Bagels, Pizza, Hot Dogs and Race Tracks - New York City?

Memories of Diane and I going into the Plaza hotel to check it out and use the bathroom (I assume y'all know it is park adjacent at the lower end). Turns out we found this darling little chocolate shoppe not far inside the door...
It seems I left my umbrella in the chocolate shop in return for the luxe of the bathroom. Plus, we did buy some chocolates, after all.


So, was it a warm day for the portapotties??

osso, there was a Puerto Rican Day parade today up 5th Ave, so when I walked by the Plaza, they had beefy doormen keeping out the riffraff, like me. Seriously, I think you had to show them your room key to walk into the lobby.

Yeh, and Diane and I lucked out too. (Make that woman take her cheap umbrella out of here NOW).

Glad you all enjoyed the day. Mac, Glad you got back to the hotel safely.

Fie on parades, especially this one. Honk, honk, honk. Lots of loud car radios, but no La Cucaracha. I'm grateful for small things.

Any chance of future hotel reports? With or without mentioning names? You know I've done a job on the 63rd St. YMCA, except that, with any luck at all, it is better by now.

Wondering about Noddy's trip....

I thought the Plaza had been closed, for conversion?

McTag, I think you're right. The Plaza was closing down as a hotel when I was here with the food group in October.

~~~

mac, I'm glad to hear you were able to catch a cab quickly. There always seem to be a lot of them out there, but not going the direction anyone wants

~~~

Noddy's likely recovering at her friend's place right now. She's definitely been getting exercises in stamina extension the last few days.

~~~

On Thursday, the Empress, brendalee and I were given pedometers by some folks promoting some kind of lifestyle/exercise plan. I clipped mine on right away. I haven't been under 22000 steps/day since. Apparently, I have an overactive herding instinct

~~~

brendalee is still recovering from meeting JoeNation. "hot", "kind of overwhelming" ...

~~~

Always an adventure to be in New York - and the shoe shopping is as good as ever

I'm glad, I missed that!

we hope mrs. walter will be very happy with the results of the shopping trip walter took with the canajun women - walter turns out pretty nicely when he's not in baggy jeans.

you're welcome, mrs. walter!

~~~~~~~

we had a nice Gramercy/Flatiron wander after breakfast today (didja know walter really likes coffee?), then headed to Filene's to deal with mrs. walter's concern.

the women shopped/walked for the balance of the day - found a really garish Indian resto on Ave A for a late lunch - good food - and truly stupendous decor

walter's off investigating the far upper west side now - I'm sure he's having a great time. the other canajuns are considering heading back to Canal Street. I'm seeking someone to have an adult beverage with.

Noddy is now safely home and recovering.

Canadians walk.

I will say they stop for every red light and every "Don't Walk" icon, but this is the only time they stop unless it is a Designated Meal. Someone gave them pedometers/stepcounters so they can boast of their marching prowess with factual backup.

The Canadians hold doors and herd ancient ewe's and nanny goats and exhibit consistant good cheer even when dealing with macho men they have only just met.

I suggested on Sunday morning that we retrace our steps of the night before with a fist full of brass plaques so that we could dedicate every standpipe between Bryant Park and Georgios "Frank Apasia Rested Here." Canadians don't find this sort of humor "nice".

EhBeth is only one member of a formidable trio of strong minded women.

EhBeth treats the NYC subway system as a series of "shortcuts"--like the Mines of Moria or the outermost rings of Dante's Inferno. I understand on her next NYC adventure she is planning an all-day, five-borough tour of the Big Apple, going underground at 6 a.m. and riding round the clock.

I walked on Friday and I walked on Saturday and midway through Sunday afternoon I wimped out--I also wanted to visit with some of my college classmates.

Walter, of course, was marching right along, darting to the left and the right and the left and the right. He refused to allow Penny to pose for pictures with the flappers. Walter insisted he knew floozies when he saw floozies and Penny had been entrusted to his care.

Mac and Roberta are delightful new acquaintances--and Joe (and even Frank) were dapper and charming.

Off to deal with the accumulated chaos.

Now we're talkin'!

More, more!

Good that you arrived safely, Noddy, and still in good mood!



I, for my part, discovered one of the deepest secrets on A2K today:
actually, I was going to meet joenation tonight. But since it looked as if it would start raining quite heavy within minutes, I decided to leave his splended neighbourhood before he returned from work.
But: I had a cup of coffee in his favourite bar, and ..... they have Lola"s leg on diplay there

noddy :
thank you for your great report on what the canadians were up to while in NYC !
you probably know already that we spent a full week in NYC with ebeth when she was 12 years old .
we saw many shows , zoomed around on the subway and walked back to the hotel from a taping of the david susskind show around midnight - taking a shortcut through CENTRAL PARK !
years later we met a new york native in canada and told him of our exploits . when we told him the name of the hotel , he said : "oh, so you staid right next to needle park !" .
btw from what i recall , we paid about $10 a night for a two room apt with a kitchenette in a cupboard !
we got the name of the hotel from frommer's guidebook : "NYC ON $5 A DAY ! " .
for the next several years ehbeth kept telling us that NYC was only the city she would ever want to live in !

we still talk about the wonderful time we had visiting THE BIG APPLE .
thanks again for your report , noddy !
hbg

Thanks for the report, Noddy. You are staunch to have even tried to keep up with dem goils.

I wish we'd had more time to talk. There is a solution to that. You could come back!

Glad everyone seems to be having (or had) a good time in my home town.

Did Mac head for home? Hope she checks in.

Roberta--

The Poconos and the Big Apple are only two hours apart. I don't do cities well in the summertime. I'm a fragile little flower that wilts on sun-baked asphalt.

Come September....

************

For the rest of the world--

Roberta, in person as on line, is a genial Force of Nature. If a Jewish Girl from the Lower East Side could be inhabited by a Greek Goddess, that goddess would be Athena: 80% Wisdom and 20% Warrior with the potential of switching to full warrior mode on very slight provocation.

Mac has almost finished her transition from Matronly to Statuesque. She would have been a wonderful stage manager: unflappable...solution-oriented..great patience with fools...sardonic compassion.

Walter (although his Care for Penny verged occasionally on over-protectiveness) is a delightful man. New York never sleeps and neither did Walter's camera nor Walter's good humor. He's a delightful exploring companion.

Joe Nation is really-truly eighty pounds lighter. I can't be sure, but I think the pared-down Joe Nation is much more likely to make dramatic gestures with his hands and shoulders and his lean runners body than he was the last time I saw him. He's also a sneaky photographer with a good eye for Thousand Word Stories.

Perhaps more, later.

The Canajun contingent is back at the Seafarer's, getting ready to head out to the airport once we manage to snag a cab - once again they all seem to be heading the wrong way.

We went down to Kee's this morning <sigh>

We also wandered past Balthazar, source of Walter's favourite croissants (served at Irving Farm).

We're warm, we're kinda tired, we're happy.

See ya all soon!

I had an uneventful trip home yesterday. I had many phone calls to return and never did manage to turn my computer on at home.

Work is even busier, so I just dropped in to say that I'm fine, in case anyone wondered. (Someone did!)

It was lovely to meet you all. One of these days (Saturday?), I'll have more time to post.

I hope the Canajuns are having an equally uneventful trip home.

And I do hope, mac, you had a wonderful day yesterday!

Penny and I had a wonderful dinner at Pepe's with joenation. A perfect last night event in New York (I doubt that the taxi drive to the airport and waiting there be an event at all :wink: )