Modern technology is SO not my thing. I accidently published my last entry instead of editing, so pardon my typos and abrupt ending!!
So where were we? Walking. Oh yes. And walking. To Times Square where we saw The Naked Cowboy (as it says on his tidy whities). From Times Square up Park Avenue, just to say we'd been there. The girls popped into the Juicy Couture store and pretended they could afford the stuff. We walked all the way to Central Park, with a quick zig that took us past The Russian Tea Room and Carnegie Hall. In Central Park we had some ice cream and tried to re-group.
My dear friend Marla has often commented that she can understand why some animals eat their young (she's recently had #6). I understood the feeling. For one, Miriam has an amazing ability to be bored. She always looked at me like I was crazy when I suggested taking photos of things like Rockefeller Center. She couldn't believe there wasn't a Hot Topic store (LIKE SHE CAN GO TO AT THE LOCAL MALL!!). Amelia has little to no capacity to handle physical discomfort. She was wearing new shoes and getting blisters. So we're sitting there in Central Park and Miriam turns to me and says "Are we just going to sit here?"
The worst moment came after we took the subway back to Penn Station. Tom had wandered off for a moment and the girls and I came dangerously close to a full melt-down, and I was feeling sorely tempted to just call the whole thing off. We were saved by Macy's and Green Day.
Macy's? It's just a little mind-blowing to be in a department store that big. The Junior's Department itself was the entire 4th floor taking up 2 city blocks. The girls could do some shopping, I had a place to sit down (the Aunt Annie's Pretzels also on the 4th floor), and Tom got the opportunity to wander around the block without any whining ball-and-chains. We were able to get (a surprisingly affordable) dinner at the restaurant in the basement and the girls were even able to get the new Ashley Tisdale CD (a pox on Disney, I say!).
Green Day also happened to be playing that night at Madison Square Garden. This perked Miriam up. We were able to get cool pictures of the tour bus and equipment trailors. Tom actually offered to get tickets for the show if they were still available, and he would take Miriam while Amelia and I would take the train back to LI, an adventure in itself. The only seats left, of course, were obstructed AND, I think, behind the stage, so Miriam passed. But it was neat hanging out by the venue with the fans waiting to go in.
In retrospect, it was a good day in the city. I don't know if it was Michael Bloomberg's efforts to clean up Manhattan or maturity on my part, possibly both, but New York was not nearly as scary as I remember. There were no Jews for Jesus passing out literature on the street corners. I only saw one person doing an anti-government, religious rant, and my kids didn't even notice. They noticed a homeless person although I did not. No drugs, no 3 Card Monty games. Surprisingly few buskers. I also couldn't find any street vendors selling italian ice which really bummed me out. Of course, when Tom was walking around while I was in Macy's he saw both a vendor AND an italian ice vendor. Figures.
Overall New York was surprisingly normal, almost bland. Of course we didn't leave midtown. And, come to think of it, we did pass a guy dressed like a monster walking down Park Avenue. And in Central Park there was a guy who did a very convincing Captain Jack Sparrow imitation. New York, New York...it's a wonderful town...
Next up - Sleeping Bear.
Don't know how long ago you were in NYC, but yes, the place is significantly safer than it was a couple of decades ago. We spent a week in Manhattan in 2001 and I never felt nervous walking around on the street (though I never did so alone). We only saw one scary guy screaming incoherent curses at an awning.
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