It is presently Monday as I type this – possibly Tuesday
before it gets posted and you are reading it.
I’ve heard from a few people asking when the blog would be up – and I
honestly didn’t think that anyone would miss us. Awwww….
How much has this trip
beaten us down? Whoa. And I’m off during the summer, so I have
even more respect for those Ya-yas that went back to work today. I’ve put
together a list of notable things that we did and people that we met along the
way and I’ll post that at the end of the Saturday blog. We went full steam all day every day for 9
days – it was a great trip. NYC may
have gotten and few hits in on us, but we definitely hit back and got to see so
much.
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| Crumbcake... ahhhhh |
SO – Friday… the
theme of today is “left overs”… we have
so much food in the fridge and we leave tomorrow. It’s FULL of boxes from the Cake Boss, left
overs from Katz’s deli, and remnants of our trips to the grocery store. For breakfast we have crumb cake from the
Cake Boss and cannolis… OMG – so good.
They should have a show or something.
The crumb cake is THICK with “crumb” and we have finally found cannolis
that are worthy. The got us regular
ones and chocolate ones – they’re both amazing.
I think they’ve ruined me for all future cannolis. I even
eat the other half of my reuben from Katz’s – it’s an interesting
breakfast.
It’s also a left over day in the sense that we have things on
our list that are things we just didn’t get to the rest of this week and we
want to be sure to do. So while in the
past we’ve done Central Park days and Brooklyn days… today we’re going to be
literally all over the map.
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| Cannoli for breakfast |
BMc takes a “body shower” – a term that she uses as if we
know what she’s talking about, but that we have to get clarification on. I’m not sure that I’ve heard anyone say that
before – a body shower, as opposed to what other kind of shower? A non-body shower? She says that she means that she’s not going
to get her hair wet – ahhh… I see, but I really don’t know that I’ve ever taken
a body shower before, I guess that’s why I didn’t have a need for that term up
to this point.
Becki is going daring – wearing a cute little dress that she
says that she wouldn’t wear at home – But all the people at home are going to
see her and have the same reaction we did.
And she’s so darn cute that we
don’t know why she wouldn’t just wear any ole thing that she wanted to. J
We get all our stuff together, and make sure that we have our
“prop bagels” for our breakfast at Tiffany’s – we’re going to hit a Starbucks
to have our coffee for the pics. We’re a
little goofy – but we always have fun.
The plan for the day is to head to the Mac Store again for Becki to
return her juice pack – it doesn’t work with her iphone because it can’t make
the connections; then Tiffany’s… look
for the “Doctor Who” rock in Central Park,
find our way up to the Castle in the middle of the park… then down to Tribeca for Wooster Street
Social Club Tattoo (New York Ink), eating at John’s Pizzeria in the Village,
Yankees game, and top of the Empire State Building…. Should be no problem. Right?
We’re heading to Staples so that Becki can
print out her Empire State Building ticket – we discovered last night that she
just had the receipt and not the actual ticket printed – we figure that we’ll
do that tonight as the last thing that we do, it will be a great way to say
goodbye to the city. As we're crossing the street, we have a white
man, but there are many sirens and vehicles going through lights so
we're a little scared to go... I
say, “I don't trust the white man. Especially with the police around… “ That
sounded much better on the way out than it did in my head.
McKay is still having red bumps issues – the girls were going to get up and go see Adam Levine and Maroon 5 this morning, and were going to go at like 3am to try and actually get in close, but BM has had this red rash, like a prickly heat rash all over her since yesterday. She set the alarm for 3 to check on the rash, and if it was still there then the plan was to just go back to bed and not wake up BP. Well, at 3am Dana and I get the light on so that BM can check for the rash – I think BM was still half asleep. But they didn’t end up going. It was going to make for a rough day anyway, getting up that early and they don’t let you into the plaza until 6, and they don’t start playing until about 8 or later… so that’s a long time just waiting and standing. We all got up later than normal, about 9am or later – Becki and I turned on the Today show to start to get the others to start to stir – it was ironic that they had plans to go down and see Adam Levine and then they were almost going to sleep through the whole show. We hear them say that there were over 12,000 people down there in the plaza, and the Brittanys are very happy that they’re not there. BP is also having issues – her feet and heels are still in pain from our day of heavy walking (and wearing flip flops with no support).
McKay is still having red bumps issues – the girls were going to get up and go see Adam Levine and Maroon 5 this morning, and were going to go at like 3am to try and actually get in close, but BM has had this red rash, like a prickly heat rash all over her since yesterday. She set the alarm for 3 to check on the rash, and if it was still there then the plan was to just go back to bed and not wake up BP. Well, at 3am Dana and I get the light on so that BM can check for the rash – I think BM was still half asleep. But they didn’t end up going. It was going to make for a rough day anyway, getting up that early and they don’t let you into the plaza until 6, and they don’t start playing until about 8 or later… so that’s a long time just waiting and standing. We all got up later than normal, about 9am or later – Becki and I turned on the Today show to start to get the others to start to stir – it was ironic that they had plans to go down and see Adam Levine and then they were almost going to sleep through the whole show. We hear them say that there were over 12,000 people down there in the plaza, and the Brittanys are very happy that they’re not there. BP is also having issues – her feet and heels are still in pain from our day of heavy walking (and wearing flip flops with no support).
The rash was better in the morning, but just in
the short walk to Staples it is back and spreading quickly. Becki gets her ticket printed and we’re off
to catch the train to the Mac Store. On
the way to the subway BP makes a discovery… she has left her metro card in her
other purse! UGH – so frustrating,
because we’re not close enough to the apt to go back for it and we have a full
day of train riding. So new card for her... We find our train. Waiting for the subway is stuffy!! Not so
much the temp, but there is no air
moving. None. We could solve the
problems of the subway, just need like an attic fan or even one of those big
industrial fans in each stop.. Even the train isn't very cool.
Becki is fine with all of that. She is completely unaffected by climate,
humidity or heat. It’s like a super
power. The rest of us are overheated and
yes, moist, and she looks like she’s just stepped out of a climate-controlled
hermetically sealed room. The
humidity-impaired among us are just a little envious.
On the train there are no seats available, so Dana tries subway surfing a bit – I demonstrated a few days ago. You just have to take the “surfing” stance, arms out, feet set… and take on the movements of the train. But she needs to put her feet into it a little more.
We get off at the Mac store and in the short walk there we are already at an elevated core body temperature. It’s in the 90’s today – not as bad as our friends back in the Lou, but NYC has a special mugginess and lack of air - we figure we can get our body temps back down while Becki does her bizness. We look for a “visitor's center” and find empty seats at the "genius" table. The guy kicks us out. There are 6 stools around the table, we occupy 3...until we are booted and told that “We have to keep these reserved for people with appointments”. I get a little snarky, but not loud.. (just commentary), “I say that's ok, we'll just stand here and lean and
watch no one sitting in these seats.” Two other people are sitting on the other side - "so is only this side for genius'? Which prompts him to ask the others if they have appointments - One lady does have an appointment. But she's here too early. So she can't sit there either. “We” have to keep the seats open for the people who aren't here. What can't anyone understand that?? (I’m not really not angry, and maybe this sounds like I am – I actually just see humor in this situation – 6 open seats, no waiting – but we need to keep them open… for. all. these. people.) In other strange observations in the Mac Store, there is a woman walking around the store with a parrot on her finger. Picture our mouths gaping open at the image of a woman with a live parrot perched on her finger walking by us as if that is the most normal thing possible. We're not sure if it's part of the store - but pretty sure she's just a customer, she’s not wearing a Mac shirt… . Another lady has yellow, no, seriously YELLOW hair. It’s the color of day-glow yellow highlighter… We have no service in the Mac store.. We think that's ironic. Big time cool geek/tech spot, we should have uber ablity to connect. But we have no service.
We’re done with the Mac Store, they took back the juice box with no issues. Tiffany’s is next on our list; it’s just two blocks down on 5th Ave. But we need a Starbucks so that we can get our prop coffee to go with our prop bagels. We say we need an app for that... turns out there is one.
But we won't have it loaded by the time we need it, we’ve arrived at Tiffany’s. Trump Tower is just next door, and on a whim we go in… and lo and behold – STARBUCKS! Turns out that you don’t need a Starbucks locator in NYC, you just need a dead cat to swing around.
On the train there are no seats available, so Dana tries subway surfing a bit – I demonstrated a few days ago. You just have to take the “surfing” stance, arms out, feet set… and take on the movements of the train. But she needs to put her feet into it a little more.
We get off at the Mac store and in the short walk there we are already at an elevated core body temperature. It’s in the 90’s today – not as bad as our friends back in the Lou, but NYC has a special mugginess and lack of air - we figure we can get our body temps back down while Becki does her bizness. We look for a “visitor's center” and find empty seats at the "genius" table. The guy kicks us out. There are 6 stools around the table, we occupy 3...until we are booted and told that “We have to keep these reserved for people with appointments”. I get a little snarky, but not loud.. (just commentary), “I say that's ok, we'll just stand here and lean and
watch no one sitting in these seats.” Two other people are sitting on the other side - "so is only this side for genius'? Which prompts him to ask the others if they have appointments - One lady does have an appointment. But she's here too early. So she can't sit there either. “We” have to keep the seats open for the people who aren't here. What can't anyone understand that?? (I’m not really not angry, and maybe this sounds like I am – I actually just see humor in this situation – 6 open seats, no waiting – but we need to keep them open… for. all. these. people.) In other strange observations in the Mac Store, there is a woman walking around the store with a parrot on her finger. Picture our mouths gaping open at the image of a woman with a live parrot perched on her finger walking by us as if that is the most normal thing possible. We're not sure if it's part of the store - but pretty sure she's just a customer, she’s not wearing a Mac shirt… . Another lady has yellow, no, seriously YELLOW hair. It’s the color of day-glow yellow highlighter… We have no service in the Mac store.. We think that's ironic. Big time cool geek/tech spot, we should have uber ablity to connect. But we have no service.
We’re done with the Mac Store, they took back the juice box with no issues. Tiffany’s is next on our list; it’s just two blocks down on 5th Ave. But we need a Starbucks so that we can get our prop coffee to go with our prop bagels. We say we need an app for that... turns out there is one.
But we won't have it loaded by the time we need it, we’ve arrived at Tiffany’s. Trump Tower is just next door, and on a whim we go in… and lo and behold – STARBUCKS! Turns out that you don’t need a Starbucks locator in NYC, you just need a dead cat to swing around.
Becki gets a frozen caramel (and a hot white
chocolate for our pictures), I get a mocha… we try each … we decide that hers
is very sweet, and mine is very mocha. J BM
gets the strawberries and cream and BP is not sure what to get so she consults
her barista… she wants something sweet, he leans in and says, “Do you trust me?”…
she is puzzled. Trust you? I can barely hear you! But she is pleased with her final
result. I let her taste my mocha light
frappiccino, and she is disgusted by it – “that’s COFFEE!”… well… yes, I
assumed that part was understood.
We head outside and take turns “eating breakfast” in front of
Tiffany’s. We feel superior, if in a
geeky way, to those other people getting their pictures taken in front of the
store sans breakfast props. We feel
their jealous gazes and silent recognition that we are in fact much cooler than
they are. We
each get our Breakfast at Tiffany's photo opp... And go in and look around. BMc has added to her wish list.
Watch out Scott!
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| Breakfast |
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| She wants! |
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| Bulgari - my sunglasses are behind BP |
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| Models... we could do that... |
We’re on 5th Avenue, the area of the big stores, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Bulgari (Ranger’s fragrance from the Janet Evanovich books) – BM saw some in Bloomingdale’s but she’s super excited about a whole dedicated store. We cross the street and go in – and I instantly feel that we are not their crowd. BM is a little disappointed that there is no wall of fragrance there, but they do have one called “Man” – we assume it’s for men… We also find that the store that I’ve been saying as “Bulgaria” is pronounced “BULL-ga-ree” I find some sunglasses that I like… for only $440. They are just sunglasses. Wow. I think that even if I had that kind of money that I would never find it ok to pay $440 or more for sunglasses.
We witness photo shoot outside on the street...we actually first witnessed a woman in a red barely-there dress and then follow her movement to the photo shoot. They’re posing on the street in front of a construction area and steamy manhole cover with Trump Tower in the background. If we find a steamy manhole cover and construction, we'll be recreating these poses later.
We walk north a few blocks to Central Park - It's time to find "the rock" from Doctor Who. I know most of you have no idea what Dr.Who is, so the idea of finding a rock in central park (and believe me, there are many rocks) that was used in a taping of an unaired scene in a show that you’ve never heard of may seems a little ridiculous, but we are nothing if not ridiculous. We’re also very lucky to have very patient travel companions as we wander, looking for a rock. We started saying, “Look there’s a rock!” But we DO find it... and BP and I are more excited that is probably warranted… We actually find two of them (we discover from comparing the pictures that there were actually two different scenes with two different rocks). The show hasn't even aired yet, so it's hard to gauge exactly. We got pics – but it’s not until we were leaving that we find the buildings that were in the background, so we got the right rock, but just the slightly wrong angle – we’re ok with that, we were there.. . As we're heading off to the subway stop we find the fence that is behind the second rock and so we lag behind and get pics there too…
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| The Doctor and Amy on "the rock" |
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| Me on same rock - see the same funny shaped buidling? |
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| BP on the second rock... |
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| And this is still the first rock (but same buildings as in BP's pic) |
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| Fruit-tea (Fruity, get it?) |
We start back up and head for the subway… we're looking for the 1. Just like The Matrix. (BP said it, and it made my day). On the subway it’s really crowded – we have to be assertive to make it on the train, someone actually walked through us and pushed us aside as they said “excuse me” – using our displacement to further their momentum upstream. I don’t think that they know what “excuse me” means… it doesn’t mean, “allow me to come from behind you and push you off the train so that I can have your spot”… but then again, maybe I’m wrong. Dana is face to face with a guy who is actively blowing air into her face in the movement of a lawn sprinkler. We can’t help but laugh openly, and we share a Doctor Who moment (there is an episode where he goes to a diplomatic event where they bring gifts from their home planet – he has just dropped in and is gift-less, so he breathes on them and says, “My gift: air from my lungs”). So we thought maybe this guy was just trying to share a gift with us too.
Every time we emerge from the subway it’s always a challenge to get re-oriented for directions. We walk around the block but find our way. Becki exclaims, “HEY! Is that Jennifer Anniston??” … we’re all like, “WHERE?!?!”… on that billboard. What?? We were all looking on the street, ready for our “celebrity roaming free on the streets of NYC” spotting… I’m totally counting it. We saw Jennifer Aniston in Tribeca. As we walk in the heat, the best part is feeling a burst of cold air from the stores as we pass by – just as “air from my lungs”, we enjoy the gift of “AC from our store”… Our destination is the Wooster Street Social Club – it’s the tattoo place from “New York Ink”. I don’t watch, but I think everyone else has seen at least one episode. BM is ready to see and meet Ami. But he’s not there. We get pics (and wander pretty freely about the premises) – they have a healthy respect for air conditioning. I’m very happy.
In the process of reaching for plates I spill our cherished pitcher of water… water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink... but it’s a refreshing lap treat for Becki. BMc shares that she has to pee – which makes her remember “the other pee”. “That pee hurt.”..Becki almost
spit. You're welcome.
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| The table |
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| The booth |
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| The meaballs... |
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| And the pizza... |
We are fed, but still not cooled down so we have a choice of an ice-cream shop or a tea shop – and we opt for the latter. These tea places seem to be the new thing – it’s David’s Tea and we learn that there are 178 tea choices there (check them out online) – we were a little overwhelmed. But there is a great tea lady there, she talks you through what you like and what you don’t like, and then you can smell the tea before you decide. She's great at getting you to your tea place.
David’s Tea hit the spot - The tea is so good - we have fun picking out different flavors. And it’s cool. Everyone except for BP actually has two big glasses of teas in different flavors BP (she only drinks about ¼ of her first drink, and says that she thinks that she's had too much to drink today. She physically can't hold any more liquid – and she demonstrates by trying to sip some tea that goes right back down the straw…”See?”. This is why we love her.) – BM chooses “luscious watermelon” as her second glass because "it's luscious". And it was. I had “Swamp Water” that actually had pieces of candy in it – we’re not sure why they would call it Swamp water until we see it brewed. It looks like swamp water, with little green algae floating around in it.
Once we are cooled off and our thirsts are satiated we head out again. It’s about 6:00 by now and we have tickets to the Yankee’s game in the Bronx which is about a 30 minute train ride north. Becki is having knee issues, but we’re not to speak of it. If you don’t talk about it, it isn’t happening, and this isn’t happening.
The train is so cold. I'm in love with this train. I want to marry this train. It’s *packed* since it’s rush hour and we’re taking it from downtown, through uptown and into the Bronx, but we were lucky to get on downtown, so we got seats. BP is sitting at crotch level with a group of cute, young business men – who keep adjusting themselves, as she gets redder and redder. We are really enjoying the show. We reach our stop and ¾ of the train gets off with us. We spot “The Yankee Tavern” across the street and make note – our friend Bob Lister (of the Mars persuasion) has requested a shirt from the Yankee Tavern (repeatedly), so his requests are under advisement..
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| The smell flip top |
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| BP perspective |
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| BIG |
Yankee Stadium is huge - feels bigger than
Busch because there are so many open spaces.
They have a huge jumbotron in the lower level concourse with the game on
it. We walk out to the lower level to
see the field, and then we hit the team store and look
around. The shirts are little pricey
(but way soft), but BM finds one she likes that says “Yankee Stadium” and BP
find one too. I find BMc checking
out and join her, and come in on the tail end of her conversation with the
cashier – she’s explaining why the Yankees are so great, they have HISTORY,
they’ve been around since the 1900’s, and they are LEGENDS, and that’s why
everyone hates them. I’m beginning to
think that maybe people hate them because of their attitude problem. Or maybe it’s that they give everyone else an
attitude problem – they’ve just given me an attitude. Later BMc explains that the first half of the
conversation involved her saying that she was from St. Louis, and the cashier
saying that they had a great history.. just like the Yankees… so I guess I need
an attitude adjustment.
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| From our seats |
We're in section 434 - way up and way out - but we paid $12 for the seats ($19 with express shipping) so we're good, we just wanted in the
stadium. We haven’t really decided who
we’re rooting for – we figure that the White Sox are rivals with the Cubs, so
the rival of our rivals is our friend… but then again we’re on Yankee turf and
we have no beef with them, so why not go for the home team? One thing that we do know is that we love
the breeze. The Yankees started off
with 4 runs, Chicago answered with 5... ooooh…. gonna be a heated game.. until the Sox go ahead 14-7. We’re rooting for the Sox… that’s the
ticket.
About the 4th inning a familiar looking guy heads up the steps of our section. People are screaming, everyone is standing and facing us with their cameras and phones... It's Snoop Dogg. It LOOKS so much like Snoop Dogg, but there is no way that it’s Snoop. In the nosebleed section? We look for signs that it’s a look-alike to confirm our beliefs that this is impossible that its Snoop Dogg, but everything we see actually confirms the opposite. He has about 6 bodyguards on all sides of him, and as more and more people get word that he’s here we have a lot of visitors to our section. Stadium staff set up ticket check points so that only people with tickets in this section are allowed in it – and some fans get really ticked off that other people trying to get pics of Snoop are now blocking their view of the game. We still can’t figure out why he’s not in some private box - Bmc says that she's read a lot about him and he likes to
hang out with his fans like that - it really really looks like him. Before the security tightens, people are getting autographs and he's waving.. One girl in front of us is really cracking us up. She's standing up and sticking her tongue out, dancing and gesturing toward him. I tell Britt that she should stand up and take a picture, "oh, and shake my tits at him, cause that's what she did." There are a group of girls in front of us who seem a little shy, they’re afraid to stand up to get a picture – but she laughs at BM’s comment…. "You're welcome."
About the 4th inning a familiar looking guy heads up the steps of our section. People are screaming, everyone is standing and facing us with their cameras and phones... It's Snoop Dogg. It LOOKS so much like Snoop Dogg, but there is no way that it’s Snoop. In the nosebleed section? We look for signs that it’s a look-alike to confirm our beliefs that this is impossible that its Snoop Dogg, but everything we see actually confirms the opposite. He has about 6 bodyguards on all sides of him, and as more and more people get word that he’s here we have a lot of visitors to our section. Stadium staff set up ticket check points so that only people with tickets in this section are allowed in it – and some fans get really ticked off that other people trying to get pics of Snoop are now blocking their view of the game. We still can’t figure out why he’s not in some private box - Bmc says that she's read a lot about him and he likes to
hang out with his fans like that - it really really looks like him. Before the security tightens, people are getting autographs and he's waving.. One girl in front of us is really cracking us up. She's standing up and sticking her tongue out, dancing and gesturing toward him. I tell Britt that she should stand up and take a picture, "oh, and shake my tits at him, cause that's what she did." There are a group of girls in front of us who seem a little shy, they’re afraid to stand up to get a picture – but she laughs at BM’s comment…. "You're welcome."
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| SNOOP! |
Later in the game that same girl turns around
to Dana and asks very politely (in what seems to be a British accent), “Excuse
me, but can you tell me how you get points?”… she laughs a little when we react
with silent looks of awe, but she says, “I know this sounds silly – but I could
explain the rules of Cricket to you.. “
Ahh.. international guests. We
can’t really decide where they’re from, they sound British, but Becki can see
bits of their facebook app over their shoulder and it’s in French. Dana and I explain the basics of the game
and she’s surprised to know that our players “specialize in either throwing or
hitting”… in Cricket they players have to bowl and hit both. We do add that in real baseball, in the
National League, that the pitchers do have to hit.
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| Nathan's dogs |
We want to leave early – we still have to get
the Empire State building (and possibly the Yankee Tavern), so about the 6th
inning we head down and we get Nathan’s hotdogs and a Yankee souvenir cup, and
then head out. BP waits in the AC of
McDonalds while the rest of us head over to the Yankee Tavern. This is not a tourist spot, this is the real
deal, filled with real Yankee fans bellied up the bar, watching the game. We ask the bartender for shirts and they’re
much more affordable than the ones in the club store – I’m a fan. And yes, Bob, we got your shirt. In fact we got one for Scott too, and I got
one for myself. We chatted with what BMc
considers to be a “real” New Yorker while we were there, and he was really nice
– we talked about where we were staying and he told us some places to go and
eat. Wish we had more days to fit them
in…
Back on the subway – heading down to 34th
street for the Empire State Building, our last official act of our NYC
trip. We get off the subway and this
time I figure that instead of orienting ourselves by maps and street signs,
that we can just look up. Becki looks
up and heads in the wrong direction – it’s been a long day – I chuckle just a
little and then bring her attention to the very large building in front of
us. OH.
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| Just look up |
There
are miles of lines to get to the observation deck, and then you get to get in
an elevator up to the 80th floor.
We get in and according to BM, it smells like a
bowling shoe. I love that phrase; even
more so because it’s true. NYC has
something against proper ventilation. Once
on the 80th floor we have more line walking… group pictures.. and we’re
almost there. They offer us a chance to
bypass the line to the elevator by walking up 6 floors. If this were not the end of a very long week
and we were further back in line, and if I weren’t absolutely sure that there
would be zero air circulation in the stairwell.. then we might consider
walking. But as it is, we stay in line for
the elevator. We get up there and it’s
beautiful at night. We spot New Jersey, Brooklyn, Time Square and Chrysler
Building, and Tower One…
We are subway pros now and we find our train,
actually heading in the right direction – and for the first time we exit out of
the correct exit and end up just a block from our apt. It’s been a long day.. a long 8 days and we
head home tmw! We’ve had a great time,
but we’re kinda ready to be home.
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| Tower One in the distance |
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