Thursday, October 18, 2007

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.

A Church at night

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.

12 comments:

Mas. said...

smiles
beautiful photos; been a while since I stopped by the blog (life interrupts far more than I'd like it... well.. life... more work than life... but you know.

Heading that way myself in just under a month for thanksgiving.
Have a good day
X

Anonymous said...

ooohhhh, nice pics....Next time, we'll go to the MET together. That was too short of a trip but awesome
Vanessa

Anonymous said...

A pampered shopper is a happy shopper! And you certainly sound happy about your purchases :-)

Those photo montages are fab, Liv. I like all the architectural detail you capture as well as the terrific shots inside the museum.

ML said...

AMAZING pictures! Thanks for sharing!

Olivia said...

Mas - hey, good to see you around. Are you off to Iowa?
I miss Thanksgiving!
x

***

Vanessa - you will love the Met! It's endless, full of wonderful spaces and well designed. I am so glad we were able to see as much as we did though.

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Nikki - oh yes, it's a great feeling, but I have to admit on the last day I was beginning to feel rotten for having spent so much money...

So many of the pics were taken in a hurry, hence not being framed well, or being blurry. Also, the collage utility on Picasa tends to clip off the edges of all the images. But I am glad you like them. I guess it only bothers me because I've seen the whole image!

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ML - thanks for coming by to catch up! Too bad I couldn't finish before your sister went there too!

AmitL said...

Hi,Olivia..wow-you're really getting a nice tour of the US of A...club this with a nice round of shopping,and what more could a person ask for?hehe.:)

Have a nice weekend.

L B said...

Shopping in NYC is such a hazard to your bank account!! I love all these photos too! I wish I was back in NYC.. *sigh*

Um Naief said...

you know, now reading your review, yo had posted a review of the play... sorry about that!! but thanks for reposting it. :)

the pics are lovely. less crowded than i expected. i'd like to go there and just see the place at least once. but there are so many places i'd like to see just once... you know!

i would like to sit down and reconnect w/ a lot of my cousins as well. i rec'd a card from my dearest cousin and i still haven't written back. i'm soo bad about that. it's good that you had the chance to stay w/ him and get to know him again.

i love ann taylor and the loft is great. i miss american stores, altho they recently opened The Gap and Banana Republic here. thought i had died and gone to heaven! :)

isn't it something about the salesppl there. here in bahrain, they don't help you like that. if you need something, you go back out on the floor and find it yourself. sucks really.

Olivia said...

Amit - best rounded off by a lovely dinner with friends and / or family, right?

***

LB - tell me about it...! By the last day I was riddled with guilt, and yet still had not found all I was looking for. Or, because of the guilt had decided not to buy a few things I now wish I had!

***

Um Naief - you know, I thought I had posted a review, then skimmed through that post, couldn't see it and thought I was growing forgetful, and so rewrote it! So when you mentioned I had already reviewed it, I looked again and found it! How funny!

I keep forgetting to email/send a card to my cousin. I also want to put together a box of things I know he will like. He is quite a bit like me in his tastes for things like organic toothpaste, healthy snacks, the kind of thing you get at Whole Foods, except I will send stuff unique to the UK.

Yes, NYC is less crowded and therefore less stressful - even in busy tourist areas. There is just always enough space. Every time I find myself pushing through crowds, tripping over people, or bouncing off someone's shoulder here in London I think about how wide are the avenues in that great city across the ocean...

And would you believe the mayor of London is looking to narrow more streets in order to lessen traffic? He is a nutter. You can just tell the opposite will happen.

The salespeople don't help you here either...

Gah!

Every day, I ask myself what I am doing here. If I don't get this job at Sotheby's I swear I am getting out of here. Not another year of stagnation, I promise.

***

Beenzzz said...

I'm back! Had a wonderful time. I absolutely loved with Met. I wish I had more time to spend there. I'll post some of my picks soon and we can reminisce together. :)

Olivia said...

Beenzzz - yay!!! *waggles hands in the air*

Lotus Reads said...

Again, stunning pictures...what a treat this has been for me Olivia, you have truly captured New York so beautifully!

Glad you got lucky with the Ann Taylor clothing..I love her style...it's clean,classic and really quite versatile. Enjoy your new clothes!