Saturday, September 18, 2004
One Wet And Crazy Day
step and I made a point of being up and about earlier on this day as we had a lot of things we wanted to do.
We first hit Central Park entering at the opening which takes you to the area named Strawberry Fields in memory of John Lennon. Not too far in, there is a fork in the path where there is a tiled circle which simply says "Imagine". There were lots of people around so I thought I would come back later for a pic but I didn't have time in the end. :( One thing that Steph and I noticed which we both felt was a little insensitive I guess you could call it was that people were walking on it. I don't know exactly how to explain it but it just didn't 'feel' right. It's like the zodiac located on the entry way floor of the Iowa State Memorial Union. Even though the idea of walking around it came from a superstitious myth, it was something that just doesn't feel right to do.
We moved on from there to a bridge which Steph said is rather famous (it's been in a bunch of flicks). Along with the bridge, we stopped at a fountain or two, a walkway under one of the streets which was closed due to restoration of the mosaic ceiling tiles, a bandshell which was also being restored, and The Dairy House welcome center. I did see Tavern On The Green (really pretty at night when all the lights in the trees are lit). Unfortunately, that was another thing I just didn't have time to get a picture of. :(
As we were making our way out of the park, we came across a view with a small bridge and lots of flowers. There was just something about it that reminded me of Monet's Garden in France. Steph and I both stopped to take some pictures. While doing so, I noticed a squirrel hunting for food along the walk. It was almost as if he came to pose for me. Once I got the shot of the landscape, I then aimed the camera at the critter. You see for nearly the duration of the time we were in the park, I was trying to get a picture of one of these little guys because they appeared to be grey rather than Red (the only other place I've seen grey ones is in England). Anyway, the little guy/girl sat up munching a nut it had in its paws. Cool! Perfect shot! Well, it would have been had I been able to snap it quicker. Something spooked the animal and the little tyke ran before the picture 'took' so I ended up with a pic of squirrel ass! Just my luck. Ah well, I decided to keep it anyway just because of humor value. Thought I might call it something like "KMA" or "Booty Call". LOL
When we left the park, we came out on the corner by where the horse and carriage rides load up and were 'solicited' by at least two drivers to take a ride. We politely declined and headed towards an FAO Swartz we saw in the distance. We walked around the whole building only to discover unfortunately, it was one that wasn't yet open. Worse yet, it had started to rain - DRAT! We noticed a rather interesting department store type shop across the street and decided to go in so we could at least get out of the rain for a bit. Bergdorf Goodman. Yet one more place that reminded me of London (Harrod's in particular) not only by the atmosphere but the floor plan to some extent. For those of you who aren't familiar with either of these places, I shall give you a description.
As you walk through the doors there is a security guard standing watch and looking people over as they come and go. I can only imagine what the guy thought when we entered since we were dressed down for a casual day out and rained soaked. The rest of the store is somewhat of a maze. Unlike most of the departments stores designed in today's buildings that have an open plan, this store was more like a bunch rooms off hallways. Everything in this place was designer and wouldn't you know over half was leopard print. Steph was in absolute heaven! I can't say I was overly impressed with much of the stuff there. Just was a little to far on the side of 'uglytown' for me. After a quick scout about, we left so we could start heading back towards the Shops Of Columbus Circle so I could make my purchases. It was probably a good thing we left when we did as Steph already had a want list totaling somewhere close to $150,000.
As we were walking, the rain started to pick up so we ducked into a Duane Reade (imagine that! LOL) to get some snacks. Steph also decided to get an umbrella too but it turned out to be nearly useless. First of all, it was smaller than all get out, and second, the wind caused some havoc with it. When we were getting close to the shops I wanted to stop at, we came up behind a couple of NYC finest and I noticed that even though they didn't have an umbrella, it looked like they weren't getting wet at all - NO FAIR! I of course made a comment to Steph about it and she being who she is yelled to them and asked them what the deal was. I'm sure at first the two of them thought they had a couple of mad women following them since we did sort of get a strange look from them but as soon as they realized we were kidding with them, we got a chuckle in the end.
I was glad to finally see the mall we were headed for so we could get out of the rain. We had a walk through the Sephora make up store. I saw a lot of funky bits that I would have loved to take home with me but I knew more than likely that it wouldn't get used enough to justify the purchase. Besides, I didn't have a lot of room for "souvies" to take back and I already had my eye on other things. From there, it was on to Armani. Ooh lots of lovely gems there! Unfortunately a couple of the things I picked out which looked good on the hanger, just didn't do anything for me once I put them on. I did, however, find a couple of things that would not let me out of the store without them so I kissed $150 away there. Next up - Hugo Boss to purchase THE shirt. It's a long sleeved T made of a heavier lycra sort of material, black (although they did have blue and pink too) with a wide grey strip on the top of the sleeve and the word ROCKSTAR in raised letters across the front. When Steph and I had seen that shirt the day before, we both knew at least one of us would be coming home with one. I ended up picking up a sweater too for the Englishman while I was there. It was only fair as I had worn one of his others through in the elbows. I told Steph I would get her a Rockstar shirt as an early Christmas prezzy but the silly girl decided to run outside for a smoke before I could talk to her about it so I didn't pick one up for her. $250 later, I was walking through the door to meet Steph so we could take a walk through the grocery store that was downstairs. Very intriguing place to say the least although it was a total madhouse with a never ending check out line.
Thankfully when we walked outside, the rain had stopped. It was colder than hell but at least not wet. We had walked across the street and were passing Trump Tower when we had a rather sureal experience. There was this guy standing out on the steps with some people huddled around him. As we were walking by, Steph asked me if I knew who the guy was. I looked up and said, "It looks like Slash from Guns N Roses." (yes, I do realize he is now in the band Velvet Revolver but I know him best from GNR). Steph had this priceless look on her face and asked me if I was sure about who he was. I said that I was completely certain but that it definitely looked like him. It was at that point Steph was making a B line back to the guy (surprise surprise - LOL). She stood there patiently waiting while the kids asking for autographs got done. They each had about five to ten things which was a little irritating (I think Slash thought so too). As the guards were about to take him back inside, Steph asked if she could have a picture. Slash was very nice about it and gladly took the picture with her. I was so happy that he did so as I was afraid he might take attitude just because of the previous hounds. He was very gracious about it and thanked Steph when he was done. I probably could have gotten a picture with him to, however, I'm not that big of a fan so I wasn't that fussed about it especially since I knew he was trying to get out of there. I was just glad Steph was able to get one as I know it meant a lot to her.
As we were walking back to the hotel, Steph had to make a couple of phone calls - one I believe to Matt and another to Rhonda (she and I had quite the chat about England and her future travels to Russia - lucky girl). We stayed outside the hotel for probably a good half hour to hour in the cold and damp talking on the phone - Steph to Rhonda and me to Jonathan planning the next days activities since he decided not to come to the city that night and go to the club. When we finally got done, we had just enough time to go up to our room, have a short breather, and get ready to go back out.
We had planned to meet up with Julie about 8pm then go eat and hit a club afterward. We were trying to decide on what to eat and I had remembered Steph said she wanted to have Chinese before we left the city so I suggested we go for that since it sounded good. Because Julie's boyfriend lives quite close to where we were staying, she was familiar with the area and knew of a quaint little Chinese place only a few blocks from the hotel. It was really busy so we had to wait twenty or so minutes to get in but the food was worth it - was really good. We were even surprised by a visit from Rick (Julie's boyfriend) and his youngest daughter. Decent chap Julie. Steph and I give our approval. LOL
After dinner, we hit Duane Reade yet again so we could get some cash from the ATM. I was surprised I only got whacked with a $.99 charge. I've used some ATMs where the fee was as much as $2.50. From there we went back to the hotel to freshen up and catch a cab to the club - Avalon located in Chelsea. I thought that was kind of cool since I lived in Chelsea when I was in England. The club itself was brill and the tunes they played were absolutely crackin'! I loved it and it reminded a lot of a place I visited in Reading, England the last time the Englishman and I went to visit his family. Steph was convinced that we were going to burn in hell because it was located in an old church but I thought it was great and the unisex bathroom complete with DJ just made me laugh. Now there is something I have NEVER seen before. Steph wasn't into dancing but Julie and I gave it a good effort before we left. I mean the hell if I was going pass that chance now that I was in a real club after nearly three years of withdrawal (can you tell the clubs in Iowa are absolute shit?). The only thing I was a little miffed about was the fact that I was going to miss some of my favorite DJs - Tall Paul on 10.16, Ferry Corsten on 10.23, and Felix Da Housecat on 10.30. Ah well, maybe I can catch them or some of the others I really like some other time. The last time I was in England and we went to the Matrix, I got to see Brandon Block that was awesome so I can only imagine that these three shows would be just as good or better.
One humorous happening at the club was when we had gone out to the patio with Steph so she could smoke. We were all just sitting around talking when these two guys approached us. The one guy said his name was "Effie" and he called his friend "The Backstabber". I guess Effie's friend was playin the woman he had his eye on the week before so he wanted our opinion as to whether or not we thought his friend was a creep. LOL What can I say, the guy didn't speak up and tell his friend he liked the girl so it was his own fault his bud put the moves on 'his woman'. LOL It also gave me a chuckle because he thought we were all twenty-three and was convinced that we were all from the East coast. He was such a funny guy that I demanded that he let us get a picture with him just for the silliness of it all.
About 1am another day in the city had come to a close for us and it was back to the hotel for a rest before the "big" day of meeting with my friend Jonathan, beach going, and seeing Alice.
Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
|
