First bummer of the day – I forgot my pedometer! Oh yeah, and my camera. And also my phone. :) Oh
well. We managed nicely and had a great
afternoon wandering around New York for day 2.
Man was it hot! I think it only
hit 100, so it was actually a little cooler than Thursday, but hot
nonetheless.
We finally left the house around 4:00 (not having even woken
up until after Noon), and went straight to Madison Square Park – not Madison
Square Garden – to hit the Shake Shack, which served by far the best burger I’ve
ever eaten in my life. No joke. I chased it with a Hopscotch shake, which had
vanilla custard, toffee chunks, and bits of dark chocolate. Sarah had fries with cheese sauce and
lemonade, and Brian got his standard meal – cheeseburger with ketchup only,
fries, and lemonade. Brian discovered
that pigeons are ruthless hunters that travel in packs, quickly ascending on us
by the multitudes when he threw a French fry to what he thought was one lone
bird. The little sparrows and starlings
got their fill, too. They looked thirsty
with their little beaks held open, and he thought about pouring out some of his
water for them, until we realized not only that it would make a muddy mess
instead of a watering hole, but also that there was a lovely fountain about 50
feet away that the birds could go to if they did indeed want a drink.
After lunch (or breakfast, depending on who you ask), we
took some photos of the Flatirons Building, a National landmark built in 1902
that is shaped like an old-fashioned clothes iron, which I discovered was
directly behind us as we were eating, and wandered through the Eataly. We are definitely taking Dave back
there! He will be in culinary heaven.
A quick subway ride in the wrong direction, and then a
slightly longer one in the right direction, took us to Rockefeller Center,
which was kind of weird, honestly. There
was an underground mall of sorts with a lot of swanky shops like Swarovski
Crystal, a food court, and welcomed air conditioning. We couldn’t find the gardens or ice skating
rink, but we were pretty much done so we headed to the shops on 5th
Avenue, which was just across the street.
Of course, we made the obligatory stop in Saks, feeling only slightly
out of place amongst New Yorkers dressed to the 9’s and lots of other curious
tourists – you could tell the difference by the speed at which we all walked – checking
out a few prices like a 4 x 7 inch beaded handbag for $370, and then headed to
H & M for some shopping we could afford.
Brian and I listened to the same loud thumping beat for the entire 45 or
so minutes we were inside, watched someone knock over two mannequins and get finger-wagged
by a flamboyant staff member, and loved the people watching, while Sarah found
a cute little black dress to buy. By the
time we were finished there, we were wiped out and it was 7:30 p.m. (That’s what a late start will get you!)
We hopped on the subway and headed back to the apartment to
be greeted by Elizabeth, Meher, Meher’s nephew Sanjay and his wife Marion, and
two friends in from Melbourne that Marion had met on a culinary tour of Burma. What a life! Shortly thereafter, we were joined by Meher’s
daughter, Shayan, her boyfriend, Gabe, and Meher’s other nephew, Arjun. Arjun is a costume designer with titles such
as Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, and Life of Pi to his name. We brought our copies of each DVD and he
graciously (and slightly bashfully) signed them for us, much to the chagrin of
his older brother, Sanjay.
Another amazing meal was in the works. Meher made Indian spiced beef and rice, a salad
with endive and apples, and a delicious eggplant dish with tomatoes and sour
cream.
We headed to bed a little later than I’d hoped, but the
company was just too good to slip away from.
Knowing we had to catch a very early bus, our heads finally hit the
pillows at about 12:30 a.m., very much looking forward to our next four days in
Washington D.C.