New York City 2004

Instead of taking the usual trip home to Ohio for my annual vacation, I decided to actually take a real vacation for myself. I asked America what I should do. The inspiring reply:

Nick Baker, my cordial host, (above) in front of the New York Public Library. This library has possibly every conceivable painted portrait of George Washington, I'm quite sure of this fact.

We were on our way to Bryant Park to meet his friends for some swell Carolina BBQ in Uptown on the Eastside. We found Fashion Week 2004 taking place at the park and declared that we were within 100 feet of the most beautiful people in the world, by the fashion industry standards' anyway. However, after looking through the freebie magazines we were given, neither one of us could be an "NYC It Man", unless we were an art director or editor of a men's magazine. Across the street from the library was P. Diddy's clothing store, where a crowd was waiting for the emergence of the entertainer himself who seemed to be holding some type of event.

From atop Belvedere Castle in Central Park, just east of the Shakespeare Gardens, where I spied an older couple getting married amongst the flowers. I was so tired from traipsing from lower Manhattan to Mid-town on Wednesday, I took a leisurely stroll through the 843-acre park on Thursday afternoon. I had checked out the Lincoln Center that morning and went to a private art show that night, thanks to Nick's friend, at the Art Director's Club on West 29th Street.

These, however, are the competing views of the Upper West Side (left) and the Upper East Side (right) from the top of the castle. The lake is Turtle Pond. This location is the halfway point of the park. After sitting in the castle eating a burrito the size of my head and reading the New York Post for an hour, I headed south.

I caught this guy creating art for the public at Strawberry Fields (the Imagine Mosaic for John Lennon). He took rose petal scraps from local flower shops, picked through them and gingerly created a border around the mosaic, then sprinkled water on the flowers. Park Maintenance gladly helped by providing garbage bags and a broom for him. He flashed me a peace sign. I overheard him tell a San Francisco tourist he wasn't doing this in honor of John Lennon, but was creating a piece of public art.

Bethesda Fountain and Terrace, the entrance to The Mall - a great place for people watching and inspiration, so I was told. I kept seeing people carry a Bloomingdale's "brown bag." I was inspired to go to go shopping. So to Bloomingdales I went that evening for a free makeover (hence the make-up on my face in the above art party picture).

"The Mall" at Central Park. Nice Place to get away from the buzz of the city, yet you could simply look up and see the tops of the articulately designed Manhattan apartment buildings.

The three people on the left were reading the names of everyone who died in the terrorist attack. It was Wednesday, September 8. They were in the last names starting with "F". (Right) The symbolic cross that was left standing during the recovery/clean up process. All 20 acres of the site were cleared and nothing remained but this and the looks of the beginning of a construction project.

However, St. Paul's Chapel down the street, on Broadway, was much more interesting than the actual site, as the small church was homebase for firefighters and recovery workers during the clean up process following the attack. Letters, stuffed animals, firefighter patches and other gifts from around the world were displayed. Chilling.

In the heart of the financial district in Lower Manhattan, at the crossroads of Nassau and Broadway. (Left) The New York Stock Exchange, (with the flag), is part of a triad of historic buildings and are miniature compared to the sky rises that surround this cluster. To the left of the NYSE is another historic building. Below is another historic building - I believe where George Washington was inaugurated.

The woman to the left was practicing Falun Gong I think, protesting civil unrest and persecution of a certain leader in China (?) Unclear on the details. But they were all over the place. Ironically, there was NYPD force in front of the NYSE with guns, securing the exchange place.

After visiting the financial district, I decided to head uptown and thought, "Well, I'll just walk up Broadway and hit Times Square, not a problem." Yeah, after an hour of walking, I was still only half way there and there wasn't anything spectacular on Broadway, so I said forget it and jumped on the subway. I paid $21 for a seven day metro pass, thought I'd might as well use it.

And of course, once I emerged from the bowels of the city's mass transit system, the remains of Hurricane France were bombarding Times Square. Apparently, SoHo was flooded that morning from some three-inches that fell in an hour or something ridiculous like that, and shut down half the city. And of course, thinking I'm some experienced Nor'westernr', I thought I could handle a little rain and didn't think I'd need my rain jacket. No, I forgot - when it rains on the East Coast, it rains. So I wound up purchasing an umbrella - the first one in about three years. I also learned how to maneuver an umbrella in a crowd full of people, of course, twice my size.

As for Times Square itself, alright. Big. Lots of obnoxious signs. Tried to imagine what it was like on New Year's Eve and decided I wouldn't stand a chance, given the amount of trouble I have at any concert I attend. Dow Jones ticker (or the "zipper," according to my secret Dow Jones insiders), ads for Cup of Noodles, Budweiser, Target, anything and everything.

Three different views of the Empire State Building: Nick and I tried to get to the top of the building on Wednesday night, but with 0% visibility, we decided the $12 wasn't worth it. But we got this super fantastic picture (left) with the clouds surrounding the buildings' lights, which we thought was better than trying to get to the top anyway. (Middle) Inside of the building on our second attempt to go to the top on Friday afternoon, but an hour and a half line to get tickets wasn't worth our $12 either. Instead, we got (right) this picture in the evening dusk.

The famous Mike Leow, who drove all the way from Jersey to the Upper East Side to meet me for a drink at Brother Jimmy's, after eating dinner with Nick and his friends. Hordes of Florida State University fans were watching the FSU and University of Miami football game. Absolute ridiculous nonsense (we had to make sure we cheered for the right team, otherwise we would have been pounded by the frat boys and sorority girls that filled the place). We were sure the game was the cause of our worthy hour and a half wait for some swell Carolina grub.

A group of entertainers worked the crowd with their Michael Jackson moves and beats in the Subway station.

OU Kids- why didn't we think of this? Beer Checkers! Brilliant! My last night, Sept. 11, was spent in Hoboken, N.J. at a barbeque with some of Nicks' co-workers. Jen (right) had this beautifully crafted glass beer checkers set - just like a checker board, however the pieces were shot glasses instead. Much more fun than that dreaded power hour...

Charlie, Jen's boyfriend, who treated the party to a private concert. I mistook the his voice for Jeff Buckley. His band is Never The Nines.

Poor Nick. Okay, so someone at the party, a co-worker of his who shall go nameless, got a little crazy that night and his body couldn't take it and it all wound up in the sink. Nick was determined to make sure that sink drained properly, so we took the piping apart a couple times until he was satisfied with his work. Good Samaritan, you are, Nick.

The rest of the evening was spent walking to get "a slice" (pizza), my third one of the week and this one bigger than my head, literally, and then over to a Hoboken park that had a view of NYC - all the way from Uptown to Lower Manhattan. The WTC memorial lights were beaming out of the financial district. I tried to get pictures of the night skyline, but alas, I'm afraid to say they didn't turn out (sorry Paul). Then we all stretched out on the concrete and looked up at the clear starry sky as a piano player set up his keyboard near us and played some patriotic diddies.

Mmmm. All the frankfurters you ever wanted in your life. Nick kept saying all week, "We have to go to Gray's Papaya, We have to go to Gray's Papaya." So on our way to Chinatown on Sunday, we stopped by and ordered up a "Recession Special" - Two dogs and a freshly squeezed fruit drink for $2.75. Not a bad deal. This corner "hot dog stand" is on 71st and Broadway. Open 24 hours a day.

My last stop in NYC was Washington Square Park. Nick and I sat in the fountain, got our feet wet, people-watched and recalled the weeks' events. We watched these two girls have an absolute ball jumping in and out of the water, screaming with delight. Made me want to be 10-years old again and do the same thing. Or the small dog, who also didn't seem to have a care in the world. He was just happy to run through a fountain.

Ah, the entertainers. A set of twin brothers attracted quite the crowd in the park with their gymnastics. By the time Nick and I got over there to watch some of the show, they were taunting the crowd with their big finale "jump" (one of them was supposed to jump or somersault over five people). But not before they promoted their video, what comedy club they would be performing in later that week and of course, here, collecting tips. While Nick and I never saw the jump as we had to get me to NY/Penn Station to catch my flight, we heard the crowd cheer as we walked away.