New York - Day 3

November 6, 2009

The first thing we ran into was near Times Square. There was a huge sign on the building in blue and white NYGARD with a proper letter aa - a Swedish name so that cought my intention. At the door there were a lot of photographers and models all in silver including their faces. I was curious and pulled Jalil with me into this craziness. Ended up interviewing a very nice man who explained that Peter Nygard was a Finnish man who designed clothing for women in Canada. I asked if the clothes were only for skinny people. No, no, he offered me a sales clerk to try some of the clothes. I declined blaming my waiting, impatient husband. This was the first time they were opening a store in the US and this was the official opening of that store. Everybody was now waiting for Peter to show up. There was a blue carpet leading from the street into the store. And a huge RV outside in blue and white. We were given blue flags to wave with. But I took one look at Jalil and decided this was taking way too much time and he was not enjoying it. It was not important to see Peter Nygard. So we left.

Soon there was a crowd again. This time they were in Times Square watching the telecast of the parade for the Yankee's baseball team winning the World Series that was happening in the Lower Manhattan.

Next we walked by the entrance to CBS with a big sign advertising David Letterman's Late Show. The door was impressive.

I started taking pictures of people whom I noticed on the street. It was kind of fun.

Our goal was to see Central Park so we walked there via Columbus Circle. We passed many sculptures but I did not get of what. We walked into the park. It is huge and we did not have much info about it so I will just show the pictures. At the Tavern on the Green we stopped for lunch and we sat upstairs in the bar. Had eggplant pasta - not much different from what we make in the micro in the motel room! On the way out I noticed that the restaurant is about to close for good and it has been there for a long time. There were many horsedrawn carriages and three wheelers transporting tourists. I was tempted by the horse but Jalil was reluctant so we walked. We left the park at 5th Avenue - so many people walking on the wide sidewalks! It looked like an army marching when the light changed to green. There was a chestnut stand on the sidewalk so I had to try some - very dry! This was in the beginning of November and the Christmas decorations were already displayed!
Before Thanksgiving!


At the red stairs in Times Square you can buy tickets to shows for that evening after 3 PM for about 50% off. We had to stand in line and we did not know what we wanted to see - something we knew and liked or something we had no idea what it was? There was a young man by the line helping people. He said that if we chose a play versus a musical, the line was much shorter. He also helped us make up our mind. He suggested we pick two plays and then take the one with the best seats available. We ended up with a comedy called the Royal Family at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Now we had three hours before the show started. Time for New York cheese cake next door - $10 for a piece but it was huge - and not moist enough for my taste. Now we had two more hours and it was freezing cold outside. We walked to 42nd Street to the movie theater where Jalil used to go to escape the heat 50 years ago. It was now showing losts of movies and we did not know what anything was so we picked the one that fit into our two hour hole - Paranormal Activity. A large part of the movie is taken with a handheld videocamera so it moves around unsteadily. After a while I could not watch as I was getting so nauseated by the unsteadiness of the camera. The story was also awful but at least it was warm in there. We ran from there to the show and was just in time. The play was OK but not really funny - very exaggerated we both felt.