Weekend in NYC May 6 and 7

Two days report in one! Yesterday we got in touch with Pamella and Aaron - friends of Graeme and Cecilia's who live on Long Island. Aaron is a NYC cop in the narcotics vice squad and money laundering division. Pamella is an agent with Air Chile at JFK. I had met Pamella when I went to Lima for Graeme and Ceci's wedding and she also spent a couple of nights at our place a few years ago when she was visiting with Ceci in Canada. We decided to meet her late in the afternoon and Aaron planned to meet us in the evening when he got off work.

In the meantime, the four of us thought walking the promenade in Brooklyn and then a trip to Coney Island way out at the end of Brooklyn would be a great way to spend a hot day. So, off we went. We wanted to try the famous Coney Island hot dogs, fries, stroll the boardwalk and ride the ferris wheel. It was great- just like in the movies- the beach is amazing- hard to believe that we were still in NYC. Not too many people, locals fishing off the pier for robinfish??? crab, fluke and bluefish. Met another character, Ricky, who asked us to send him a postcard when we got back to Victoria- addressed: Ricky, boardwalk, Coney Island NYC. He swore it would arrive "Da US Post Offace deliva anyware" !! So I guess I'll send him a card never knowing if it will arrive!

When we got home Pamella had taken the train, was already in the neighbourhood and came over for a beer before we left for dinner. She brought Graeme an official T-shirt from the police station with "Narcotics Division" written on the back. He was suitably impressed!

We went to a little Vietnamese restaurant "O Mai" just down the street from us- Nicole, our exchange partner had recommended it. Then we walked to the Meat Packing district and found a really cool place "Spice Market" - went in for a few hours- very trendy, hip people and tres expensive. Aaron met us there eventually. Really nice guy- entertained us with cop stories. Today we looked at my guide book and found it was recommended as an place that celebrities and the ultra rich hang out. It had to be true looking at the tons of Mercedes, BMW's and limos waiting outside when we left!!!

We all piled into Aaron's car as he toured us around Manhattan at night. Crowded but fun, especially as we knew no matter how many traffic laws he broke, we were safe!! Then we came back to the apartment for a few more hours. We planned to meet them in Queens today so they could show us around- it's where Aaron is stationed and he knows it like the back of his hand. Unfortunately, this morning when Graeme and Ceci checked the flight status for their standby back home, most of the flights were oversold. They decided to go to the airport to hope for an early afternoon flight. So we said our goodbye's around 11:30 and they hailed a cab back to the airport.

It was another nice day for weather, but as it was Sunday, lots of things were closing early and there were very few theatres having evening performances. So....we booked the 3PM Sex and the City tour. It was GREAT!!! Three hours of driving around visiting lots and lots of the sites where the girls ate, drank, partied, met boyfriends, dumped boyfriends, lived and worked. We had our photos taken on Carrie's stoop, ate cupcakes from Magnolia bakery, stopped in a bar for Cosmopolitans (we didn't have any because I had to wait in line for the pee break), visited the shop where Charlotte bought her rabbit (still the same price:)......AND.......saw our first celebrity!!! Liv Tyler. We were outside the bus walking around the West Village where many of the sites are located. The bus was parked next to a childrens playground. It had iron railing around it and unless accompanied by a child, adults are not permitted to enter. If you do you face a $150. fine, and like I said before the cops are everywhere here. Anyway, she was inside the playground in a beautiful BEAUTIFUL green dress, with her little one- about two years old I guess. Every other parent in there was dressed casually- jeans, shorts the usual, but she really was noticeable. No one was bothering her. Other people on the bus said they walked past Lucy Lui but we didn't see her. We need to explore this area more. It is really close to us, less than a mile and lots of celebrities live there. (Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick live in that part of Manhattan- so it is very trendy).

Forgot to mention that before G&C left we walked to Times Square this morning- 15 blocks. We walked up to 5th at 59th for the tour- 38 blocks and walked back after the tour another 38 blocks. A LOT of walking. Couldn't believe our eyes when we arrived home to see a note on our door from G&C saying they were back in Chelsea- waiting for us to get home because they couldn't get a flight. They are now in bed and have to get up at 5AM to head back to the airport to try tomorrow.....to be continued.......