Flowers and Food

After a very filling breakfast at the Red Flame Diner next door to the hotel, off we went for a walk around the New York streets, first stop being Bryant Square just down the road (the last time I was there half of it was under a temporary ice-rink) with its tables and chairs, moveable bookcases for reading materials and cafe booths dotted round. Then down 6th Avenue, the Avenue of the Americas, to Macy*s.

I like Macy*s. It's just a shop, a department store, but it's such a big store, taking up an entire block all of its own, and there's always something there to make you wonder or exclaim at, capitalism gone mad. Today it was flowers.


For some reason Macy*s has decided that March is flower month and the display windows were decked out in flower displays of famous models over the years dressed entirely in clothes made of flowers and surrounded by flowers - a most fabulous sight. The 60s' were, of course, represented by Twiggy doing her bit for swinging London and flower power. And inside was even grander, with all the spaces on top of shelves, behind sales counters and in dsiplay areas being full of glorious blooms. Everywhere was covered in flowers and my photos really don't do it justice. I thought they were fake at first but then disobeyed the signs and touched some and, no, they were all real. The ground floor of Macy*s was turned into a vast conservatory that just happened to sell stuff as well. There were even a couple of guided tours going on telling people about the various plants and blooms. It was a wonderful - if slightly mad - sight.


Then, of course, came the serious business of shopping. O yes, straight along to the 7th Avenue side of the building to the men's departments, acres of clothes to choose from and the purchasing began... And then a sit down and something to eat and drink before heading back to the hotel to dump bags and set off again to pound the hard streets of New York City.

First stop: Radio City Music Hall, just up the road from the hotel, then food at the Majestic Diner, chosen because it was there when I needed food also because of the bright pink flourescent lights spelling out words in the window. Walking back from picking up the tickets for this evening's performance of 'Curtains' we passed the theatre where 'Gypsy' is opening and it was all ready for a grand Broadway opening night, with a red carpet outside, TV cameras and loads of people standing round gawping.

Leaving Broadway behind and diving back into consumerism via an extended browse around the Virgin Store in Times Square lookin for bargains and stuff not available in the UK. Then the fun of 'Curtains' (more later) followed by dinner with Dezur at a little restaurant called Rachel's on 9th Avenue. I was in for a surprise when I opted for beer and the waiter reeled off a load of beers including Newcastle Brown Ale... so I just had to have one! It came in a smaller bottle (a half pint) and tasted sweeter than it should so I wouldn't have guessed what it was but it was quite nice. The label proudly proclaimed 'Brewed in England'. We then spent a couple of hours gossiping and were the last to leave the restaurant (much to the annoyance of the staff, I should think, who were full of smiles and cheerful 'goodnights') at 1am. Oops.

We walked back to the hotel along W44th Street through a surprisingly empty Times Square - for the city that never sleeps there must've been a lot of people sleeping for the streets and roads to be that empty...