One Down (Actually Two)

When we knew we were moving to NYC, Chizz and I thought of all the things we wanted to do when we got here.  Sure there are all the usual touristy things, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Empire State Building etc.  But truthfully, we had already done most of those things over the years when we visited during school trips, family vacations, business trips.  We were looking forward to doing some of the things that are easier to do when you live here.  And one of those things happend recently, the St. Patrick's Day Parade.  Being Irish, I couldn't wait to go.  And liking beer, Bruce didn't object.

It was a beautiful day in New York.  Hardly a cloud in the sky and it was 70 degrees at 11:00 in the morning.  Perfect day for a parade.  Most of the parades in New York seem to be on the east side. This one was no exception but it was right across the park from us on Park Avenue.  We had heard the parade would go down Fifth Avenue to 86th Street and the best place to watch the parade would be one of the streets close to the Metropolitan Museum.  We got there about 10 minutes before the parade started, knowing it would take some time to wander the forty some odd blocks to 86th Street.  It gave us time to find the PERFECT spot and absorb a little atmosphere.  We saw people dresssed in every shade of green (and some orange, which I found a bit strange - look it up people!).  There were the obligatory "pretty young girls posing with NY cop scenes".  I have never seen a cop turn down one of these requests.  And everyone seems to

be in a good mood.  We had heard that things can get kind of ugly at the parade, with quite a few people using it as an opportunity to get incredibly drunk and an excuse to do something incredibly stupid.  We didn't see any of that.  This year the parade seemed to consist mainly of marching bands, military groups, and members of different Irish counties or organizations.  Our original watching spot was right underneath the Irish American Cultural Society.  They were obviously having some kind of reception, people were milling around on balconies wine glasses in hand.  That would be nice (note to self).  Quite a few of the bands, marching groups saluted or waved up to them as they went by.   The one guy in the sash who looks VERY Irish was there pretty much the entire time, waiving to the bands, the crowd.  We thought it was a pretty good spot, until it wasn't.  I overheard one of the band members ask a police officer "How much further?"  The police office shrugged his shoulders and said he wasn't sure, "they keep changing it".  What???  Apparently the parade route is flexible.  Based on the age of some of the members of various veterans groups marching, perhaps that might be a good idea.  But since we were at about 81st street and the parade was scheduled for five more blocks AND we were in front of the Irish American Cultural Society we were golden.  Until we weren't.   All of the sudden, we noticed a marching band turning down at 79th street, 2 blocks before us.  We speculated they might be tired and shrugged it off.  Until ALL of the groups started marching down 79th street!  Wow, way to disrespect the Irish American Cultural Society.  We scuttled down the street a few blocks further to about 76th Street and managed to worm our way to the front and were able to see most of the rest of the parade.  Actually, it turned out to be a great spot.  It is where we met Maureen, Eileen and Megan. (Hmmm wonder what nationality?).  Maureen told me that she was one of 7 girls and 4 boys in their family.  (Still wondering?).  They were from Brooklyn and knew everyone practically in the parade, priests, kids in marching bands etc.  They were hilarious and I don't think the magic liquid in their GREEN solo cups hurt one bit.   In fact it was Eileen who pointed out my first celebrity sighting!  Brian Williams from Rock Center, the news, 30 Rock, SNL fame.  So that would the second item on my list ofthings that you can do when you live in NYC (stalking celebrities with ease).  They called out his name and he waved right at them (and since I was standing next to them, I choose to believe he was waving to me!  (Yes, this would be the starting point of my mental illness that you can testify to later.)  But I am attaching a photo!  You be the judge.

The parade seemed to consist mainly of military units, marching bands, high school bands and representatives from some of the larger counties of Ireland.  I noticed several differences from other parades I have been to. First, it seems like every high school, every military unit, every police or firefighter group has a bagpipe unit in their marching band.  Every single one.  We heard more bagpipes today than I thought humanly possible.   Not sure if this is a regional difference or if it was just for this parade but I am thinking it might be difficult to drum up (hahahaha) this many bagpipers on the west coast.  Secondly, I am not sure if it was due to 9/11 or if it has always been this way, but New Yorkers sure do cheer their public servants (i.e. the police, firefighters and military).  When anyone of these groups walked by, the applause and cheering was much louder and longer than any other band or group, or even Brian Williams.  Gasp!  Lastly I am a sucker for marching band music, especially patriotic in nature.  I spent most of the afternoon, dabbing away all of my mascara.  I got teary at Anchors Away, the Marines Fight song, God Bless America, all of them.  Before you know, I will be crying at hockey games.  Oh wait, I already do.

I am closing with other photos of the sights of the parade while I go figure out where Tina Fey lives.  Enjoy but send bail money!

 



County Cavan In the House





Hoping these guys are re-enactors and not veterans!





Are these guys British?  Wrong Parade



Slainte!

LA - Worth the Price of Admission

A few weeks ago, Chizz told me that he had to be in Los Angeles for a few days.  The trip required him to be there Thursday and Friday and again for a meeting on Tuesday.  Since he had to stay for the weekend, did I want to come with him?  I thought about it for a minute and my mind skipped to its usual routine.  Reasons why I can't go on fun weekend trip:    Swim meet? No.  Girl Scout Meeting?  No.  Chauffeuring Responsibilities? No.  Doctor or orthodontist appointment?  No.  Chaperoning or House Security responsibilities?  No.   Wait a minute, I think I see a pattern developing.   Oh yeah, I forgot.  My children don't live with me!  As soon as I realized that, my bag was packed.  It was good timing.  Kiki lives in LA and I hadn't seen her since New Years.  My dad was recovering from surgery and was staying at my sister's home, conveniently much closer to Kiki and where I would be staying.  It was a no brainer! 

So off we went.  Since Chizz was on company business, we stayed at a hotel downtown near his office - The Standard.  It is kind of a hip hotel, with an evener hipper bar scene.  I know what you are thinking - perfect match for the hip Chizz and the even hipper (not hippier, although true) Wendy.  You would think.  But I think I discovered something, hip may have passed us by.  The rooms have cool platform beds, clean lines, minimalist furniture.  The most distinguishing feature of the room, however, is the bathroom or more specifically the shower.  Someone told me that it was in the middle of the room, which is not really accurate.  Really, the shower has a glass wall that looks into the bedroom or the bedroom can look into the shower.  It sounds like it would be interesting but really it is kind of strange.  You feel like you are on display.   I am all for romance but I also think there are a few things that should be somewhat  mysterious, left up to the imagination.  In order to use the toilet, I had to close the shower curtain.  It was a little odd.  With this shower, nothing is left up the imagination at all unfortunately. Sometimes a shower just needs to be a shower, nothing more nothing less.   And I discovered one other thing.  The problem with platform beds is that they are too close to the ground.  I feel like I am crawling out of bed on my hands and knees.  I like to swing my legs over the bed and stand up.  That is a little hard to do when the bed is about 2 feet off the ground and there is a ledge running around the entire bed.  I think the definition of old is when you think of all the counter arguments to cool.  Cool is just accepted as is, it doesn't have to prove itself.  It is.  Apparently we aren't.  Word.

One of the coolest and hippest part of the Standard is the rooftop bar.  Unfortunately the hippest time for the rooftop bar is well after Chizz and I normally go to sleep.    Fortunately, they let you up there during the daytime too.  So we took a quick look around one morning.  It was a gorgeous morning, typical LA,.

sunny, warm, hardly any clouds in the sky.  The roof is separated into about 3 or 4 areas.  There is a bar/lounge.  The bar is kind of inside and you walk outside and side on these couches or lounges.  There are also chairs and tables.   It has an outdoor fireplace, naturally.  These mushroom looking like structures are in the pool area and are water bed lounges  Very cool.  When we were there a little girl was having a ball on it!  The pool is very pretty and

just surrounded by skyscrapers.  It is kind of surreal.  I imagine anyone working in the vicinity might have a hard time concentrating when people are out in the pool, either gawking at pretty people or working up a serious case of envy toward people just lolling around a pool during the work day.  Strangely enough, Chizz's LA office is right across the street from the Standard.  At night time, on the building next door movies are projected onto the side of the building.  Not sure if that is the Standard that does that or some other building.

 

We did manage to make it up there early one weekday evening for a drink and it was beautiful, although I don't have any photos to share.  I do have to point out that it is EXTREMELY expensive.  Usually I am the kind of person that says that you have to take in mind the experience when you calculate the overall value of an evening.  Stealing liberally from a sappy credit card commercial, some experiences are priceless.  But in reality really priceless memories don't have a lot to do with money but more with the moment.   Births, graduations, weddings, inaugural experiences are more about the event than the dough.  So when I saw that bartender pour a glass of wine from a wine that I KNOW costs no more than $15 in the store and charge us $12 per glass, it does kind of have an effect on the experience.  But we had a good time and we can check that off our list of things to do.  More importantly we can casually mention the experience in front of younger people like we do it all the time.  And even more importantly, we got to bed at a reasonable hour.  No reason being cool has to make you crabby and unrested.  Double word.