Manhattan

We got a really good air fare on American for this trip, something under $300 I think. Hector's fare, of course, was paid by the ever-generous company. We got in on Saturday night, January 8, checked into our hotel, the Marriott East Side (49th and Lex, a wonderful location unless you're one of those who just won't go above 14th Street, like my friend Mark B.) We took a long walk up Park Ave to the Park; then had dinner at a little Italian place around the corner from our hotel, and crashed. Next morning, we ambled over to the Plaza to have brunch in the Garden Room. We were about the first ones there which simply means we got the freshest food as far as I'm concerned. It's about $65 for the brunch and it's quite a spread. The Garden Room is lovely and you can almost pretend you're at the glamorous "PLAZA HOTEL" and not the "Plaza, a Fairmont Hotel."

After lunch we walked up to the Metropolitan Museum because we wanted to look again at the Egyptian exhibits. Now that we are egyptologists we have a more discerning eye. Well, it's still fabulous. And the display of everything! With all the bullet-proof glass and expensive lighting it makes the tiniest piece of junk look priceless. But it is a wonderful collection. Had the obligatory stroll across Central Park over to the West Side (81st & Broadway, where I lived in 1980...when I was three) and back. Then took my bloody paws back to the hotel for a rest.

That night we met Mark for drinks at a place in the Village called One If By Land, Two If By Sea, once the carriage house of Aaron Burr. It's charming, you can hardly smell the horses anymore. I can't wait to go back for a real dinner sometime. Mark says it's breathtakingly expensive but everything in NY is that way, so what does that mean? Then the 3 of us met his bf Bill for dinner at Blue Hill. Mark has lost about 30 pounds but actually it looks pretty good. And he seems to be in fine spirits. He isn't working, he's on disability. He told me what all he's getting and he makes more money than me.

Next day Hector had to work so I met Mark down in Chelsea for a bit of shopping. He took me to Prada and he bought the ugliest pair of shoes I've ever seen in my life. I didn't like Prada much. We were being jokey and asked the security guard if we could slide down the hardwood display embankment and he just scowled and gave us a look. Then we went over to Burberry because he wanted... get this... a Burberry dog leash for his new dog. I'm not making that up.
That night we were meeting B & H. Hadn't seen them in quite a while. When I told Mark earlier what their address was he said, "are they fucking rich?" So we were ready for a nice pad but this was really something. It was down on 7th, I believe, in Chelsea. Large and spectacular, modern, really beautiful. They had the plasma TV on when we got there so we'd be sure to notice it. Then we walked over to Sapa, which is French-Vietnamese food and it was good but not wonderful. We saw Steven Van Zandt eating there with a crowd of hangers-on. He had that handkerchief on his head.

All the stores were having big sales. Next day we did some consuming at Banana Republic and then off to JFK. It was really a very nice New York weekend. The weather was cold but partly cloudy until the last day when it began to sleet a little but we were getting out just in time so it didn't matter.