Don't dream it. Be it.

Don't dream it, be it.

There are some days that will stay with us forever, days that inspire us, days that seem endless and so short, days that sustain us.  San Francisco has given me one of those days.

I have to admit I wasn't over enamoured with SF on our first day, the hassle and the Disney... Two extremes that just didn't sit right with me, so I had thought maybe it was all going to be like that and we set off in th morning thinking 'well, New York was amazing' BUT BUT BUT... Then the sun was shining with a cooling breeze, the tall mansion like houses, with their huge columns painted bright colours, gold leafing on the frescos,  rainbow flags flying got inside me.  We walked down into Castro and I feel uplifted, I know it all sounds rather trite, but it's true... Castro was everything I thought it would be, beautiful, brash, open, almost like a dream, some where to aspire to in a very real sense.  We walked past the theatre (I feel like howling as we have just missed a showing of JCS, WITH actual TED NEELY....) 

 And it is perfect.  As we walk we explain some of the history of this area to Daisy, just why it is so important and she is so very interested, really wants to know more.  We stop outside what was the camera shop owned by Harvey Milk and inside is now a shop which sells merchandise supporting equality, we all buy gifts for people we love at home and each other, Daisy proudly wearing her love equality dog tag as we leave the shop.  We carry on wandering, just being part of somewhere that is as important to us as other historical sites we have visited across Europe, the history as relevant.  Daisy asks why they are not taught Gay history at school, to which there is no answer and she is insistent we visit the GLBT museum just off Castro, which is informative and fun.

We are emotional. The sun is shining and it all just feels perfect.  We walk to find the Flower Seller, one of the reasons we decided to come to SF on this trip.  The tree lined streets with their beautiful houses just seem so intensely beautiful.  People pass us walking their tiny little dogs, carrying armfuls of flowers smile and say hi. And there he is.  When we came across the documentary  We Were Here last year, Sam and I watched it through tears.  At once terrifyingly sad and truly inspirational, it has stayed with me constantly, as I know from reading on the film makers public forums it has with everyone that has watched it.  I felt so changed by the experience I had wanted to find the people in the film and thank them for sharing with me their most intimate thoughts and memories.  Being politically active  at University in the late 80's early 90's, being a passionate gay rights supporter and the working in the theatre at the time of the AIDS epidemic was horrific and polarising for me, it shaped who I am now.  And now, working with young people AIDS almost has been consumed into normal life, it is not seen as the most scary, terrifying thing that can happen.  Which is both good and bad and we we keen that Daisy knows and understands this part of history.  When we watched it together as a family, we all cried again.

The moment I see Guy, I start to cry, as I am now.  He is just right there, on the street corner, chatting to a young man that we later learn is training to be a doctor in the area.  he turns to us and smiles and then lets out the biggest laugh and we can not help but laugh too!!  Guy is amazing, we tell him why we have come and he is genuinely happy, he hugs us all, laughs his big big laugh.  We talk to him about why his story moved, our whole family so much and he just tells us so many stories! When he hitched around Europe, when visited Endland (Stockport) why he left Baltimore, telling us about the parade he was in recently (wrist, wrist, elbow elbow, just how the English wave) and I am totally in love.  He is so genuinely here, so happy to see us and I love sharing this with my family and we all cry and we all hug.  We are reminded that life goes on, that people are happy and survive and we are inspired.  This moment, the pastel colours of the houses, the little dogs being walked, the smell of Guys flowers and his laugh will be with me in my heart always.

There is more, of course.  Haight Ashbury with Daisy, Buena vista park, the joss sticks, the hippies (still), Amoeba records, the shop with the animal skulls, the steam punk  shops Daisy falls in love with, dinner at the Sausage Factory later, much later. But for me this morning in Castro is it.  My moment.

8 minutes

8 minutes.

I don't sleep very well.  Too many happy hour margaritas possibly, or nerves at being on the move again.  Not sure.  But both Sam and I are awake early.  Which is good, I force everyone up and through the shower.  I am nervous about getting the Subway to the airport, I don't know how long it is going to take, or even whether the route I think will get us there, WILL get us there.  

I think it is safe to say it was simply the most stressful journey I have ever taken, the subway trains do not arrive, they are slow, we have to change, the airport train stops and starts  ARGHHGGHHHHHH.  I tell Sam we are just not going to make our flight to San Francisco and start plan my tears at the check in desk.  We approach the terminal (4, 4!!!) and run as fast as we can.....pushing people it of the way, kicking kids off elevators that kind of thing....I jam the passport in the self check in kiosk, it's stuck, ARGGGGGGGHHHHHHH... And then an angel appears, another kind New Yorker rescues us, tells me to calm down, we have a whole 8 minutes....it will all be ok.  And it is. And we are on the plane going on holiday again. 

This journey seems longer... But we do have the best stewards on the plane, whereas the ones on the flight to NY were soooo cool, the ones on this flight are sooooo friendly! The lead (head, main man- what do you call them?) comes and chats to Sam for ages and is just lovely! 

SF looks and feels different from the moment we step off the plane, the colours are sharper, the air is sharper (and colder....)  the houses we can see from the train are so colourful.  Totally different feel....but our first introduction to the city is not the best.  Our instructions say get off the BART at 16th & Mission.... And this is not where you would advise anyone to get off. Now this is what I imagined New York would be like, rough, drug dealers on the streets, crack addicts, filthy scraggy people and a feeling of really not being safe.  We quickly jump a cab to Castro, which is gorgeous, but we never quite get that feeling out of our minds.... And we see it everywhere.  The homeless and the drugged out, in the tube stations, on the streets, hassling everyone, generally being mad.  It makes me feel on edge in a way I wasn't expecting from here at all.

Our apartment is wonderful, beautiful and at the top of a crazy hill! From here you can see over what seems to be the whole of the city and WOW the hills!!! I have never seen hills like this, virtually vertical and wow...the struggling up them! Hilarious.

We get straight out there, stopping for a brief refuelling... God the boys are hot *sigh* .  This part I was hoping for, gorgeous gay young boys... Being fabulous.... Lots of rainbow flags....ultra ultra ULTRA sigh....

.  And we decide to be tourists....jump on the F, which is the trolley car, all retro 50's styling all the way down to Fishermans Wharf.  Yes. Was Fishermans Wharf designed by Disney?  It has a very Orlando feel to it, completed with the Bubba Gump Shrimp at the end....fun though.... The breeze whips around, the views out to Alcatraz look amazing and the sea lions are smelly and hilarious. Me and Daisy  indulge in extra large ice creams, which a seagull the appropriates from Daisy! All those years of living by the sea, only to have your ice cream stolen in SanFrancisco......

 Tired. Very tired, we manage a short walk around Union square, before retiring to the comforts of the biggest squishiest sofa, the biggest TV known to woman and a glass (or bottle it seems now I check this morning...) of Californian wine..... Ginger the cat looks thrilled to have Daisy return to stroke and make a fuss of her and Sam & I read the guide books to plan our adventures tomorrow.

Well, that went quickly

I can't believe that this is our last full day here.  am sitting on the back porch listening to all the little children arriving for the play school, have just come back from my final run in New York, drinking tea and eating america. 

It is hot, a slight breeze and Daisy tells me we have 40% chance of rain, which I can just feel as I write this!!! Is it terribly English to want rain?! 

And the rain started.

Fat rain drops, warm making huge puddles on the ground.  The streets of New York are ravaged, with whole sections dug up and cobbled, more like Naples than London in places - and these chasms fill with water, making crossing the roads an adventure....but we get out there, we do not want anything to stop our  last day in New York.  We get the Subway to West Village, I think my favourite area.  The streets are a little like where we are staying, broad leafy roads with beautiful Brownstone apartments, but the shops are totally Islington. Lots of little delis, lots of very flash clothing stores, the big names and lots of high end independents, who can afford to live there? It's friendly, beautiful....and I want to stay.

We pay a visit to Stonewall and tell Daisy why this place is so important and later Tom tells us a funny story about a gay bar opposite that is the best place in New York for disco music and how he and his friends go dancing there just because the music is so good... an image that is odd and funny! 

We meet Tom for brunch, go to a lovely vegetarian diner, very chic, I have a vegan Philly 'steak' sand which that is gorgeous, Daisy doesn't even touch her fake chicken wrap.... 2 steps forward, 1 step back....hey ho..... It is great to sit and chat to Tom, fun to hear insiders details about the city, it's wealth, who really lives there and we leave him with reluctance as who knows when we will we him again.  

Tom insists that  take a walk on the High Line, an instance that I am really glad we complied with.  It was stunning, a piece of art in its self, winding  across the top of the city, so beautiful, so simple.  It winds around the edges of buildings, allow into you to look down across the streets, across the roof tops, even into the new ultra rich apartments.  The gardens are gentle with surprises such as an amphitheatre to watch the highway from, framing it almost like a movie screen.  The High Line calms us all and all 3 of us just enjoy the moment of being together.

We drop down back into Chelsea, thirsty, in our case and hungry in Daisy's. We amble along, in the warm rain taking turns with the umbrella, find an excellent dough based place for Daisy and the Chelsea hotel- which was mainly under wraps....the area though is fun, not run down exactly, lots of laundry places, presumably because of the high concentration of big apartment  blocks that wouldn't have machines of their own, and tailors shops.  Interesting.  I still prefer West Village.

And it is here we find the nirvana we are looking for. Possibly, no, intact definitely the best vintage shop ever.  The guy is laid back, his shop full of treasure.  Really beautiful pieces, pricey - no, not pricey, well priced.  He knows his stuff.  From the immaculate 50's shirts, to the stunning dresses from 40's - 70's... So much to look at.  Fabrics, prints, textures.  All stunning.  Daisy and Sam try on lots land lots.....bowling shirts, lounge shirts, cheerleader skirts, dresses, mad men style shorts.... Endless...... We could browse for hours, listening to probably the best radio station ever.... 50's- 60's non stop music......Daisy and Sam indulge themselves totally, this is certainly one of the  reasons we are here to find interesting pieces we would not find anywhere else.  I am not happy in my own skin, I find vintage shopping for things for me to wear impossible.  nothing really fits well and I am not wearing the right things to shop in (shorts & sneakers??! Comfortable yes, stylish no) but I still totally appreciate and love looking, advising, searching labels etc

Totally refreshed and feeling good about New York as a shopping destination we have one more stop to make.  St Marks road.  Where Rent was based and now a tiny weeny bit of Camden in New York.  the comic shop proves a big hit, again, New Yorkers proving they are the most friendly people and Sam proving he really is a geek (seriously, it is only when you come to America that you realise the Simpsons is actually a documentary  - I mean do all guys that work in comic shops HAVE to look like Comic Book Guy? A the only hired if they look like that?)

We stop, have a drink (gin and cucumber martini - actually gorgeous) in a nice bar that has a happy hour that basically whets our appetite for more happy hour.  So we jump back on the Subway, head back and take Daisy to Mo's place just on the corner of our street.  The bar with the best music ever.  Stevie Wonder and old school Michael Jackson.  With the coolest barmaid, low bunches, tattooed arms and good sense of humour. With the nicest clientele, the man at the bar buys Sam a drink, which makes his day. With great  margaritas, of which I over indulge as it is happy hour. Hours.

It is in this bar that we also have a real moment, Daisy has enough of us wittering  on and we ask if she would like to go on back to the apartment (it is literally at the end of the street) and she jumps at the chance to walk the streets of New York by herself.  Sam & I watch our fiercely independent, ultra cool daughter walk confidently down the leafy street as if she owns it.  I want to remember that moment forever.

Day 4 Meat, Heat and Art

The day starts slowly, the sun really does seem reluctant to get up, not BAM as it is at home, more tickling the trees, being really gentle on our avenue.  I sleep soundly, helped by the over the counter sleeping tablets somewhat...anything that makes me sleep beyond 6am... Well I get to 6.30, but that's better than 5am...

Tea made by my beautiful husband and some alone time with Rupert Everett (is he the biggest bitch BUT the most beautiful man ever?) and I am in my shorts and ready to run... My calfs are tight, too much walking in flat flat shoes, so it feels good to be in my trainers....I run. Along the avenue, past the bagel shop, past the laundromat, past the blocks of flats, past the NYPD cars.....turn down the block and start to run back.... So easy as it is all on blocks, don't even have to think about the direction of the cars, it is right there on the sign.... It is hard though, this running stuff, I am too fat which really doesn't help my knees and its damned hot.... I also am loving the architecture too much, and nearly trip and fall as I gaze up adoringly at the buildings.

Still, home to cereal that tastes like America and more tea, and leisurely get ourselves together and head out to see art.  Lots of Art today. (Bugger, just lost all my typing) grrrrrr. The heat and noise of central Manhattan is killer and it is a relief to get into the air conditioned calm of MOMA....MOMA - wow! One of the top modern art galleries in the world.... So excited! I obviously think it is terribly important that we start on level 4, but Sam & Daisy see through this and my desire to immediately see the Rothkos is squashed and we start conventionally on Level 5.  And it's good.  I know I am usually full of HUGE splashes of love and adoration, but on this occasion MOMA is just good.  Perhaps we are really spoilt with the Tates and the Pompidou, but MOMA does not blow me away...

 I love seeing the Van Gough is wonderful, to be up close and to see the brush strokes...*sigh* and of course the Cezannes and the Monets are beautiful, but there are notable omissions, especially in their contemporary collection... Nothing too edgy, no Basquiat no Keith Herring... I am not bowled over by their photographic collection, some interesting work of course.....but nothing that really stops me in my tracks as there was at the Pompidou or even in the photographic collection at the V&A. Obviously it is hard to leave the Rothko.... It really is beautiful, and colourful.... But then we have the amazing Seagram paintings at the Tate that are mesmerising

That fill you so totally that time stops..... So was MOMA good, for sure. They have a wonderful sound exhibition that had some pieces in I thought were interesting and my favourite piece was by a Scottish artist which featured an elephant (he filmed an elephant in an art gallery and then it is played back on HUGE HUGE screens) and a darkend room.  Beautiful...

Huger drives us from MOMA and into Central Park... we buy a map and then discover that the map only covers half the park!!! What a fix.  We eat, we walk...damned that park is big, it really is hard to get a fix on the size of it, you walk and walk and walk.... Each area looks so familiar, parts seen in endless films....was that where the filmed Enchanted? Was that the bridge from the Fisher King?  Where did they throw the snowballs in Elf.... Hours of film spotting... We grab a burger and sit watching it all happen...the extra friendly waitress, the man doing tai chi, the extra rich family with teenagers, the strange singing violinist in the tunnels. We stand by the side of the boating lake, with its strange greenish tinge and turtles pop their heads out YUK... Nasty. We all watch the people boating on the lake, watch the man fishing out the coins from the fountain and lay on the grass...take time out...just like everyone else is.  I still can't begin to express just how BIG Central Park is.....and we only say maybe a third of it.  

Refreshed we decide to move on, we walk past Imagine, the Lennon memorial garden and out into Manhattan again....the subway is dusty and REAL hot, by contrast the Trains are cool, tempting just to stay on and keep riding. But we take ourselves out at the Meatpacking District... We wander the streets, a vintage shop in mind, but more just to see what it is like.  As comparisons go it has a Chelsea feel, very VERY upmarket, we wander into Chelsea Market, which is similar to a newly decorated Camden Stables market, very swish, extra large ice creams for me and Daisy...a nice place to wander.  We can see the Highline and decide that perhaps we can wander along that tomorrow...and come back to Chelsea as there seems more we would like to see.  

We are knackered.  Jet lag finally wins over enthusiasm and all a little grumpy and hot, we call it a day and head back to the serenity of our apartment.  Daisy decides to get some space and retreats into her IPad - not surprising, we are all used to having space, for a sociable family, we like our own company, so she decides to stay in.  So Sam & I wander, go down to the bustling Mexican place at the end of the road, all fairy lights, big brash loud....the customers and the food.  Frozen Margaritas and the biggest corn ever....We get some space to chat, muse about the art we have seen, Daisy gets time to chat to her friends...

And Relax.

Achingly hip and achingly full

Today we wanted to get into New York, be part of it, see something other than just the traditional sights. Now I quite like being a tourist, after all it is what we are and the sights are worth seeing, but I wasn't sure I could face the neck ache from staring at very high buildings.  So, after some discussion we decided to hit the vintage shops....well after a VERY lazy morning taking full advantage of NOT getting up and running. After some very careful forward planning from Miss Daisy who plotted all of the interesting suggestions onto our map, we set off to explore Williamsburg.  

The subway took us right to the heart of Hipsville central and we had to take a break before we had even started as we were all that bit too early (hip cool shops do not open until 12pm so it seems.) which was fine, we indulged in bagels, muffins and oh yes, waffles (no, I did not have all of them....) and then we set off.... 

Now Williamsburg is hip, totally hip, beyond hip actually.... A little like Shoreditch, was hip, went achingly hip and now people come because they think it is hip, but the hip is now a little sanitised.  Like  Spitalfields market, nice to look at, no real substance.  The shops were ok, but when did 90's clothing become Vintage?  I must admit I was hoping for stacks of American vintage, but instead we were faced with racks of Topshop imports....never my favourite shop in England....certainly not here.  The warehouses were interesting, for sure, but the clothing? Just didn't do it for me.  But we kept on trying of course, never one to back away from a shopping expedition.  Poor Sam, no bowling shirts, no lounge shirts, not even any 80's American sports wear....Daisy enjoyed it and tried on arms full of clothing throwing herself totally into the experience. Joy.  Best buy of the day was certainly the kneelenght convers that Daisy had been lusting over in England, bought here for $20.... 

Knackered, hot, dusty an in urgent need of a refreshing beer we retreat into a gorgeous Brooklyn bar....refreshing ale indeed...and the bar tender was hot and very friendly (again, everyone is so friendly, the whole of New York it seems just wants to chat, tell us their favourite bits of the city and encourage us to visit!)

Tempting as the food was, we managed to hold off on cramming anything down our throats, knowing we were going to eat that evening, so lubricated, still WoWing over our shopping luck (Daisy) and beer luck (me, mainly) we decide to head for another part of town to see something different.

Park Slopes.... Now the temptation of course, for every area we visit it to determine it according to where we already know.  If where our apartment is is very much like Islington, and Williamsburg is Shoreditch (or Hoxton) the Park Slopes could be maybe Camberwell? Trendy, but with shades of real life.  Real people clearly live there, there are real shops.  Sam & Daisy fast retreat into the comic shop that is just along the street whilst I lust after, and finally get to go into a Drugstore...is there anything bête than a drugstore?  All those potions I do not recognise, all those creams and unguents....sigh... And then we hit what we came for....

The Superhero supply store! A novel idea of a shop that sells everything the budding, or experienced Superhero might need.... Actually it is a project that supports literacy in children from the local area and I had been into the Monster Supply Shop in Hoxton last year,so was familia with the concept... But its fun and is an excellent way to engage with kids!  Who wouldn't love a vat of invisibility, or a fabulous glittery cape? It also allows us to really indulge in our 'OMG - we are in a film' fantasy.

Refreshing showers and changing several times to reflect our new purchases we head out again on the Subway (Sam is now obviously an expert, it has not taken him long to get back into cool city mode)  and jump back to Williamsburg to meet Tom Walker for dinner.  Tom is part of Sam's old neighbourhood kids gang and is the only person that makes Sam look short. Well shorter. We arrange to meet Tom and his partner Paula at Champs, a vegan cafe/diner that I have been reading blogs on for the past couple of years from Bitchcakes, or Sheryl and I had thought it might be interesting. OMG.... It was beyond interesting.... Vegan food, but not as I would have trout of vegan food, not dull, not worthy, not bland... Full on, I wanted everything on th menu interesting.... And that's without it being a really cool diner, with really cool tattooed staff that are extra friendly.... Even Daisy wants to try lots of things, she has finally discovered being a vegetarian!  I have some kind of burger, with EVERYTHING in it, Sam has a Philly cheese steak sandwich.... Daisy has some kind of burger with chunky shops that ar smothered in vegan cheese and bacon... Damned it is just too good. (Also met and talked to a man on the street whose Brooklyn accent was sooooo strong (hate it when people say accents are think, he wasn't thick) he was barely intelligible...wanted to stand and talk to him for ages!)

Champs....what a huge success, Tom & Paula were lovely, think we were quite exuberant, maybe they just thought we were like small circus folk, they did keep giggling....and the food was AMAZING...

A huge thanks to Sheryl for talking about it for years......

Unable to eat ANYTHING else (damned I wanted to so badly, the whoopee pie things looked amazing) we had to just come back and lay down in our immaculate Brownstone apartment... Swearing never to be eat again....aching tummies.... Early to bed.

I think I am in Love.

Day 2..... Walk until your feet bleed...

Sleeping when excited is never an easy thing, add into the adrenaline courses through your body strange sounds, or lack of them, a more comfortable bed that I ever thought possible and a worry that New York is some how going to vanish whilst we sleep and obviously it is never going to be the best night...BUT hey, at least that means I can get up and RUN around... A legitimate reason to bounce down the road!!! I am in my running things almost before I have managed to make tea (well, maybe not... Tea after all is the single most important part of the day) and I am out..... OMG, running around the streets of Brooklyn.... Around Fort Green Park (omgomgomgomgomg) past bagel shops, past Brooklyn hospital, past delis that are just opening, cops standing on street corners with coffee, shiny silver food carts....I become obsessed with seeing, just seeing Brooklyn bridge and follow the cycling signs.... And as I get to the end of one street THERE IT IS...... In the distance to be sure, but WOW, it didn't all vanish over night! (Actually, it wasn't Brooklyn bridge at all, but Manhattan bridge in the distance, but who cares....)

I come back to Sam bouncing more that when I left and carrying soya milk and obviously cinnamony breakfast..... I bounce around the apartment totally unable to stop.....making Sam & Daisy have bagels and coffee so we can OUT THERE ALREADY!!!  

Finally I get them to leave.... Tap tap tapping my foot, sighing a lot and generally acting like a teenager on a first date.... We walk to the subway (not Tube, not metro, the FREAKING SUBWAY) Sam unable to pass anything without taking a picture... I am sure I will pass a corner and see the houses as nothing more than flats from a film set... Obviously spent too much time in Cinecitta.... We descend the Subway and yes, it is like being in The Warriors.... Oh, or The Matrix....well, pretty much any film at all... It is dirtier that I expected, no, we'll, not really I expected it to look like this, but had thought it had been cleaned up, but no, it looks like New York subway from the 80's... Good....

We emerge and then the freaking out really starts, yes there are squeals, shrieks, panting.... And we are just at the park! We wobble down the bridge and there is is... Omg, there is the Statue of Liberty, the is Manhattan (bloody hell that's big) there is Brooklyn bridge, there is Manhattan bridge (where is the Empire State Building? Much discussion, Daisy insisting that the Chrysler building MUST be the Empire State....argument that goes on all day)

We walk, take endless pictures, shriek (of course) take more pictures, Sam wants to do everything, be everywhere all at the same time!  Too many photos to take... Daisy takes a million selfies, as you would when you are gorgeous in NYC for the first time.  It is hard to get my head around, so familiar, and yet totally unknown, obviously so much bigger and yet everything looks exactly as I expected it would... You try to put it into perspective of what you already know, it is not 'alien' as say going to Europe, everything obviously is in English and you recognise everything... Again the feeling that this is all an elaborate film I am part of....

We walk over Brooklyn bridge, keeping clear of the cyclists, stopping to read all of the graffiti and look at the locks Sam and Daisy taking all the pictures possible... It's long... Longer that Waterloo bridge which in comparison you could leap in one giant step (comparisons to London, it's the only reference point we have!) and by the end we have decided we need to refuel... We cross the park at the end of the bridge and thankfully there is a greasy diner waiting for us... We sit at the counter and have a grilled cheese (omg look at the 'eggs over easy' look at the mountain of potato hash, omg is he really grilling the tuna on the hot plate for the tuna melt...) and obviously 'the best coffee in NYC' - it was good but we did feel as if we were in Elf...I want to remember it all... The 'yes boss' the short order cook keeps saying, the roundness of the diner seats, the long complicated order someone comes in to give...

Fortified we march on.... And we walk.... And we walk...... We decide (Daisy decides) that our Main priority of the day is to go see where NY Ink is made... So we get to the Wooster Street Social Club just as it opens...now this IS like being in a film....we take pictures, Daisy hugs the guy (she would know his name..... Obviously I don't.....) I make sure I use the rest room....the guys buy t shirts, Daisy squeals...

We walk on..... We go to see a showroom gallery with Damien Hirsts in.... $20,000 for spots that might have been painted by Rob Lucas... An original Basquait... We walk on.... The graffiti is witty, sharp and obviously worthy of a photograph or two.... We find the Ghostbusters fire station (ok) and I think about the immediacy of The Twin Towers, again something that maybe I have watched too many Blockbuster films, but has always seemed slightly unreal... But here being here I can now see the streets people ran down to get away from the buildings, from the soot etc... We walk on......we stop in record shops in the Village, we giggle over silly names of shops 'Pluck You' the chicken shack....and passing a vegetarian cafe is too good an opportunity to pass up..... So we stop in an impossibly hip cafe in the village and have amazing vegeburgers and Daisy as some kind of fake chicken, fake bacon club sandwich.... So hip, SO GOOD and we listen to all the New Yorkers around us (god, like sometimes I so wish I could play the Cello - now say it with a broad NY accent....damned funny)

In the park we have a Glee moment and then we start on 5th avenue.  I am aware that I will never get the chance to experience  any of this again for the first time, so take  my time... Yes, it's a little dreary, a bit like walking along a longer, wider, more busy Regent street and as Sam says, we wouldn't do that, we would scoot around the back streets.... But it's 5th FREAKING AVENUE... So it's amazing....  We pass the Flat Iron building almost without noticing (well, it's behind you) and walk past an interesting piece of art in the park.... H & M proved too much to walk past and we stop for a mammoth  trying on session and both Daisy & Sam emerge carrying new clothes....

Onwards.... Feet starting to hurt now... The Empire State Building underwhelms me......yea, it's tall.... But it's BUSY, SMELLY and they are doing lots of LOUD works to the outside.... So we rush  on...The New York Public Library is guarded by complacent rather smug lions as well as the grumpiest New Yorker we have met so far.... So we march on, turn a corner and start to follow our noses to to both the Chrysler Building which we can now see gleaming, with eagles....yes EAGLES glaring down.... And ridiculously, incredibly Grand Central station.... Again, eagles, grandeur, pomp..... Wow..... Totally overwhelmed and obviously only able to think about Waltzing around it...I have a little cry....

It's just so totally beautiful.  passionately beautiful.... There is no reason to have chandeliers but there a plenty, certainly no reason to have stars on the ceiling.... But there are...... The ticket desks are so beautifully Art Deco, the clock, the wide wide staircases.... I could almost imagine they used to have red carpet for the evening train to Chicago.  It is romantic, breathtaking and the sunshine and  the chandeliers.....omg. The cop looks effortlessly cool, chewing gum, leaning on the ticket windows and Daisy HAS to have a picture, am sure he is pulling a mean face just to look extra cool....

It feels like we could be there forever.....but it is fast approaching the very limit that our feet and patience can take.... So we drift out and unable to see the Chrysler Building noodle around like tourists.... Until we are approached by a business guys, who not only points us in the right direction (um, just above our heads) but insists on telling us about it and ensures that we go inside, both of which I am grateful for, as again it is stunning......perfectly Art Deco, such clean lines, shining silver and chrome.... *sigh*

We decide to end our adventures for the day, our feet are bleeding, we are hot, dusty & smell BUT we know we have to get a Pawnee Tshirt from the NBC shop in the Rockerfellar centre ('he was really rich wasn't he' states Sam...ummmm)

And we jump on the Tube, no, Subway.....BAM....like we have been here for our whole lives.....get out nada kindly homeless man points us in the right direction (thought New Yorkers we meant to be miserable) and we wander, slowly back to our spotless, but now very Westburied apartment to survey our purchases, try on our tshirts, shower anddddddd relax.....

Popping out briefly to the hippest bar, with the coolest music (Babs? Followed by Barry White...yes please...)  whilst Daisy safely lays on the sofa enjoying her tablet for a while....are we still in a film? YEP......the hippest, most cool film EVER.

American adventures in Brooklyn DAY 1

Waking up in Brooklyn is surprisingly gentle compared to the harsh shrieking and squeaking of the seagulls - here the light gentle flickers through the trees on the avenue and the sunshine starts to glimmer, slowly through the window.  The avenue is quieter, much much quieter that I could have imagined, even at the end of the road, a fairly major thoroughfare into the centre of Brooklyn, there is not the persistent thrum of traffic noise....

So we are here, laying in our amazingly comfortable bed (no springs poking through the mattress, reminds me, must get a new one when we return) in most stunning Brooklyn brownstone apartment, Sam being long (and even then his feet not touching the end of the bed) Daisy still dreaming her adventures the day before I STILL feel like I am in a movie, now totally complete as I sit and write... Oh my,am I turning into Carrie? Oh no hang on, she lives in Manhattan.....

I don't want to drone on about the journey, it is a lie to say it is part of the adventure, it is just a tedious way to get from one side of the world to the other, a necessity only made slightly less painful by a selection of mildly interesting films.  Safe to say, we arrive.  The apartment is not only real, but everything we could ever have hoped for, a real life Brownstone, in a quiet tree lined avenue, close to an area that can only be described as similar to Islington.... Wanda, our host is so warm we don't want her to leave! And we are welcomed with a fridge full of bagels, milk, cream cheese, orange juice and a bathroom jammed with beautiful fluffy white towels (so glad I bought one of the 'dog' towels for mine and Daisy's hair!) and gorgeous smelling products.... Which we indulge in IMMEDIATELY to rid ourselves of the journey....

We venture out, all of us far too excited to stay in, even though it is obviously way past my bed time... It is obviously like being in a film.... Even the two guys in baseball caps smoking weed at the end of the avenue, just chilling, it's like they have been placed there just for us, our own private immersive experience..... New York as brought to you by Central Casting.... We amble and find life, bars spilling out people, sounds, smells obviously, everything smells like food of course.... We persuade  Daisy that the amazing Mexican place that is just bursting with fun (and Margaritas) is where we just have to have our first dinner and surprisingly, she agrees... Yes we ordered too much, that's in the rules right.... Catfish burritos, nachos, quesadillas, fries, and probably the best sweet corn ever.  And frozen margaritas, to die for.  We can relax. We can go back and sleep in our amazingly stylish apartment....