The past few days have been the time of my life so far! On Saturday I left Connecticut for the shining lights of the Big Apple once more... I am staying in Mount Vernon, New York, with one of my campers. They have a beautiful house in a gorgeous neighbourhood just outside New York City and have very kindly welcomed me into their home. Sunday was somewhat of an adventure. Many of you don't know it yet, but I chose to invest a small portion of my savings in a decent little camera, so I walked into Bronxville (a very cute little village half an hour from where I stay, NOT to be confused with the Bronx) and took the train into the city to take my camera for a test drive. The train took me to Grand Central, glorious as always, and I spent a few moments admiring the beauty of it before walking out into the city. It felt like I had never left.
I saw some very interesting sights. The first was Pakistan's 67th Independence Day parade down Park Avenue. Huh??? Colour me confused... Thought I had come to America?! I was so confused, I forgot to take pics! But hey it was funny to see all the fat dignitaries (I assume) marching in their fancy suits and sashes behind their little green and white float in the sweltering heat! :) the float reminded me of RAG and I spared a moment of silence for the poor souls who sacrificed their fingers in the making of it. (Tuks students will understand that reference!)
A few blocks further was an even funnier sight: the museum of sex. Yes you read it right and no I'm not joking! Although in all fairness I couldn't quite believe my eyes either! I thought it might just be a store with a funny name to attract customers so, naturally, I went to investigate. Boy was I wrong! For the more modest readers among you (and those prone to mild heart failure if exposed to scandalous materials) I will spare you the details. But let's just say I got more of an education from eight minutes in that store than I did from all the sex ed talks at school! Lolsies sorry mom ;) I was also amused to hear the not so melodic sounds of Die Antwoord playing in the museum! Ten points for internationally misrepresenting the South African music industry! :-/
Next I found Macy's... The world's largest store! It has eleven floors!!! IN. SANE. They have three Starbucks(es?) and a McDonald's IN the store. Score one for bigger and better! I was gobsmacked (I finally REALLY understand that saying). I also visited Madison Square Garden to see if I could take a peek inside, but sadly it's being renovated so it was all closed up. Shortly thereafter, my camera battery failed me, so I slowly (tired feet hindered me slightly!) wound my way back up to Grand Central and headed back to Bronxville. It was a LONG walk home from the station! Need to recondition my feet to get ready for this tourist lifestyle! :)
Today was AMAZING! Camera battery fully charged and ready for action, I caught a ride into the city with Donna and Holly. They had tickets to watch day one of the US Open which took place in Queens. As we arrived, we ran into Billie Jean King. Merely the first sign that it was the start of an incredible day. I'm struggling to type fast enough to satisfy my enthusiasm! :) I hopped on the subway into Manhattan, again arriving at Grand Central, this time well prepared (camera charged!) and spent the rest of the day looking up and snapping no less than 562 photographs! It was the best day :) got lovely pics of the Chrysler and Empire State buildings; visited the famed Fifth Avenue Apple store and took a ride in their Great Glass Elevator (sadly not Mr Wonka's) and made friends with a cart horse in Central Park whose name was Samson. He was a beautiful muscular black horse with a white star and the sweetest personality. I fed him carrots. He liked me... I could tell. Lovely fella :) I visited the Central Park zoo and Central Park and watched some of the seal show. Sadly that was at 16:30 and the park closes at five, so I deemed it unwise to buy tickets. But I'll be back! I then walked fifty blocks up Fifth Avenue to find the Woolworth mansion. It was the eleventh most expensive house in the world (jury's still out on whether I found that one...); found a turtle in the Jackie Kennedy reservoir dam in Central Park; named said turtle George (it felt right); got back to the tennis stadium for my ride home, and they had been handed free evening tickets and thus had decided to stay for the opening ceremony and evening matches (S. Williams and R. Federer!) so we got me a ticket and off we went!
Well, today was my day for celeb spotting, 'cause they were all out in the Open (get it? :-P). I saw... (Drum roll please!) Billie Jean King, Selena Williams, Lenny Kravitz (performing, no less), Kevin Spacey, Zachary Levi, Olivia Wilde (didn't get a pic, sorry brother! :-P), Jason Sudeikis, Cuba Gooding Jr., Anne Burrell, New York Mayor Bloomberg, and Donald Trump and family (the whole stadium booed him, it was awkward :-D). Probably more that I've subsequently forgotten in all my excitement but that's enough name dropping for this post :) the match was a bit one sided I'm afraid (as all women's matches involving Serena tend to be because the woman is an amazon and hits the ball so hard it may as well have been shot from a canon!) unfortunately, just after Serena stylishly concluded her merciless obliteration of her poor opponent 6-0, 6-1, the skies opened and Roger's match was cancelled! I was very sad :'( But WHAT A DAY! I shall sleep with a smile tonight! :)
Tomorrow, if all goes to plan, you shall see hundreds of photos! Finally :) And then, as the sun sets, I shall be comfortably cushioned in a Broadway seat watching a Broadway production of a Broadway show ON BROADWAY!!! Phantom of the Opera... I'm lucky, I know :-D
Stay classy beautiful people, you shall hear from me soon! c",)
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