Today's Scenes from New York...

Its my birthday today!  And these are today's scenes from New York!

It was a rainy, cold and horrible day so I didn't leave the hotel till mid-day; then went with Mum to have some red velvet cake which was lovely, lovely and finally we visited 'Ripley's Believe It Or Not' which passed an hour or so before we returned to the hotel to hibernate --- snow is forecast for the end of the week - I'll be home by then though!

To be honest, most of these pics were taken during the past week - you'd be too depressed by the weather if I showed you photos of today.

Walking Through Central Park...

Walking home through Central Park from the Van Cleef and Arpels Show...the weather was perfect, the sky so blue, and spring just around the corner...so lovely and so peaceful (well, relatively for New York  

anyway).

Set In Style - The Jewellery of Van Cleef & Arpels in New York

Today I visited the Carnegie Mansion (AKA The Cooper-Hewitt Museum, part of the Smithsonian) to view the collection of historical Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery on display there - a fabulous collection of to-die-for precious and fascinating jewels including items that belonged to Greta Garbo, Princess Grace of Monaco, Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor - it was jaw-dropping, really it was - the lushness of these amazing pieces, the size and the design of them was astonishing - the Carnegie Mansion was quite interesting too and the tour guide was worth following around.   I was lucky enough to arrive early, because I as I left, there was a long queue out the front with people waiting patiently to view the collection which was almost as astonishing to me as the collection, I've never seen Americans queue for anything before!

Wall Street...

Whilst down at the Financial centre of New York, visited Wall Street...
saw the Stock Exchange (though you can't go in...)

and saw extreme poverty alongside all this wealth...this man was barefoot, standing in the middle of the road, singing, wearing rags...

Walked the Brooklyn Bridge...

Today I went down to the Financial District and Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.   This is one not to miss in New York and another beautiful day to do it!   The only low spot - I had the sun in my eyes so was walking with my head slightly down and then 'bong', I walked head-first into a metal box on the bridge (phone or electricity box I think) - I hit it with quite a bang and now have a huge, huge bruise on my head.  Ouch. 

Great bridge though.

Street Scenes from New York...

Today's Scenes from New York....

National Museum of the American Indian

Wandering down in the financial centre of New York, I found this interesting museum display of artifacts dedicated to the American Indian - inside a beautiful building were more beautiful, interesting things AND a display about the American Indian Horse Nation.  Well, of course I had to go in and see what was what - beautiful beadwork - including a lady beading in a corner, talking to people about her work and lots of horse related stuff - it was fascinating.

I have to tell you though, this was the scariest doll I ever saw in my life...

Today In New York...

Stuff I saw today in New York..

Empire State Building....very, very tall...

Financial District - very very grey....

More very, very tall buildings...

Cake, cake and more cake...and the last one was all mine...

M&J Trimmings, New York

Whenever I visit New York, I HAVE to visit M and J Trimming which is just about the most amazing place you could imagine for lace, ribbon, buttons, flowers, feathers, fabrics, trims, sewing stuff, iron-on transfers, you name it, you can find it in here ---- I bought some gorgeous feathers for tiaras and some silk ribbon but I tell you, I could spend a couple of weeks in this place and never cover it all....

If you're into creative stuff - sewing, knitting, stitching, jewellery making, whatever, and you are in New York, this is one place you absolutely must not miss!

Blue Man Group, New York

Just come back from seeing the Blue Man Group at the Astor Place Theatre - laughed until I nearly died.  

I chose this rather than something more serious because frankly, sometimes you just need a damn good laugh - and although I began by thinking 'well, this aint this funny' in the end I just was rolling around laughing - I wasn't expecting to see the amount of audience particicipation that there was, and those who (involuntarily) were involved were really good sports about it -- the show was an orchestrated series of chaotic events - paint spraying everywhere, rolls of toilet paper all over the theatre, I cannot tell you --- it was just one of the maddest evenings I've had in ages - it was like being seven again, and all this hysterically childish stuff happened but in the end, you just could not help being totally engaged with it - if you do get the chance, go and see the show, it can't help but make you happy.

New York

A few photos from sunny New York!!  More soon....

One of the lions outside the New York Library...

The FlatIron Building, take a look at that gorgeous sky!