Meg {heart} NY

After school ended, my new high school graduate drove us up to New York.  I brought a backpack with a toothbrush and a couple of changes of clothing; he brought everything he'd need for the summer.  We spent all of our time in the city, and most of that in Manhattan.  For the unfamiliar, New York City ("the city" ~ we all know what that means) consists of five boroughs.  I grew up in Queens, home of Simon, Garfunkel, Archie Bunker, and George Costanza's parents.  I grew up not far from Shea stadium where we used to go and watch the Mets lose regularly.  Manhattan, ten blocks wide and a hundred and fifty (or so) high is what most people think of when they think of "the city."  South Manhattan is the lower east side, Little Italy, Chinatown, Wall Street, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Tribeca and more.  Midtown is business, segregated by type (somewhat).  If you're looking for electronics, go to 6th avenue.  If you want cameras, go to 34th street.  Fashion?  Seventh avenue is the place.  If you have lots of money to spend, try 5th avenue.  Theatres are still crowded around Broadway, north of Times Square.  Click on the map for a feel for Central Park and south.

Because it was me and my boy (and we were staying at my mother's apartment) I was as drab as I could be.  That means I had male t-shirts, since my sneakers, jeans, undies, socks, and pjs are all women's.

But Meg was nowhere to be seen.  That sucks, because I have some readers I'd like to meet in the New York City area, FemmeFever is on the island (that's Long Island, just to the east of the city), and New York is a great place to be Meg.

Saturday we were in midtown, walking from 34th street up to 59th street, going back and forth between 7th and Lexington avenue.  Yes, we walked a lot.

Sunday we got a taste of downtown, starting at Canal Street, walking down Church to City Hall and further to Wall Street and beyond, across to the east river and back up to South Street Seaport, up the east side past both bridges until we got back to Canal and a late lunch in Chinatown.  No maps, no GPS.  We just walked until we found what we wanted.  I've been there before.  My son has not.  Yes, we walked a lot.

Monday, he showed me he knew how to get to his new job and I wandered around the Madison Square Garden area for about 90 minutes.  In a perfect world, I would have had a much bigger bag, and found a place to change before taking a bus back to Northern Virginia.  Yes, I walked a lot.

But if you want a place to fit in, New York City is IT, and Manhattan is paradise.

I didn't see a lot of women in suits.  Especially on the weekend, I saw pants of every length: full, capri, knee-high, bermuda shorts, short-shorts, extremely short-shorts, and everything in between.  I sincerely believe that women don't care if their pants are too short or too long.  They wear them anyway and call them "the new style."

But on the weekend, longer skirts and dresses were everywhere.  On Monday, shorter dresses ruled.  I saw more dresses than skirts on Monday, always a pleasure.

For shoes, anything worked.  The weekend showcased more casual flip-flops and tennies and flats.  Monday, heels ruled.

It was a non-stop fashion show.  I loved every minute of it.

Except, it hurt that I couldn't join them.  Or at least say "that's beautiful.  Where'd you get that?"

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