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Published: April 1st 2007
Hello all! So we've been in Manhattan for two weeks now and are having a wonderful wonderful time! The whole time in New York we've felt like we were in millions of films and TV programmes - at first sesame street and crocodile dundee (lost in crowds) and then more and more like we are in Sex and the City. And so I got to wondering in the city that never sleeps have new york women replaced having children with caring for very small dogs and dressing them up like babies? Meanwhile on the Upper East Side:
Day Three - Where everybody knows your name.
We explored Harlem today and went in what will apparently be the biggest cathedral in the world St john the Divine - its not as big as the vatican but very pretty and we saw an amazing choir rehearsing - just like in home alone. This evening we wandered around looking for the right bar and ended up finding our very own local - Biddy's run by a lovely irish barman slighly reminscent of Tom from Father Ted. All the locals now know me and Sash and our whole story.
Day Four
We couldnt walk any further after the miles (sorry kilometres) we covered so far so spent a day in the Museum of Modern Art. I really liked an automated machine that brushes sand like a tibetan monk and a Jeff Wall photo that shows some children in the 70s terrified of a ventriloquist dummy - and rightly so.
Day Five - Ellie's Here!
Ellie arrived in the middle of the night and we were both so excited to see her. We did all the tourist stuff today. We went to ground zero which was really strange as there's no real memorial there yet. I found it really moving partly becuase of the hectic environment - there's a guy who's there everyday screaming recounting events and I noticed two O'Sheas on the list of the deceased.
We went on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. It was raining heavily so we felt just like the tired hungry masses. The statue of liberty isn;t as big as I thought - I never understood how they got it over from France before but now I do - it's a baby statue.
The ellis Island museum was really fascinating as it takes you through the entire immigrants arrival. its really interesting to see how much people were encouraged to emigrate and how quickly that enthusiasm changes to racism. Mum reminded me that my great grandfather came to Ellis Island from Ireland but his parents died on the voyage so he was sent back to port of embarcation - Greenoch near Glasgow.
Day Six - The best cheesecake in the world
We hung out in greenwich village today exploring vintage shops. I got a pair of shorts from american apparell to match reginald le chat. We had the best cheesecake ever at Venerios. Then in the evening we had the most amazing italian food at Pinnochio's on 90th and 1st.
Day Seven - My mom calls it bloomies!
We went to Sams favourite diner Gracie's. Its great but we can't adjust to American massive portions and were all in agony trying to finish. We explored bloomingdlaes and the empire state building (both too expensive) and then went to a comedy club on 14th St. They were all american TV comics but due to an advertising mix up we were part of an audience of 10. ALL THe comedians freaked out and as young smiley brits we were the butts of lots of jokes. One female comic shouted at me 'Answer me bitch, this ain;t Oprah' and another mocked Ellie for ages for shouting out 'Hell, yeah'. We went to a bar where they bring you a pizza with every beer the crocodile lounge and met Kanishk's friend EMily. We then went on to a shisha place just like Baraka where a group of people said to Emily as they were leaving 'WE all think you are the most beautiful thing we ahve ever seen!' Very SATC
Day Eight - Have you tried the guggenheim?
We went to the Guggenheim and wished we were wearing roller skates as it curves downhill. The spanish exhibiton was really well curated in that modern works were placed by the source of inspiration. Eg A picasso next to Velaquez's picture of a girl. We explored the park and found the friends fountain (yes it was Ellie!). There was beautiful music playing under the arches and a photo shoot we stayed for hours.
Day NIne - Goodbye Ellie.
We stayed up all night to say goodbye to Ellie who we'll miss. This morning I went for a run along the east river in beautiful sunshine. There were doctors in scrubs and it was just like ER my eternal reference point.
Day Ten - Sam's grandparents arrived today. Me and Sasha spent the afternoon by the river reading and sketching and I got sunburnt feet - IN MARCH! They took us to PInocchio's again and we felt very spoiled. We found another night with no one there (this city is avoiding us) good music and the worst comedian in the world.
Day Eleven - We got the train to Stony Brook in Long Island where Sam's grandparents live. We joined Sam's grandma at her writing group Herstory. The writing was all incredibly good. I was partly terrified and very interested by hte entirely confessional nature of everyone's writing - wholly autobiographical which is not something I've ever done. We were taken to another lovely dinner and a beautful violin recital where we were the only audience again.
Day Twelve - We explored the woods and lakes on long island and had a lovely breakfast on the harbour with Erika from the writing group. We headed back to Manhattan which now feels like home and went to carnegie hall - this is where all the people are. We saw the Saint Louis Symphony orchestra do a beautiful rendition of Bartok's first piano concerto. We feel very lucky to have been so spoiled by sam's grandparents.
Day Thirteen - A dog wearing sunglasses -
We met Sarah's boyfriend Ray and his lovely friend Adele who reminded us of Alice at the Natural History Museum. We went in a live butterfly exhibit - one landed on my hand and licked me. We walked around in the sun and saw lots of oddly dressed dogs and children. In particular a labrador on a walk wearing designer sunglasses.
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Ellie
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Hell Yeah
Thanks for sharing that embarassment - it sounds as if I was just drunkenly heckling/yelling out perceived racial slurs! It sounds like you're having a fab time (especially the bit where I was there.....) and I'm so sad that I cant continue the journey with you. The real world sucks even more than it did before I left.....I want to eat cheesecake and drink coffee FOREVER! Oh well, we can't have it all. So much love to you guys xxx