The Purple Penguin

Got up and headed out to MoMA. Had to stop for breakfast, coffee and bagels in Central Park (well, the edge of Central Park but at least we found a way in!) Then to MoMA. Finally met some rude New Yorkers – the museum staff are pretty unhelpful. However the exhibits are good. Loads of work by dead white men, but other than that it’s good. Of course, one of the pieces I wanted to see, Dali’s The Persistence of Memory is at the Tate Modern right now. So have to go there when I get home! We didn’t spend that long in the museum, only about 3 hours. Then we were off.

Stopped at a hot dog stand and had a hot dog, you have to do that! I must say here that the weather has been wonderful since arriving in NY. It was a bit cold and rainy while we were in Red Bank, but since Monday it has been sunny and warm. Lovely outdoor weather, so we have been walking every where. And for breakfast and lunch today we joined the New Yorkers sitting outside.

We then went to Bloomingdales which claims to have everything but doesn’t. No electronics. So out to go to Macy’s. New Yorkers are very helpful, you can’t open a map without getting directions from someone. Which can be nice but at the same time sometimes we’re just working out the route we want to take. Still we had a couple tell us to take the bus, so we took the bus right to the door of Macys’ – saved us the walk. Macy’s had something like what we were looking for but the salesperson was so awful we decided we’d keep looking. We couldn’t be sure it would do what we wanted! So we walked to the UN building for a look, big boring building; then to the Chrysler Building, big beautiful building. The Chrysler Building is spectacular, especially the lobby. Just lovely. I would have stood and stared for ages but Joe dragged me down the lovely Art Deco staircase to the subway to get back to the hotel. <humph> Still the stairway was nice.

Cooling down before deciding where to go for dinner. Tomorrow we’re off to see more art!

We jumped on the appropriate tube/metro/underground/subway train to have breakfast at the Empire Diner. It’s an old diner done up in proper style (Art Deco). I had ham and eggs (cooked properly even) and Kathleen had pigs in blankets (K: a bit odd as they were hot dogs in pastry rather than sausage but ok). After a leisurely breakfast we strolled past the Flatiron building to the Empire State Building. Went up the ES and had a good look around. From there took the tube/metro/underground/subway to Chinatown (more Dynasty), strolled around looking at jewelry, food, and the take away aquarium. From there to Little Italy back down the tube/metro/underground/subway and popped up in Greenwich where we sat in the park listening to the bands play. Had a good stroll around looking at architecture (K: yea, right, that’s where all the, um, well, sex shops are! Architecture, right.) before completely our round trip on the subway to 79th Street where we stopped for dinner. We went to a really good Chinese/Japanese restaurant called Ruby Foos.

Kathleen’s report: Short cause we’re tired. We did a little less walking today or rather planned to do a little less walking today. Ended up doing quite a bit anyway. The diner was nifty and the food good. We also saw several odd things today, like a woman on the underground in full graduation regalia, a woman in a clown suit, two guys walking a bunch of dogs, and a bunch of dancers in the underground, including a Micheal Jackson look a like. Fun. It was a day for just stopping and looking at stuff. The Empire State Building is wonderful, great views of course, but also just the decoration on the building, the lifts, the lights, the whole thing. Of course, I love the Art Deco theme. We just walked through the other areas, not really taking a lot of time, but still enjoying everything. A slow look at stuff walk. Of course, Greenwich now has a large gay scene and loads of sex shops, so of course when we get back on the underground we are in a carriage with a bunch of sailors in full Navy uniform. And what do I start thinking? Yep, Village People. Managed not to start laughing though Joe did give me a look; I believe he was thinking the same thing. Dinner was lovely and now off to bed as we’re going to MoMA tomorrow.

Today was a day of parties; it all started out after we’d taken the metro down to Battery Park to collect our tickets to go across to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We wandered into the old fort to pick up the tickets by which time three coach parties (or more) had dropped off their loads and the queue was forever. We managed to squeeze in just behind the red hat party (OAPs wearing their red baseball caps) and proceeded to follow them all the way to the statue, where we ended up being joined by the school parties. Every where we went. Party after party after party. Oh, and saw the statue. Then stood in line behind another party to go to Ellis Island. After we had a very quick look around Ellis Island we joined the queue for Battery Park behind the red hat party – again. Jumped on the metro to 50th Street and the Gershwin Theatre to pick up the tickets for the show. Found a little bar to hang out in until show time (beer report: blueberry beer complete with blueberries, good. Checkered Cab, ok.) Got into the show to find ourselves sitting in front of a high school party, complete with teacher continually coming around telling them what to do (or such important things about going to a Broadway Musical such as ‘these have music in them and people sing’). From the show we didn’t take the metro, we walked back to the hotel where we got behind another group of red hats – these had been to see the Colour Purple musical and were a group of older women all dressed up and wearing red hats. At the hotel we got behind the Italian party staying here.

Kathleen’s report: I got to see a Broadway Musical! Yea! We headed out quite early for the statue and touristy bits although our tickets were for the afternoon. Hoping to miss the crowds, fat chance of that. There were hoards. So we got to Liberty Island and had breakfast and a relaxing walk around the island. Then they let us into the statue early, where the people were complaining about all the stairs. But the musuem was interesting. Can’t go up into the statue any longer, just the pedestal.

Then off to Ellis Island where we had a quick look at the large recording room and a quick run around one exhibition. It was getting later into the afternoon by then and we wanted to get something to eat before seeing the show. So back on the ferry and off. The tube at Battery Park (South Ferry) is nifty, it has little platforms that come out when the train pulls in and then they retract when the train leaves.

Once we had our tickets we went looking for food and found a place with loads of different beers. Made Joe happy. I had a Manhatten which, from the taste of my drink is straight bourbon with a cherry in it. We wanted a slow meal and so ordered a plate of mixed starters. The waitress brought those then took away the menus. We had planned to order a meal, but when she came to take the finished starters away she just plonked down the check and then disappeared.

Off to the theatre and got a programme (expensive – I shouldn’t ever complain about West End shows, at least a decent programme is cheap). The playbill was free but has very little in it. Got in and the woman doing the handing out of playbills and showing seats was a real terror. Don’t try to walk past her, despite the fact that by the time you got to her your ticket had been checked at least three times she had to look at it again and tell you exactly where you were sitting. And god forbid you try to by pass her or not take your playbill. I was sitting right next to where she was standing to do her thing and it got funny. The show was very good. Completely different from the novel but then it would have to be! But it did end up being a different story. The set is fantastic as are the costumes and I really enjoyed it though there weren’t any really good tunes.

Very tired now and headed off to sleep!

Got the train from Red Bank to Penn Station, New York. Pleasant trip that didn’t take too long, a bit under an hour and a half. Everything was going well until we tried to get a Metro card – it just wouldn’t take our cards. And it wants a zip code when using a credit card; being from out of town we don’t have a zip code. What a pain. The staff seemed to go out of their way to be unhelpful as well, just muttering ‘use the machine’ every time we tried to ask a question. We finally found a machine that accepted cash and got tickets.

Got lucky on the underground – it’s a bit confusing with local and express trains and no way to tell the difference if you don’t already know what you are doing. But we got the express and got off at 72nd Street, then got the local to 79th Street and learned that those blocks are very short. So the express to 72nd is quite close to the hotel (Belleclaire). We got to the hotel and got our room. Small but quite nice. We’ll see how quiet it is as our window looks out on the street!

Once checked in we walked down Broadway and found the Gershwin Theatre (we’re going there tomorrow to see Wicked) and Times Square. We then walked down 44th Street to 5th Avenue. Found Cartier and a lovely pair of earrings but Joe said he thought they were too long. He wouldn’t let me stay in Tiffany’s very long, claimed his feet were hurting. And there is no place to have breakfast at Tiffany’s! So then walked along Central Park and saw the entrance to the zoo. On the map there is a road that goes through the park near our hotel, so we went down that and managed to go through Central Park without ever seeing the park. There was no way to get into the park. Who knew it was designed by Belgians (or by the same people who designed the parks we couldn’t get out of in Brussels)!

Found an interesting little place to stop and have a couple of drinks as by this time we were quite tired and thirsty (we had meant to stop at the Dairy in the park but, well, no way to get there!) Must go back and have dinner there some time as the place looked quite nice (caferonda). Budget? What budget?

Off for dinner soon. Of course, I don’t have my address book with me, so if a postcard doesn’t arrive I didn’t get your address right!

Got up far too early after a late night, got showers, and went down for the breakfast. We were moved into a larger room as there were so many people invited to the breakfast and Joe and I got down there for the start at 9, but were by no means the first people. Had a nice breakfast and a chat with everyone. Found out the bride and groom left with the avenue of sparklers with the intention of going on to a little bar nearby but decided it was far too cold and wet and so turned around and came back in. But, as the bride said, the photos will be nice.

We hung around and waved good-bye as everyone left. We watched everything get packed away into the cars and the last thing was the surfboard going on top of the groom’s car! We are now the only people left in the hotel from the wedding, so it’s nice and quiet. It was nice to meet everyone and we had a good time but it’s also nice to have a break and relax.

It was a beautiful morning, bright sun and warm, so, after everyone left, Joe and I headed out for a walk. His new shoes have given him blisters so it wasn’t much of a walk but we stopped at the Dublin pub for lunch and ended up sitting with a very nice person. The place was packed as the weather was so nice, with everyone wanting to sit out in the sun. After lunch we headed back to the hotel, watched a movie, and Joe is now watching baseball while I read. Nice and relaxing! Of course, it has also started raining again. I hope that stops by tomorrow.

New York tomorrow!

Went out to get breakfast and ended up at this little diner with very good food. After eating decided I was tired so a walk back to the hotel and we slept the rest of the day. Well, kept us out of the way of the wedding party who were all running about like mad. Having slept most of the day, Joe went to get his shoes (he’d had them repaired at the shoe shop. I realised I was asleep when the phone ringing woke me up!) When Joe got back we went down and hung out in the bar. Apparently there is some horse race that ran yesterday – the cover started about 6 hours before the race started and was on the telly while we at the bar. The only other interesting thing was watching the fish – they were being driven up into the shallows by other fish feeding.

Having had a drink or so we came back to the room and started to get ready. Once ready we were back down in the bar waiting for it all to begin. It did actually start to rain in the afternoon so having the wedding indoors was a good decision. Not to mention the fact that it was cold and everyone was wearing light sleeveless dresses or light suits.

Eventually we all filed into the ceremony. One priest and two bottles of sand later they were married. We all stood for the wedding because no one told my dad that the congregation were to follow his lead and he had to sit down to indicate to the rest of us that we could. But it was a short ceremony so that was ok. After the ceremony we all filed out and headed for the cocktail hour. Huge rooms with a couple of bars, several food stations (including pasta), and waiters wandering around with snacks. Lovely. I had to head off to find the wedding party for photos. Bleugh, but Allison let me off with just two photos.

Then off to the reception which was held in the same room as the wedding. The food was broken up with the dancing and announcing. So we all sat down and the wedding party were introduced and the first dance, then we had starters and salad. Huge meal, lovely company and a good time had by all until about half past 12! The bride and groom left under an arch of sparklers then turned around and headed back to the bar.

So to bed at half past midnight but up again at 5am. I hate jet lag.

Woke up early, even after the drinks and party last night, opened the drapes and it’s a lovely sunny day with a wonderful blue sky. The wedding is going to be inside.

Went down with the full intention of going out to get breakfast as we were going to get various things to prepare for the wedding. We managed to spot the parents in the restaurant and after going to say hi ended up sitting down and having breakfast with them. As time went on more and more people connected to the wedding party appeared until finally half of the little breakfast area was full of wedding people talking to each other.

Joe’s preparations: When we did finally get out, dropped Kathleen off with the full intention of heading out getting my beard trimmed and a new pair of shoes and back to the hotel hours before she got back. First stop, barbers. It was early in the morning so there was no queue so I just walked right in. Sat down and started chatting as I got my beard trimmed and hair cut. Subject turned to why was I here, so explained about the wedding to find out the barber was a rival American Football fan, but also found out the local pub to go to for real sport. (definition: English, i.e. proper, football) So 15 minutes later I wandered around to the high street looking at shoes. Entered a small shop and an hour later came out with some shoes. A very laid back, but extremely good, sales experience. Complete with yappy dog and a long conversation with other customers.

Meanwhile, Kathleen’s preparations: I got to the little shop (oh, ok, I was getting my legs waxed!) Walked in and straight back to the room. about 20 minutes later after a very brisk leg waxing and no chit chat I was out. So walked up to the little shoe shop next door, cruised around looking at very expensive shoes, decided I didn’t really need them, and headed back to the hotel. Got to the hotel and ran into Dad and Mary Anne leaving. So went up to the room and got my book and went to sit in the atrium to read and wait for Joe. Also grabbed the local paper which was interesting. Allison came in while I was sitting and reading and we had a chat. She and some of her bridesmaids were off to get their nails done, so she asked if I wanted to come along. It was at the place I had just been to, but I declined the invitation and continued to wait for Joe. After the local paper, chatting to people and a couple of chapters of Daniel Deronda I saw Joe get into the glass lift. I waved but he didn’t look until after he’d pushed the button and was headed up to the fourth floor. So he spent the ride looking at me before just pushing the button to come back down.

Together again: We ended up running into more wedding party and my sister so chatted for a bit before heading back out into the town. Waved to Allison getting her nails done then dropped Joe’s shoes off to get repaired and then ate at Joe’s Cafe (actually called No Ordinary Joe’s Cafe). Nice lunch. It was raining and nasty day, very cold so we ended up back at the hotel visiting with people. Finally in Dad and Mary Anne’s room meeting people, folding programmes, having drinks, and wondering what is in the dodgy briefcases. There was much discussion about the weather and the decision was made to have the wedding inside, as by this time the rain was pouring down and there was nearly a gale blowing. They needed to get ready for the rehearsal so we went back to our room and napped, played on the computer, various odds and ends before getting ready for the dinner.

The Dinner: (J) In this wedding plan there are lots of different invites, the first of these was the rehearsal dinner hosted by the groom’s parents. At 7pm we went down to the dining room in the hotel to meet and be introduced to lots of new people. It was a very pleasant affair a little bit of drinking and a nice buffet meal and a couple of speeches where the very dodgy briefcases were handed out. (Let me explain; when we went to Paul’s Bar (nominally room 408) in the afternoon of the many things stored there for the wedding was 6 to 8 hard aluminium looking silver briefcases, the sort normally seen in films containing the assassin’s gun or the drug’s money. Repeated attempts did not reveal the contents, hence the dodgy briefcases.) At one point Hal’s brother was given the choice of $60 or the dodgy briefcase; he took the briefcase. These were presents for the groomsmen. Allison then gave out the presents for the parents and bridesmaids. At 9pm drinks were hosted by the bride’s parents and more people drifted in. By about 11pm people started leaving and I retired. (K) Far too many people, and way too many cameras, but a nice dinner. I ended up retiring at 10 as I was falling asleep on my feet!

Woke up very early as always. 1am. <sigh> It’s grey and rainy today. The family are compulsively watching the Weather Channel as it’s suppose to be an outside wedding. So far the weather will clear and it will be beautiful and sunny – on Sunday afternoon. The wedding is Saturday. When it’s raining. Best laid plans and all that.

The hotel is nice; the best bit is the lift. There is an atrium that goes all the way to the roof, the lift is glass so you can ride up looking down into the atrium. Lovely. And there are NOT nose prints on the glass. Honest.

Everyone else will arrive today. But we’re not expected to do anything until tonight so we’re off to find Joe’s Cafe (yes, there really is one here) for breakfast and then just wander about the little town looking at things. It’s small but there are loads of little shops and things. Probably be bored by, oh, lunchtime.