tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37004786.post-1623934627750608561 2008-04-26T10:28:00.000-04:00 2008-04-26T10:29:19.697-04:00 Two Great Days in NYC - Day 1: April 23, 2008 I promised my friends from Texas (Don & Susan) that I would give them a personal tour of the stores in New York City. So, last Wednesday, I took the morning commuter train to Penn Station, and walked out of the terminal and encountered this cool billboard - the bottle and salad are actually inflated. As I was walking on the way to their hotel, I was snapshotting whatever caught my eyes. I arrived at the hotel a little too early, so I went to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and a quiet moment. I finally went to the hotel lobby and found Susan in there. We went up to the room where I greeted Don. We discussed the tour plan for the day - I gave them two copies of the itinerary that I created the night before. Before we started the tour, I showed them the books that I had made during the past four months. About 9:30 am we started to walk toward Seventh Avenue to get a cab that would take us to Grand Central. Before we went into any store in this station, I showed them the great room which they have never seen before. We then went to Pylones which is a real eye candy store - so colorful. Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed inside this store. Don had to go to another store for batteries for the camera, so while we were waiting for him, I saw this unusual book display shelf. We got out and started walking toward Bryant Park on 42nd Street, and the park itself is very green - fresh new lawn. After we went through the park, we went into Kinokuniya and I gave them about 15 minutes to browse. And here are what I bought in this store. That magazine with the cat picture on it - costs me only $1.00 - I'm using for collage. And the next store we went to is literally, The Store Across the Street. After we browsed through this store, we went across the street to Tinsel Trading . And I am glad I went there as I wanted unusual stamens for one of my projects. And then we walked on to Antique Cafe on 26th and 6th Avenue for our lunch. They have great salads. While we were eating, we saw this unusual graffit on the brick wall. After lunch, I took them to Center for Book Arts and showed them the bindery and printing. I saw Rona there - she was printing, and we chatted for a while before I introduced Susan and Don to her. While they were chatting, I signed up for a class (I'm a perpetual student - hopelessly addicted to education) on turning plant fibers into cords and threads ...cool! I have a collection of daylilies in my garden and I want to learn how to turn these leaves into cords. After the registration was done, I took them to Paper Presentations in Chelsea section. All I bought there were rub-ons, and I could not find the decorative paper that my friend, Kecia, asked me to look for. I then took them to Cupcake Cafe for dessert. Look at what we got for our dessert! After we gulped the cupcakes, we got out of the cafe to head for ABC Home & Carpet. Susan has a knack for finding things that I would miss - I was too focused on getting to the destinations on time. If it weren't for her not being with me, I would have not taken many great pictures. The handprint was found on the dirty white van - it looked like someone wet the hand and then put it on the van hood. Cool! Anyway, we got into ABC Carpet & Home and I was surprised to hear that cameras are allowed. Waaaay cooool! After Don and Susan took pictures of the peeling paints, stains, and what-nots on the second floor, we walked down Broadway, through the farmers market, and Union Square. It felt like Saturday - there were so many people outside as it was really a gorgeous day. We continued on Broadway and stopped at Strand Bookstore just for a very quick look, and then we continued down to 10th Street to look at the crocheted reef in the display windows. Oh, wow! I missed my younger days as a scuba diver! Then we turned right onto 10th Street and went crosstown to Bleeker Street, taking pictures on this residential street. We turned south on Bleecker Street and I encountered what it appeared to me a paper graffiti. We got onto Grove Street and went into the second Pylones store (there are four in the city). After we went through it, we went back to Bleeker Street and walked on to 8th Avenue for The Ink Pad. I chatted with Anna for a while, and I bought four sheets of rub-ons. I then took my friends to another tiny store, House of Curiosities and Cards, across the street. And then we meandered through the street on the way to Chelsea Market where I wanted to show Don the cool stuff they did on the interior walls. After resting a while and then touring the stores, we got out and went to a Chinese restaurant, MaMa Buddha, for our early dinner at 4:30 pm. The place was uncrowded and pretty quiet - what a relief! I was tired and completely forgot about taking pictures of the delicious food that we had. Sorry. After dinner, we took a cab back to their hotel, and then I walked down twenty blocks to the train station for the ride home. Yep, we did walk from 51 Street to all the way down to 10th Street. How many miles did we walked? I dunno, but it was a great day! &rew http://www.blogger.com/profile/00091737078501203562 noreply@blogger.com
