being threatened with lawyers. Fortunately, that issue settled out quite early. Driver's honk in frustration and rage, unlike Massachusetts drivers, who express frustration and rage through the dance that is Boston traffic. Our plan was to pursue a mix of shopping, tourist, and dining objectives. Before the trip, Carol and Connie researched many destinations: shops, sights, and restaurants. They placed stickers on a map of Manhattan, and cross-referenced them with a book of entries. Finally, Carol laminated the map so we could carry it with us on the trip. Below is a map of some of the places we visited; it is an homage to Carol and Connie's map. There were more on Carol and Connie's map, and some appear here that were not on the original map, but you get the idea. The links in the rest of this post may be accessed by clicking the link to the larger Google Map below. It may be the best way to browse through our destinations.
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The first day we got the boat to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty is a spectacular symbol of the best of the United States and of the ideals of liberty, democracy, and justice that all of us can stand for regardless of national origin, religion, or language. I find it a wonderful contrast to the frequent militarism and national chauvinism of many Americans who point to the flag as a national symbol. Ellis Island hosts a very cool museum. We went shopping at Century 21, a lower-cost source for quality clothes. Later we had lunch at the Vegetarian Dim Sum House. Afterwards, we visited Canal Street, the place to go for illegal Gucci, Coach, etc. knock-off handbags. I joined the girls as a knock-off seller took them into a narrow back corridor of a building to buy handbags. New York is still a thriving commercial center. After a long day, I dropped Susan off at Penn Station.
I have never been enthusiastic about fashion. I grew up poor in a town where expensive clothes were a badge of social status. Later reading about my Quaker heritage strengthened my views that clothing and outward appearance should be simple and that inward discipline and spiritual, intellectual, psychological and physical work were more important. On this trip, and to some extent earlier on Project Runway I have come to realize that fashion may present design challenges just as interesting as any in architecture or even software engineering. We spent the second day in SoHo at: Uniqlo, Barney's Co-op, and BCBG. Connie got a shirt here. We saw a Max Azria runway show later on Video Fashion Daily. We also went to Girl Props, a pink basement full of treasure. We also enjoyed the Hat Shop. The beautiful hats here are expensive, but customers are supporting New York miliners. On Broadway near Prince, as all over the City, you can buy T-shirts, sunglasses, scarves, and many other things on the street. We went to Mystique Boutique twice. In the West Village Flight 001 sells expensive travel items. The inside of the store is designed to look like a commercial plane. We also went to Housing Works. C O Bigelow is a beautiful old chemists (pharmacy). Among other things they sell Elgydium toothpaste. We had lunch that day at Benny's Burritos which makes delicious vegetarian (or not) burritos in a wonderful Greenwich Village atmosphere. That night we went to the Empire State Building. The night time view was spectacular.
We spent Tuesday at more expensive department stores and designers. Needless to say, we bought nothing. The experience was a bit frustrating, but it was interesting to see the difference between Park Avenue and SoHo. We went to Saks 5th Avenue and Tiffany & Co.. They had expensive but beautiful charms for Connie's charm bracelet. Someday. We went to Bergdorf Goodman, Chanel, and DKNY. I got nothing but ideas from the men's department. We also went to Just Cavalli, Bloomingdales, and Macy's, the site of the original Miracle on 34th Street.
We had lunch at Le Pain Quotidien. They serve an excellent lunch based on fresh baked goods in tiny amounts. On the way home we stopped at Scent Elate, selling a lot of smell in a little space. That night we went back to Times Square stopping at Toys R Us which sports an indoor ferris wheel, and Hershey's on our way to see Mama Mia! at the Winter Garden. They managed to do my favorite part, the fin dance, on stage.
Wednesday morning we said goodbye to Megan and went to the American Museum of Natural History. In the short time we spent here, we saw a wonderful planetarium show, a magnificent dinosaur fossil exhibit, and a huge collection of meteorites and minerals.
On Thursday we visited Grand Central Station and the Unted Nations General Assembly Building. We took a tour. This is International territory, and not part of the United States. Later we went shopping in the East Village at Cadillac's Castle. Cadillac is a friendly black labrador who spends his days in this shop. We also stopped at Manhattan Portage. We ate lunch at Viva Herbal Pizza. They serve excellent and inexpensive vegetarian and vegan pizzas and treats! On the way home we stopped at Kiehl's. Pictures of sponsored climbers and adventure athletes decorate the walls of this expensive beauty products store. They used to sponsor Badwater.
Our last full day in New York City, I ran 9.72 miles along the river and through the park. Later we went to Loehmann's for great deals on quality clothes, especially women's. We also went to New and Almost New. We ate a great lunch at Quantum Leap. I had Seitan Satay! That afternoon we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We normally don't take tours in art museums, but due to our short amount of time and huge size of the museum, we did here. We enjoyed the Highlights Tour and the European Masters Tour.
On our way out I picked up a dozen bagels at H & H Bagels. They were spectacular!
Today I competed in the CRASH-B Sprints, the world championships of indoor rowing. I rowed my 2000 meters in 7:01.0 minutes, my third fastest! I was 44 in a field of 87 men from 40 to 49 years old. Observant mathematicians will notice that I had the median speed.
Carol, Connie, and I drove down to New York City for the week immediately after Connie's dance class Saturday afternoon. There we met up with Carol's sister, Susan and her daughter Megan. Susan stayed with us at our beautiful rented apartment, One River Place, for the first day, and Megan stayed until Wednesday. New York is a madhouse. Within 2 hours we were already being threatened with lawyers. Fortunately, that issue settled out quite early. Driver's honk in frustration and rage, unlike Massachusetts drivers, who express frustration and rage through the dance that is Boston traffic. Our plan was to pursue a mix of shopping, tourist, and dining objectives. Before the trip, Carol and Connie researched many destinations: shops, sights, and restaurants. They placed stickers on a map of Manhattan, and cross-referenced them with a book of entries. Finally, Carol laminated the map so we could carry it with us on the trip. Below is a map of some of the places we visited; it is an homage to Carol and Connie's map. There were more on Carol and Connie's map, and some appear here that were not on the original map, but you get the idea. The links in the rest of this post may be accessed by clicking the link to the larger Google Map below. It may be the best way to browse through our destinations.