NYC part deux (that's "two" for you un-French types!)

I loved NYC so much, I'm puttin' up more photos.

Now, I have a really bad habit of closing my eyes for photos. This picture of us with our friend Brian would have been quite lovely had I not closed my eyes. To think the French tourist on the Ikea ferry went to all this trouble, only to have me blink at the same time as the shutter...

Ah, but one can always salvage disaster with humour. Indeed, that is my life motto:

"Geez, Gordon, did you really have to have the bean salad AND the bean chili last night? Not to mention the bean curd pudding for dessert? I don't know how Brian can stand there smiling!"

Meanwhile, back on the not-very-mean streets of NYC, a brave soul (eyes blacked out to protect his privacy) uses a scooter as transit:

Two words: Nut bar. Or is that one word? NUTBAR!

And here is an ingenious multi-level parking method I had never seen before:

We also wandered by a very cool pet store, Uptown Birds, with these in the window. No, I can't remember what they are, but the store had some beautiful birds and some interesting reptiles (no kitties or doggies! Yessss!)

Back at Central Park, a wee doggy (Jack Russell?) stared intently at the sailing pond. I don't know what he saw, but he couldn't take his eyes off it.

And oh look, our incognito but nonetheless wonderful hosts, Gary and Brian. Brian has been spreading the gospel of the Tilley Hat throughout NYC. And I need to get me some way cool sunglasses like Brian's (or Gary's, for that matter!) My current pair, chosen in under twenty seconds from the rack at the Jean Coutu drugstore, and purchased for the princely sum of eight bucks, absolutely do not cut it, not in Apple Hill OR New York City. I'm surprised the ghost of Ralph St. Laurent didn't strike me down dead on Broadway. Oops, I think I melded two fashion moguls. Yves St Laurent... Ralph Lauren.... which one is dead? Are they both dead? Can you tell I buy off the rack at Sears?? (You can read my sad sunglasses story here.)

And on a more sombre note, here's Ground Zero in NYC. It was sobering to walk here and think of what happened on 9-11...

And on a less sombre note, I really wish I'd gone inside here so I could say I visited the Sturgeon King...

And here are Gordon, me and Gary, basking in our post-Carnegie-Hall Mahler-glow...

And finally...
Yes, all four of us emerged from that cab, and none of us had graced Flash Dancers with our presence. Judging from the number of "Flash Dancers Gentlemen's Club" signs I saw on cabs, I think they've got quite the clientele. What happens in New York, stays in New York! It did occur to me that this is a LAS VEGAS tourism slogan. Oh well, New York, Las Vegas... at least they're still in the same country. I can get into trouble anywhere!