Big Apple Second Bite

Alright. Back to the Big Apple series.



Clockwise from top left: The neo-French Gothic Fletcher Sinclair House (1899, by C P H Gilbert) on 5th at 79th, now the Ukrainian Institute of America / a view up 5th Avenue / The American Museum of Natural History on 77th-79th at Central Park West, founded in 1869 by Theodore Roosevelt, J. Pierpont Morgan et al., is comprised of a complex of 25 buildings housing a collection of 32 million objects / The Metropolitan Museum of Art, now one of my favourite museums.



Lovely spaces in the lobby of the Great Hall of the Met / View from my bedroom at my cousin's place: Will the bus fit between the fire trucks? Yes, it did, just about!


Clockwise from top: Barrel vault above the Met main staircase / Sculpture Hall (can't see but the figure at the very very back is probably the inspiration for the temple statue of Apollo in the movie Troy) / View of the Federal Style room from the Versailles Diorama Room / Glass enclosure for the Egyptian Temple of Dendur


Temple of Dendur surrounded by water / Pharaoh's head


Clockwise from top: Egyptian apis bull / Neoclassical female bust / Hellenistic female / Byk protecting Pharaoh


Federal Style room (American, late 18th-early 19th C) / convex mirror / Tiffany windows. Unfortunately the Frank Lloyd Wright room was closed for renovation....

Um Naief wants to know about the musical Curtains, with David Hyde Pierce (Niles from Frasier). I read some negative reviews, but there's nothing wrong with turning off the sophisticated modern mind and regressing for a while. A few racy jokes, ticklish one liners, great song and dance numbers, including one dream sequence with a hint of Busby Berkeley that had me grinning from ear to ear throughout. Niles can dance. Yes, he is probably like Niles in real life.



So, where did I go the next day? To Macy's of course, the world's largest store! I was surprised to find that it retained some wooden escalators, and that all visitors, even from New Jersey, can receive an 11% discount on purchases. The entire top floor is the petites department and I went CRAZY. Finally found things that fit better than anything I've bought over in the UK, believe it or not. I love Ralph Lauren and there was more than enough clothing in my sizes.

On my way back to the subway around 9pm, I passed an Ann Taylor Loft. When I was in high school, I used to browse Ann Taylor and promised myself that when I was all grown up I would wear those clothes. Since then, they have opened the Loft which is a bit younger and I went nuts in there finding size xxs or zero tops (which I am) and size 2 or 4 bottoms (such variation depends on the cut or brand). I bought all sorts of tops which I have been searching for months and months here to no avail. I chatted with half the staff, as they were so helpful! Once you start holding items they ask if you would like them to "start a room for you" so they relieve you of the burden and hang them on a changing room door and when you are ready to try them on, anyone nearby asks which staffmember is helping you, and they hang the clothing in the room for you and close the door. This is not a terribly fancy shop, just sort of equal to Principles for 20s-30s.

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The next day, my cousin drove me up in the hopes that we could pop in and see my other cousin's family, but having school-age kids they were off at some event, and he took me shopping instead. When we got hungry, we went to a nice Chinese restaurant and enjoyed a great chat. I love reconnecting with cousins I've known for years, but on another personal and adult level, apart from the innumerable family gatherings where everyone merely mingles.

As a result of my intensive shopping expeditions, I now have a number of soft long sleeved tops, cashmere or cotton sweaters, fitted cotton shirts, cargo pants. Cashmere was my focus in preparation for this cold winter they promise.