Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Day three - fashions and sightseeing

We started the day by missing the bus. Got tired of waiting and climbed the stairs to the elevated "subway". Only one stop from Bloomingdales. We walked in and all the designers had small outlets. Jimmy Choo wanted $198.00 to $243 for a keychain. We spoke to the clerk about off shore goods as the keychains were from Viet Nam. Beautiful wallets but they start at $128.00. A Coach coin purse was $56.00 - I'm not sure they are worth that much. We were given a spritz of eau de toilette by the store clerk. It was on special for $98.00. Colleen bought a Lady Gaga lipstick for an outrageous price but we are on holidays so we are supposed to spend money. Floor walkers everywhere - I didn't know they still had floor walkers. The Ladies Lounge (bathroom to the rest of the world) could be used for a reception anywhere else. We got pictures.

We headed across Lexington and Peggy said she had read something about Barney's so we went in and lo and behold Katie Holmes was there because of a new line of Holmes and Yang clothing. We had Champagne, petite fours, truffle potatoes and smoked salmon and look at all the clothes as if we would buy a sheer blouse for $236.00 or the top to go under for $148.00. I schmoozed while the others took pictures until somneone said no.  By then we had got all the pictures we needed.

We walked on to Central Park and saw the Plaza Hotel and the horse drawn carriages that take you round the park. Next it was off down 5th Avenue and check out all the famous name brands. We had lunch at the Trump Tower and then went to Tiffany's - enough bling to blind you.

Just down the street, after more window shopping, we visited St. Patricks Cathedral - beautiful Gothic architecture. Rockefeller Plaza is just across the way, so we watched people skating and went to Crabtree and Evelyn and then went up to the Top of the Rock. The Ascent from 3 to 67 is 43 seconds. They show slides on the ceiling to distract you.

Peggy had mapped out a quilt store so we went and while we were there we bought material and Colleen and I convinced her to make us pillows with taxicabs, subway maps and the Statue of Liberty on them.

We took the bus most of the day. It was easier then going up and down stairs to the subway. We went to Red Lobster for dinner. It was on Times Square. We took lots of pictures both before and after dinner and came home tired but happy.

Monday, March 14, 2011

New York City

Well I finally remembered my password so I could Blog.

On Saturday we had a great flight to New York. The line ups in Toronto were so long that they pulled me out of line 2 hours before my flight to try and get me through customs and security on time. I flunked the scan because of my money belt, but they let me into the country anyway.

Found the corner store has Smithwicks Irish beer so that is what I have been drinking. We wandered around Sunday looking for markets. Didn't find anything decent until afternoon.  The Chelsea Market was really nice and we found a flea market and I put my hand in to a bowl of jade items and pulled out a rooster.  How weird!

Visited the 911-museum Workshop - quite emotional. very small but packed with pictures and memorabilia. All day I kept looking at a small map and making Colleen and Peggy walk miles to the next place. I wore them out. We went to Filene's Basement and walked up to the Flatiron Building.

We were looking for a place to eat and found a place across from the Museum of Sex. It said it was healthy Ffod - Naturally Tasty was the name of the restaurant.  It had Healthy Hamburgers, Beer and we could have had Healthy Fries if we wanted them. I get the idea that they thought all food was healthy.

Today we went to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the 911 actual Site - which looks like any construction site now. We found the best view - not from the walkway but from the second floor of the World Financial Centre across the road. We froze on the boat going to the Statue and Peggy told off a crew making a Panasonic commercial because they made us move from the seats we picked and by then there weren't anymore seats inside. Liberty Island was not windy at all and we got some nice pictures of both the statue and the Orange County Chopper.

It was a good day!  Can't wait for tomorrow.