“…In Old New York, New York”

From Penn Station, we decided to get my first overall view of the city by taking a taxi to the apartment in Greenwich Village. Greenwich Village is on the Southwest side of the island. My friend, Sterling, was waiting at Frans’s apartment for us. Frans himself was, while still in the city, out IN the city. We met with him later in the evening. Frans has a beautiful apartment (a few too many mirrors for my taste, one whole wall of the apartment was mirrors, from the living room to the bedroom. He has a piano (he was a Bistro Awards winner for best vocalist). He has a roommate from Texas, a former dancer, now a personal trainer at a gym. This is a 2 bedroom apartment, a good sized living room, large bedroom (I never saw inside the roommate’s bedroom), a small kitchen, and a tiny bathroom. You can see the World Trade Center light towers from the bedroom window, They are about a mile south of the apartment. Monica Lewinsky is staying in the complex across the street. There are a couple outstanding features of the apartment, however.

He has an extraordinary collection of Buddhist paraphernalia! There are Buddhist statues all over the place. For a SMALL taste of the variety, see the photos. I found it perfectly fabulous, as you can probably tell from the photos!

The second feature that makes this apartment stand out from any other apartment is the setup of the courtyard(s). Each first floor apartment opens into a personal small courtyard (oh, say the size of a normal sized room). This they can obviously decorate as they see fit. Frans has as many plants as he can squeeze into this space and several more pieces of Buddhist paraphernalia (see photos). I am unsure of the exact count, but there are 16-20 of these personal courtyards. THESE all open into a master courtyard. There are pathways through this, and areas protected by a split rail style fence. There is a plethora of gorgeous plants such as hyacinths, daffodils, jonquils, and a variety of others.

I simply put my stuff up and we went out to explore Greenwich Village. That first evening was such a blur of new experiences I hardly remember any specifics. It is a blur of Lorne & Sterling saying, “This is …;” “That is…,” “Over there…”. I do clearly remember the ghost light towers from the World Trade Towers site. It was cool (both temperature-wise and tourist-y-wise.) We went to eat at the Pink Teacup. This is a restaurant founded by Billie Holiday’s mother. She had to restrict Billie H from the restaurant because her propensity for stealing $$ from the cash register! The staff was all male, very nellie, very black, and very good waiters. The food was very ethnic, I had smothered steak & rice, of course we all had dessert! I had a bread pudding that was in desperate need to some cream. We headed back to the apartment, I met and made my transactions with Frans, & walked with the guys to the subway stop. Instead of going straight back to the apartment, I stopped off at some bars -The Monster, The Stonewall!, and Boots & Saddles. The crowds were small (it was a Tuesday night!) but I felt probably typical of the scene. The dance floor at Monster was full, not crowded, there were about 10 guys crowded around the piano upstairs. Boots & Saddles had maybe 6 customers & Stonewall had 10, but the bartender, Chris, was VERY handsome! At The Monster, there were flowerboxes full of fabulous blooming plants – and not just a few, there were dozens of flowerboxes. It was exquisite!

I finally sauntered off to the apartment. I woke up early and felt MISERABLE. That was when I discovered I was under the power of my arch nemesis, I had FEATHER PILLOWS. I took some allergy medicine and felt about halfway better when I re-awoke, it all cleared up in about a day. At least until about day 3, when I again slept with the wrong pillow and had to suffer another miserable 24-30 allergy filled hours.

Lorne came down to pick me up. He had pain au chocolat & endive Quiche from a delightful little French bakery, Patisserie Claude. The weather was perfect for an excursion, 65-70ish and sunny. Our first stop when we got off the subway was Macy’s! We saw the flower show, the wooden escalators, the men’s department and candy shop (oh, oh, oh my God!). The flower show was unexpectedly beautiful. The flowers were mostly up above the clothing displays, but everything was simply drop dead gorgeously perfect. Since I am on the subject of flowers, there were daffodils blooming all over the city, taller ones with bigger blooms than I had ever seen before. We got back on the street, to walk, walk, walk. We walked so much during the trip that my calves were sore to the touch the first 3-4 days. After that they started getting used to it.

We could frequently see the Empire State Building ! in our ramblings. We traveled around midtown! I am sure I will forget many of our sightings, but I will try my best. We went to the Chrysler Building where we saw some fabulous marble. We cruised up Lexington Ave. to 47th Street to the diamond district. Now, this is my kind of town! Sterling called and had arranged for us to take the (semi) circle cruise in the afternoon. We went to Rockafellar Plaza on 5th Avenue. It started raining, so ran over to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. They were having a service, so we did not get to explore. I did get some photos of Atlas across the street. About an hour after we left, we learned the next morning, there was a shooting at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. All this time, of course, the temperature was dropping, We had not taken our coats because of the extremely pleasant temperatures of the morning. We went by Radio City Music Hall on 51st Street and up to where Lorne works (in the Equitable Building) and saw the Sheraton next door where I would be at the confenece the next day. I met some of the delightful crew Lorne works with and got a “New York Salute” from Artie (I will leave it up to your imagination what THAT entailed!)

From there we went to Times Square and had the street vender “make me one with everything” (I felt so Buddhist!). We ate our hot dogs on Broadway and headed down 8th Avenue to the Port Authority and bought a lovely snow globe of the Statue of Liberty as a gift for Mrs. Clanahan. We headed down 42nd Street to the Pier 83 to meet Sterling for the cruise. Before you get on the boat, they take your picture. After you get off the boat they have the pictures there for you to buy as a picture, or a refrigerator magnet. We sat on the front left side (the side facing the city) around 2:30. There are 1.5 million people on the island, and 2 million visit every day. NYC itself is 8 million people and Lorne says there are 8 hungry rats for each person. As cold and drizzly as it was, I got some pretty good photos during the cruise. Afterward, we picked up our ‘fridge magnet, headed back to the subway to the Village for dinner at Alfama’s, a Portuguese restaurant. I had Chicken Fricassee. There were Portuguese musicians, a couple instruments and a male singer. He seemed very nervous, bouncing around the customers and had a haircut that reminded me of the way my mother wore her hair in the 80’s. Then a female singer took over. She was very good, reminded us of Cecilia Cruz. There were a group of very loud drunken Midwestern businessmen at the head table. You could hear several of the other tables of customers making comments re: their rudeness level. She stood at the head of their table a couple times and sang loud. The owner of the restaurant made a statement to the crowd introducing the musicians and asking for the crowd’s respect, and the singer also re-uttered this request, “I am here to sing for you, and you, and me.” She also had a beautiful rhinestone-y dress on. The whole experience blended together to be a totally (with the exception of the rude businessmen) pleasant memorable one. For dessert Sterling & I had "Chocolat Suprese," and the lorne got something else. I walked the guys up to the subway stop, sent back to the apartment and prepared for the first day of the conference. After getting organized, I went out for a walk around the Village, and popped into Boots & Saddles and Monster for a short time.

I went to the Council for Exceptional Children conference at the Sheraton, checked out where my session would be on Saturday, and went to a session. I realized I did not have my phone with me, so I just the subway back to the village picked it up and headed back to midtown. I met Lorne for Lunch. The Equitable building where he works has a HUGE Liechtenstein in the lobby, which is where we would meet. We went to a street vendor for lunch. I went back to the conference, a session and walked around in the exhibit hall. I met Lorne after he got off work. Lorne had called to see if I wanted to go to NY Philharmonic for Mozart Monumental Requiem Procopheus (sp?) by Alexander Nievski (sp?). As it turns out, the tickets were already gone when he checked back on them. SO, after the conference, I spent a couple hours at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum! The majority of these wax statues are amazingly real. Why, Donald Trump even has hair in his ears! “Opening night,” with Ru Paul as the main person is unbelievable. The section on the history of Madame Tussaud!, and the museum is creepy. The musical part, Beatles, Janis Joplin, Spice Girls, Prince, Billie Holiday, etc, well you just have to see it to believe it. It was twilight when I got out, so I walked around Times Square for awhile, then headed to the subway to the Village and the apartment.

I got a couple examples of the NY attitude today. The light was red and traffic was moving at a brisk pace. This fat guy just went ahead and crossed the street, ignoring traffic and flipping off all the cars honking at him. Also, in the lobby at the Sheraton, 2 of the bellhops were just standing there yelling at each other, with about 4 other bellhops standing around watching them. Today’s high was about 40 degrees.

I called “LIPS,” a restaurant in the village where all the staff are drag queens. Jennifer Michaels, from San Antonio, Texas, gave me directions to the place. I hiked up there, she met me at the door, seated me, suggested an order for me, & informed me “being from Texas,” I did not want to order their iced tea! I had the pork loin with new potatoes, and pureed carrots, with better than sex chocolate cake for dessert. During the course of the meal, there was a young lady with a birthday. “Peppermint” did “Here She Comes, Miss America,” gave her a crown, danced her around the room, and held a cake in front of her crotch & had her ‘blow’ - out a birthday candle. Jennifer Michaels did a similar number with a gentleman later in the evening, but being a bit more limber that Peppermint, held the cake further back between her legs. They did a show –Reba MacIntyre, Dolly Parton, Patti LaBelle, Joan Rivers, Cher, - the evening is called “Dinner With The Divas.” It was great fun, every act was done flawlessly. On Wednesday “the bitchiest night of the week” is Bitchy Bingo. On the way home I passed Stonewall Bar, so I stopped, had a few cokes and walked the go-go dancers (Yummm!) I stopped in at a couple of the tourist traps and bought a few trinkets & postcards.

I went to several sessions at the conference. I met Lorne for lunch, we went to a deli where everything is the same price, you pay by the pound. I got a little of everything. I had a big chuck of salmon, a couple small pieces of sesame chicken, got stuffed! Back to the conference (could hardly stay awake!) Today’s high was about 40 degrees. Met Lorne afterward and we walked around midtown! for a while and headed to Tout Va Bien, a French restaurant. Sterling met us there. I had the steak au poive. For dessert, I had the lightest chocolate mousse I had ever had and the guys had a chocolate tulip - a tulip of chocolate piled high with strawberries and whipped crème. After dinner, Sterling & I went to the Broadway production of Les Miserables at the Imperial Theatre. This show – what can I say? We had house seats – front row! It was, if not THE best, most certainly one of the very best, productions I have seen. Every word was crystal clear, the set could change before your eyes with the huge set changes, and it was hardly noticeable. The stage was like a giant lazy susan, so the actors could walk & walk & walk so it seemed like they were really going somewhere, the scenery could change with the revolving stage, and the actor would still be center stage! Bravo! Magnifico! Tears flowed freely, there are many emotionally wrenching parts.

After this show, we headed to Stella’s. This is a, well how do I say it in nicely, hmmm, well it is a male hustler bar. But if you really get down to it, what bar isn’t?!? The bar was loaded with splendid examples of masculine malehood. At midnight, everyone headed downstairs for the show. There were about a dozen dancers that took turns dancing. They stripped down to as close to naked as they could get without actually BEING naked – they had a strange sock-like ‘costume’ that form- fittedly covered the one thing that was not naked. While one was dancing, the others were circulating among the audience collecting dollars, rubbing up against audience members, looking for the evening’s ‘date.’ A very ‘stimulating’ performance!

About 3 AM Sterling escorted me to the subway station. I saw the yellow tape around it, and heard a whisper. “Station’s closed.” I looked around, saw nothing & hear the voice a tiny bit louder, “Station’s closed.” I saw a piece of the wall detach itself and form itself into this blanket wrapped tiny little woman, “Station’s Closed.” I must have looked lost, she said (getting braver with each word), “You know what to do?” “No.” She told me I could go down to the next station (about 8-9 blocks away) or go over 1 block & down 1 block, catch that subway, transfer at the next stop, the subways run about every 20 minutes at that time of night. I walked out of there (after giving her all my loose change) thinking of the hour or so it was going to take me to get home & the 10 AM presentation I had to do at the conference. A taxi came by so I caught it home and had a great talk with the driver. Got everything together so I could just get ready & fly out the door in the morning.

Did NOT go to an 8:30 session, I was TIRED! Got there around 9:15. Grabbed a couple Danish pastries & COFFEE in the hotel restaurant & watched the snow flurries out the window. I headed up to the room to get set up and someone had set up in my space! I showed them where they were in the wrong place, but just made a sign that if someone wanted to see MY session! go to booth #17 instead of booth #26, I headed down to THEIR booth & set up there. I had maybe 2 dozen folks come through, I felt it was a slow, but successful presentation. After wrapping everything up, I grabbed the subway to the northern end of the island and went to Lorne & Sterling’s apartment! It is a 1 bedroom near the Cloisters. We had a light brunch at a local restaurant, & headed for Fort Trion (sp?) Park. This area used to be a terrible mess until Bette Midler moved into the area and started programs to clean up the parks in the northern part of the island. The Cloisters were built when Rockefeller JR went to Europe and bought up several old crumbling monasteries, had then dismantled and shipped here, and had an architect reassemble them into the Cloisters. The unicorn tapestries are located here. We say a hawk fly right in front of us with a squirrel in his talons. It flew not very far from us, settled down and finished it off.

We headed back to midtown to Central Park around 77th Street. Saw the Dakota Hotel, where Lennon lived (& was shot) and where Rosemary’s Baby was filmed. Went into the park, saw the Lennon ‘Imagine’ mosaic, the Bethesda fountain with the angel of the working man. The park is full of flowers, parts of this town are so beautiful! Saw the promenade where Thoth does his thing, and headed back to the rich part of town, checked out one of the Trump towers to see all the magnificent pink marble and gold/brass fixtures. Went by the Plaza Hotel where we will have brunch tomorrow. We took a taxi back to the village, then headed to Kiran, an Indian restaurant to meet Sterling for dinner. I had the chicken Tikki Kabob and appetizers & araho bread. Sterling & I took off down to 9th Ave (restaurant Row). We walked throug Hell’s Kitchen heading south toward Toy’s R US. They have an in-store Ferris wheel, a Lego display (i.e., a Lego Empire State Building with a Lego King Kong, Lego Statue of Liberty), a life size Barbie house, many interactive toys, etc. We went to Times Square to see all the lights. The neon & chasing lights of old are all changing to state-of-the-art TV screen like displays (like one would expect to see in Japan). We listened to the black “preachers” preach their message of religious hate (anti-white, anti-Jew, anti-gay, anti-woman, etc.) on a corner of Times Square until we couldn’t take that any longer. The temperature was about 35 . Caught the subway to the Village and went to bed –Saturday night and I went to bed the earliest of any night that I was there!