Hood Hair

I want to set something straight right from the start.  If I put any photos of myself on today's blog, I want you to understand I look much better in real life.  It rained most of the day so I spent most of the day either with my hood up or with rain pouring onto my head.

We all did different things in the morning.  Bob did his own thing most of the day so you have to check his blog ... the blog that he will start writing upon his retirement which may be a decade from now.

Elizabeth and I met for lunch.  Before that, she needed her morning jolt of caffeine and bought  it at an Australian cafe Bluestone Lane. The cafe didn't accept cash which was a first for any us.  You could only pay with a card.

As I walked, I enjoyed looking at buildings partly shrouded in rain clouds.  I wished I had a friend who lived high in one of the buildings who could let me see the view from up there.  Alas, our circle of friends have other housing.  I looked for dog walkers in the park, but they must have been given the day off due to rain.  I didn't see anyone with more than three dogs.

I saw dozens of broken umbrellas dropped where they let their owners down.  The high winds were turning umbrellas inside out.

Elizabeth and I met on the Upper East Side with the intention of visiting Neue Gallery.  We found it's closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Seriously???

We had lunch at Farinella where our pizzas were tasty and the entire seating was limited.  Elizabeth's pizza is potato and mine has artichokes, olives, ham and mushrooms.

Here's all of the seating.  We ate here because the Burger One, where we wanted to eat just down the street, had even less seating and was full.  I love that businesses like this exist.

Since we couldn't go to the Neue Gallery, we decided to tackle some of the Metropolitan Museum.  Every time I visit, I have to revisit my favorites such as the Faberges...

... and the Tiffany glass.

The weather outside was frightful.

For the first time I visited the Costume Institute at the Met.  The area is very small, but everything displayed is exquisite.

Look at the detail.

Here's more detail.

Butterflies!

By the end of our time there, I wanted to be like this figure ... dozing!

There was more rain as we left so we did something I've never done in NYC before.  We jumped into a cab and enjoyed every block of our dry ride.

The cab took us to Serendipity on 60th which has been on my life list.  There is lots of Tiffany lighting.

Andy Warhol liked the place and he's still hanging around.

Whoever wrote the menu deserves a Nobel Prize for Literature.  Perhaps Bob Dylan would pass his along to that person.  One original owner is described with "two black, slanty, Slavic eyes in league with the devil,"  Another original owner "tossed around a vocabulary that wandered from the obscure to the obscene."  The third was "a wittily mustached enigma."

I tried floofing my hair before some pics ... with no noticeable results.

Liz's treat was Serendipity's signature dish, the Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate.

I had the YuDuFunDu.

Just to set facts straight, we didn't finish them.

The woman at the next table was changing from her shoes into her new boots and was happy to let us admire them and photograph them.

On the same block as Serendipity is Dylan's Candy Shop which was founded by Ralph Lauren's daughter.  We enjoyed looking but resisted shopping.

We knew of a cupcake ATM nearby and had to make sure it worked.  It did.  Lest you are counting our calories today, let me clarify that we shared the cupcake three ways.

We cut through Bloomindale's to escape some rain.

We noticed that NYC cab drivers are as adept at eluding potholes as Weyburn drivers are.

We took the tram over to Roosevelt Island which was ludicrous as there was no good view of Manhattan through the pouring rain.  Luckily the cost of it is included on the Metro Cards.

Coming back to the hotel, we could hardly see the Chrysler Building because of the low clouds.

Tonight's show was The Great Comet of 1812.  I predict it will win big at the Tonys in June.

My family knows my love of murder mystery novels.  Sometimes they think the books affect who I am.  For an examle, this room near ours has had this "do not disturb" on it for three straight days.  Doesn't that mean there's a body stashed in there?  Liz says there can't be because we would be starting to smell it.

Then there was this on the street.  It's a dumped, murdered body, right?  What else would be that shape?  You might be glad I'm now finished tonight's post.  I have to go read my bedtime mystery.