Day 3: Midtown Meander

Fisheye view from my apartment, looking one block west to Fifth Avenue and Central Park

Fifth Avenue intersection crossing signage

The Wonderfully Vulgar interior of Trump Tower

Statue of Atlas, Fifth Avenue

Rockefeller Plaza

Rockefeller Plaza, going vertical

One of the beautiful Art Deco buildings on Rockefeller Plaza

Prime Burger diner, post-eggs (sunnyside up), bacon and toast with coffee (was too hungry to take photograph while there was still food on the plate)

Prime Burger, 5 East 51st Street (life-saving Nosh Stop)

St. Patrick's Cathedral interior

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Fifth Avenue

Fifth Avenue Reflections

Mark Charonis and George Skoufalos

Mark, Me and George, kindly taken by random passer-by with Geo's camera

Mark and me

Bit of a late start this morning, awoke with slight hangover from fizz and red wine at Peter and Amy's last night, which was soon dispelled with a cup of tea, but also simply a tad tired, so decided to have an easy morning chilling in the apartment before going out after lunch. Caught up with writing and emails, showered/sprinkled, tested new hairdrier (much better), read guide books, ate low fat granola with raisins (yummy!), drank more tea, photographed view from apartment with fisheye, pottered in general, until finally ready to step out.

Went straight to Fifth Avenue and started walking downtown, soon in the heart of Midtown with attendant busy bustle, taller buildings and TOP shops :) Had to have a look in FAO Schwarz, toy emporium, with the most awesome Sweetie Section I have seen since the days of Bentalls department store in Kingston when I was about seven years old, piles of soft toys (every conceivable animal that you can think of, and then a fair few more besides), a pink Barbie section, huge Lego figures and lots, lots more. Resisted the urge to buy some noxious sweets (it was a toughie though - jelly octopus anyone?) and returned to Fifth Avenue to continue on my way.

Soon came to Trump Tower which was open to the public, this I had to see, entered through revolving doors into an opulently vulgar lobby clad in pinkish marble. Six escalators going up, so went right to the top, pausing to marvel at the cascading water feature which was the height of the cavernous atrium, and was adding the faint yet unmistakable aroma of chlorine to the "ambience." Nice.

Continued on down Fifth, waiting like a Good Girl at the lights at every block and not crossing until given the white walking man as opposed to the red hand, but feeling like a bit of a plank standing there when others blithely crossed when they shouldn't have done. Don't they have snipers on every building at intersections, ready to shoot miscreants straight between the eyes for crossing on the red hand? ;->

Suddenly found myself inside Banana Republic (hot dang, how did that happen?) purchasing a very pretty white silk blouse with ruffle detail on neck, realised had left credit card at apartment and only had limited amount of $ on me (Good Thing or Bad Thing depending on how one looks at it) so reluctantly had to postpone visit to Abercrombie and Fitch until another day (blast! will now have to go back to Fifth Avenue shops, major drag!! suppose can force self to do it if I have to) and continued on down to statue of Atlas shouldering his enormous burden (know how he feels, the Nikon D700 with 24-70 is a Seriously Heavy camera), then the Rockefeller Plaza.

Had a chat with a guy handing out discount vouchers for the Top of the Rock, he told me that there was live music on Wednesdays, so said I would go next week in the hope that the weather would have brightened up again by then (it has been distinctly murky today, a stark contrast to yesterday, but at least it didn't rain), but also didn't have enough money left to do today.

Spotted Duane Reade store (one of my faves from last time) across the Plaza, so dashed over to get chemisty-bits that I couldn't get in Walgreens yesterday, and some Jelly Belly beans (so failed to resist the call of the Noxious Sweeties any longer then) because they are so cheap over here and I do find them delicious!

Took a few more photos around the Plaza, which has many stunning Art Deco buildings with simple and elegant motifs carved onto their facades - really could do with a tilt-shift lens to conteract the distortion encountered when pointing any other lens upwards, but this will have to come later (either when am Rich and Famous Photographer, or safely taken care of by Upper East Side Billionaire [yes, I know I said millionaire yesterday, but why not aim high?] that I casually bump into and he totally falls for my Cute English Ways etc etc), so please excuse converging verticals for now.

Sky was becoming ominously grey by this point, I had no umbrella, and was flagging energy-wise, it being about 3.30 and I had not eaten since breakfast. Was obviously being taken care of though, because as I crossed Fifth by St. Patrick's Cathedral with the vague notion of going into it to have a look, I came across Prime Burger on E.51st Street, and although I only had 9 bucks left, based on the prices in the window figured that I could just about afford some eggs and bacon with coffee to keep me going. On entering I was greeted by a friendly man behind a little booth desk to the left, who directed me in to the fabulously retro interior, with a choice of seats either at the counter or in seating banquettes opposite. Opted to perch on stool, gratefully sat and offloaded camera into bag whilst one of the guys wiped the counter in an efficient manner and proffered me a menu. Told him about the $9 Predicament, said what I really fancied eating, he ran through some options and then checked with Friendly Booth Desk Man that I was within budget - I was, Big Phew! - so with my order placed I settled down happily to read Time Out NYC visitors guide and make some notes in my Moleskine, whilst sipping a blisteringly hot bottomless coffee (the essential American Diner never-ending refill variety) and revelling in the glorious sensation of not having my weight on my feet. Food arrived, sunnyside-up eggs, bacon and toast - wicked - realised just how hungry I was as I started snarfing at a much greater speed than I usually would (anyone who has ever eaten a meal with me will know that I am officially the World's Slowest Eater, so this is quite something) until it was all gone and I felt MUCH better.

Prime Burger has just featured in the newspaper "am New York" (or this may be a section of a newspaper, only have a photocopy of article to go by), and this is what it said: "They've been slinging burger patties at 5 E.51st Street since 1938, when what is now Prime Burger was part of a chain called Hamburg Heaven. The restaurant is across the street from St.Patrick's Cathedral and used to be open 24 hours a day. That led to the quip that once graced the menu "The Gates of Heaven Never Close." Co-owner Michael DiMicelli says the church didn't give its blessing to the line, so the words were removed.

This place isn't just "retro" - it's what all retro-style restaurants strive to be. Prime Burger's modish interior hasn't been touched since 1965.* Co-owners Michael and John DiMicelli cherish the place's idiosyncrasies such as 24 box seats with swing-out trays. For the ultimate experience, tuck into one of those seats and tear into a cheeseburger and side of fries served by waiters like Arthur Ward, who has been at Prime Burger since the 1950's."

* which makes it as old as me, so a fitting place to eat around my birthday :)

Much restored, said goodbye to my friendly and helpful bartend, paid my bill (which almost cleaned me out), and tottered fatly into the street with a satisfied grin on my face. Crossed the road to St. Patrick's to now visit and do it justice; upon entering was greeted by security who wanted to have a look in my bag, I happily complied but was momentarily completely thrown when he asked "how many weapons do you have in there?", until he grinned hugely and said "just kidding!". However, held my own by holding forth enormous camera and retorting "only this one!" - terrible, I know - more friendly joshing ensued, and then I went on to explore properly. No tripod today, so had to up the ISO on the camera exponentially, something I am not keen on doing despite the capabilities of my D700, but shots looked all right so tried not to worry too much.

When I emerged onto the street once more, the light was obviously going and I had to leave the ISO up high, so figured it was time to start heading back to apartment to relax and write this blog, and went east onto Madison so that I could just walk straight up without having to think about where I was going. On one of the intersections fell into step with a couple of guys both smoking stogies, the sweet aroma not at all unpleasant, and we all got chatting (as you do) and walked a few blocks together. Mark and George were cousins, Mark over from Seattle to visit George for his birthday tomorrow, which also happens to be his wedding anniversary. Happy September 17th George! We all stopped to take one another's photos (again, as you do), swapped email addresses, and then I let them go on while I took a few more photos, but the light really was going by then, and I wasn't prepared to sacrifice image quality any more by having to use a high ISO, so just walked on up Madison until I reached my apartment block.

Now enjoying glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, music on, shoes off, comfortably mellow and pleasantly tired, will head off to bed fairly soon in the hope of getting up earlier tomorrow, so until then, signing off in NYC ....

Day 2: Hot and Steamy

Fifth Avenue by Central Park

Lewis the Cyclist, Fifth Avenue

Primaries Campaign poster

Willie G, the Poet of NYC, Central Park

Sheep Meadow, Central Park

Central Park

Central Park

Singing Family, Central Park

Newlyweds by Bethesda Fountain, Central Park

Bethesda Fountain, Central Park

Central Park

Hans Christian Andersen statue, Central Park

Detail from Hans Christian Andersen statue, Central Park

Conservatory Pond, Central Park

Inbetween Fifth and Madison Avenues

Peter, Amy and me, Oscar and Mimi with backs to camera (thanks P for the photo!)

It's 79 degrees farenheit in New York, with 50% humidity, so decided on a dress and sandals to be prepared to face the day, which started early as I awoke at 6.30, but felt pretty well rested so all good. Lay around in bed reading and drinking tea, before eventually testing out the shower (a bit like standing under a bag of water with holes in it, could best be described as a 'sprinkle' rather than a shower) followed by the hairdrier (bad, will have to buy another one).

Hoped to have boiled egg for breakfast, but no eggcup, teaspoons or salt, so had to give up on that idea and had grapes instead. Emailed Cecilia (her preferred method of communication) and asked to borrow missing items, which she duly brought up for me (C resides in basement apartment, although rather incommunicado since the elevator doesn't go there), although no egg cup, a small coffee cup was the closest thing that she had.

Eventually headed off with camera late morning, after a lazy morning in the apartment getting my head together, catching up on emails (meeting up with Peter [who I was at St. Martin's with] and his wife Amy tonight, they have invited me round for supper at their place in the East Village), reading guide books and making notes. Central Park is one block away, so walked there and was contemplating finding a way in, whilst gazing in an admittedly vacant fashion at a sign on the opposite side of the road, therefore completely failing to notice a cyclist who was approaching and saying something about me taking a photo of him because when "the opportunity was gone, it was gone." Anyway, he stopped for a chat, introduced himself as Lewis, posed for a photo when asked, then said to me "put your sunglasses back on, you look like a movie star" - aww shucks, thanks L!

Rest of day spent wandering in Central Park, with brief shopping interlude for hairdrier, also bubbly to take to friends tonight (found a wonderful cavern of alcohol called Garnet Wines and Liquors on Lexington and 68th), enjoying the warm sun and observing/photographing lots of other people enjoying it too. Met Willie G, the Poet of NYC, listened to large African American family singing madrigals (or something of that ilk) underneath the tunnel near the beautiful, angelic Bethesda Fountain, observed a man blowing enormous rainbow swirling bubbles the size of beachballs, which wibbled away on the breeze before bursting fatly (usually in the faces of small children), and photographed a photographer who was taking shots of a just married couple, both looking radiantly happy.

Back at the apartment, caught up with some reading over a cup of EG. Fact of the Day: "North of 59th Street between 5th and Park Avenues, the Upper East Side is home to more millionaires than any other part of the city. Historic-district designation has kept the tony mansions and apartment buildings intact and largely uninterrupted by 'plebeian' structures" [Fodor's]. Since I am slap bang in the centre of this monied hotspot, my apartment block being on Madison/66th, perhaps there is the chance that I will casually bump into a handsome millionaire who will totally fall for my Cute English Ways and will want to Take Me Away From All This - perhaps not, but a girl can dream ;-)

At 6pm, tarted self up a bit, by some miracle remembered bubbly in fridge, then hailed a cab downtown to Peter and Amy's for supper. Traffic appalling, driver very handy with the horn, thought I was going to be majorly late and was about to call to say so, when we hit FDR Drive and were suddenly flying along, past a disturbing number of runners all huffing by (no one, but no one was walking - is it compulsory to proceed at minimum of jogging speed on FDR?), and before I knew it we had arrived. Was thrilled to see the red neon sign "psychic" over a tiny shop front, with warm coloured lighting, draped scarves and two armchairs, in one of which sat a glum-looking woman (presumably the psychic) waiting for someone to enlighten, as a toddler played by her feet. Wished I could have taken a photo, it was quite a poignant sight.

Had to phone Peter to get him to come down and open the door, as the doorbell quite obviously wasn't working, and after he had schleped down four flights of stairs there he was, a bit greyer but still unmistakably the same Peter that I was at art school with. So good to see him again, we worked out it must've been at least 1997 that we last met when he was in London waiting for his green card to be sorted. Back up the stairs, no elevator (I would get fit very quickly if I lived there), and then a guided tour of the apartment, which contained only one door (the bathroom), everything else being open plan and on multiple levels, with a roof terrace on top. The walls were covered with Peter's work (he's a graphic artist/illustrator), it looked terrific, and the cats Mimi and Oscar were running around being very vital in a way that only cats can. Amy wasn't home yet, so we cracked open the bubbly, started nibbling some bread, cheese and olives and began the big catch up of what we've been up to over the last twelve years. Poor Amy got home eventually, frazzled and tired after a terrible day at work and having not been able to get a cab downtown (I was obviously quite lucky then), but slowly unwound as we sat and chatted. She is a freelance editor and writer for various publications including Elle, Seventeen, The New Yorker, Vogue and The New York Times, and she was heavily involved in the planning of a party on Wednesday night (tomorrow) to which 'slebs were invited, and had additionally meant that she had received 200 emails in a relatively short space of time. Poor Amy!

We had a lovely evening though, Peter had cooked salmon with ginger and rice, followed by a very superior and delicious vanilla icecream with fresh blueberries, v.g. and the first proper meal I had eaten since my arrival here so made the most of it. After supper P and A showed me their office, which is the apartment nextdoor and a mirror image of their own, and I was given a copy of Amy's book "Red: Teenage Girls in America Write on What Fires Up Their Lives Today", a back issue of "Peter Arkle News" that I had missed, and a Bumble and Bumble t-shirt that P had designed. Would've been given a pair of Converse All Stars too, again designed by Peter, except he didn't have any left in my size, but was more than happy with the goody bag that I had :) Said goodbye, made plans to hopefully meet again for lunch on Thursday, then P hailed me a cab and I headed back uptown. A great day in NYC.

Day 1: Let the NYC Adventure Begin!

Me at my NYC Blogging Desk, with Central Park in the background.

Here in New York for ten days, will be having my birthday while I'm here and will meet up with a couple of friends, but essentially it's just me and my camera and a never-ending stream of photo opportunities. Have been in a state of Bliss since I stepped off the plane at JFK (after a good flight sitting next to possibly the only spare seat on the entire plane, so lots of room with none of the usual elbow jostling for space with the guy next to me), because it just feels so RIGHT to be here, and I feel so instantly at home, in a way that defies logic or explanation, I just do - god, I love America!

Was going to pay $45 for a cab to Manhattan, as I just thought it would be simpler all round, but luckily was persuaded to take the shuttle bus by one of their staff who nabbed me as I emerged through the doors. It took longer and stopped at every terminal to pick up more passengers, but it also only cost $15, and even better, when we ran into a jam on the expressway the driver took an inspired alternative route through the 'burbs of Queens, past all these quintessentially American houses with screen doors, sofas on porches, all manner of rearing beasts on the gateposts (lions and eagles were popular choices), Stars and Stripes, humungous cars and fire hydrants. Was more than happy to sit on the bus for as long as it took, observing everything around me, greedily lapping it all up with my eyes (yes, I know, but you get the gist).

Bus eventually dropped us at Grand Central Terminal, soon hailed a cab from there up to my apartment on Madison and 66th, where I was met by Cecilia on behalf of the woman I rented from. Apartment on the tenth (top) floor was what could be described in Estate Agent Speak as "compact and bijou", but absolutely perfect for me, with kitchen area, wi-fi, iPod dock, air-con, TV/DVD, comfy chair, big comfy bed, table and chair at the window (from where I am now writing this blog), plenty of storage space, bathroom with shower, and above all bright and airy. C wrote down a couple of supermarkets and told me where the nearest subway was, gave me her email address in case of any problems, handed over the keys and then left me to it - in my new home for the next ten days.

Unpacked as I always do, can't relax until that's done, discovered my incredibly expensive foundation had leaked into my make-up bag and made horrendous mess (why is it always the Incredibly Expensive Foundations of this world that do this, and never the Cheap and Cheerful shampoos or Bog Standard Basic Unguents?) , so by the time I had cleaned that up and faffed around a bit more it was about 4.30 and time to shop. Supermarket a couple of blocks away, took a leisurely stroll, lovely late afternoon sun casting long shadows down the faces of buildings, sidewalks busy with New Yorkers, so many sights and smells to take in. Stopped at pharmacy for painkillers, headache brewing, overwhelming array of choices (think Neo and Trinity in the weapons store in "The Matrix") and different kinds of meds, all seemingly doing slightly different things or targeting different parts of the body. Finally grabbed a bottle of something (anything!), paid my dollar and left, crossing road to supermarket where I picked up a basket to ensure that I did not buy more food than I could comfortably carry back. Hadn't made a shopping list so was doing this from memory, and after traipsing up and down a couple of aisles realised that I was actually really *quite tired*, my body thinking it was 10pm and not 5pm, and being once more faced with a vast selection of foodstuffs began to wilt somewhat. As my American best friend always says, everything over here is "bigger and better" (he does say this with a sense of irony - yes, contrary to popular opinion, the Americans CAN do irony), but sometimes you don't want Bigger and Better, you just want Simple so that you can buy it quickly and get out of the supermarket.

It was a bit heavy to schlep back with, and I couldn't buy any drink as I simply couldn't carry it, but had chilled water in the fridge and by some miracle remembered to purchase teabags, so once I had unpacked everything I set up the camera to take a picture of myself pretending to type this, then made a luvverly cup of Earl Grey and finally settled down to actually type this. I fear that photos on this blog may be somewhat thin on the ground, as the memory/bottom-end-grunt on this laptop leave much to be desired, and any kind of image processing is akin to watching a snail trying to proceed through concrete. Will have another crack at it tomorrow, maybe with no other programmes open on the computer at the same time, to see if this makes an improvement, but for now must stop as it is now 2am as far as my body clock is concerned and I need to think about getting into bed to see if I can fall asleep. At this precise moment I somehow doubt it, but should give it a go I guess ....