well, finally some relief from all of this hot weather! today has been wet, and a little wild- with us still managing to jam it full of amazing new experiences. we spent the entire day walking, and just arrived home from times square. the day began with mum having a momentary panic, 'oh my god, is that a gun!?'. a man walked towards us with a long black thing in his hand. it was an umbrella. probably don't need a license to carry that...
makan and i at the friends fountain.
the day began hot and especially humid, as we made our way to central park. with not much of an idea what we wanted to see, we walked and decided we would play it by ear and see what happened. entering thefrontof the park, we were met by a flock of african men with clipboards.
'a trip around the park, an hour with a tour guide in pedi cab. too hot to walk- we will take you'
we decided after a bit of deliberation to accept the offer, and we were taken to the pedi cab of makan. he had come from africa about four years ago, and he was absolutely delightful. funny, light hearted and super informative. he took us around the park, telling us where all the movies were filmed and where the celebrities lived.
stopping at the bethesda fountain, we were approached by an african american man who was immaculately groomed. 'well, don't you just have amazing hair'- he obviously wanted money. 'you two must be sisters'- yeh, probably money. 'your make up is just flawless. and in this heat! how ever do you do it'- yep, definitely money. when we realised we didnt have change to give him, his warm hearted attitude dissipated and he walked off. back onto the pedi cab to finish our tour.
leaving the pedi cab and taking a walk around central park, the sky gradually became darker. lightning lit up the buildings, and thunder clapped right above our heads. a small new york boy and his nanny walked past us, hurriedly leaving the park.
'it's gonna rain- you better get home soon!'
and he wasn't wrong. before we knew it the sky opened up, and it began to rain as people fled the park. leaving the park, we took refuge under some scaffolding with a number of other new yorkers.
as the rain began to clear, we headed for the frick museum. originally owned by henry frick, it is a mansion with a huge number of european works, namely european masters. it was an incredible place- not only the works but the mansion itself. to think a person occupied all the space with a family of four people is pretty unbelievable. there was works by vermeer, renoir and many others. the stand out piece for me was the portrait of sit thomas moore, by holbein. it took me straight back to english in year twelve, and the detail of the stubble and velvet were magnificent.
leaving the frick, we realised we were hungry, and had missed lunch time. walking through madison avenue and park avenue, we realised this was not the place to eat. people shopped for expensive things and sucked in air here. we needed something more substantial. walking a block or two over we found 'pick a bagel'. here, we had incredible bagels and were so happy we walked the extra way.
once again, the rain reared its head. this time a little more heavily. stuck in a luggage shop watching the outside world, we saw a number of ladies dressed in designer clothes donning the latest fashion accessories- sephora bags as hats. it was all a pretty funny sight. as the rain subsided, we continued back towards home. after booking tickets to a broadway show 'harvey' for next week, we returned home for a rest. we realized we were in the jewish area when we overheard a young man.
'agh, my armpits are schvitzing!'
we spent the night at times square. although a little wet- it in no way deterred the masses from flocking to the epicenter of the tourist area. a woman in duane reade informed us that it usually doesn't quieten down until 4:30am. crazy!! we returned home a little past midnight, with sore feet and big smiles on our faces. the weekend starts tomorrow. which can only mean one thing. flea markets!
-danielle
