So here's the skinny on my trip (sorry for duplication for those of you who already heard- I'm doing cut-and-paste because I'm a lazy bum. :-)...

I'm nearly recovered. :-) Flew out Monday and home Friday night. Very busy- kinda tried to not do too much, but I hadn't counted on how long it takes just to get anywhere! We saw lots of subway stairs. And my knees haven't forgiven me yet. Goofed around Tuesday, went to Times Square and saw all the flashy-flashy. Dug through some stores in the fabric district (managed to not spend any money!), and went to see 'Mary Stuart'. It had only a passing acquaintance with the history, but it was a cool show. And they had rain! Onstage! I had no idea they could do that. Looked like the front row was getting a little damp, too. Was funny though- I recognized the woman who played Elizabeth I- she was Fanny in 'Sense and Sensibility'- I recognized her voice first. Annie said the house was the same place where Dan Radcliffe was in 'Equus' earlier this year- she went to see it and said he was _really_ good.

Weds we went to the Cloisters. Many stairs. Lots of keen stuff though. We were in the room with the ivories when they closed, so we saw almost all of it. The gardens were great- a lot of stuff was blooming. Rode the A train and saw some of the local wildlife ;-) I bought some new orange socks from The Sock Guy in St Mark's and we had lunch.

Thursday was the big day- we met up with Adamantius and went to the Met. Annie had to take off to work a half shift, so Phil and I wandered through and managed to not get into trouble (though he pointed out to me the David Friedman Memorial Electrical Outlet where Cariadoc decided to power up his laptop and nearly got them both arrested). It was overwhelmingly cool. Saw a lot of things that I have pictures of- but in real life! And quite a few of them are not the size I'd imagined! The armor exhibit was neat but almost all of it was late and post-period. Looked at lots of pictures, saw a piece of statuary I'd wanted to see and was frustrated to find out that it was not in the round- the back 1/4 was unfinished. I wanted to see the back of the headdress, but I was thwarted! Bah! We finally found the display of musical instruments upstairs- lots of neat stuff there, including a stack of early bassoons.

We had lunch out on the steps- official New York hotdogs from a vendor there. Spent another couple of hours in the museum, then I spent far too much money on books in the giftshop (the jewelry was out of my reach though, sadly). When they closed we went down and picked up Susan from work, and then took a cab to a German restaurant (no idea where we were) where we met up with Annie. The cab ride was... an experience. They mocked me for automatically putting on my seatbelt, but MY GOD! I aged five years in that cab! And Phil didn't even bat an eyelash. He was getting far too much amusement from this Oregon mouse, I think. And I have several new white hairs. =:-O

The food was great, though the place was noisy. We had a great time hassling Annie- Phil pointed out to her that she's nearly 25- a spinster! I leaned over and said "Thass whut yew git fer edjictin' wimmin!" Susan lost a mouthful of wine on that one. And the table next to us was full of good-looking well-dressed young men, which Annie noticed. When their desserts arrived, Phil leaned over and said "Oh! Are those the apple fritters?" Oh yeah, yeah, and did we want a taste? We said no but Annie said Yes! So a fork full was passed over, and then Phil said "Young lady! Didn't your mother teach you to not take apple fritters from strangers?" It was great. Annie was bright red but she had a mouthful of apple fritters and couldn't snark back at him!

Not a single New Yorker was rude to me. The one rude person was in New Jersey, at the airport (I was flying through Newark).

Annie's apartment in Brooklyn is huge. I was expecting a teeny little place. She has lovely wood floors and good-sized windows. Bugs in the kitchen though, which I expected. I went in in the night for a glass of water and they looked at me and said Feh! and went about their business. Annie's kitty Iso slept on me while I was there, though I wouldn't let her sleep on my face. I do have my limits.

I don't know if I could ever live there- very big and very noisy and getting anywhere is such a chore! But Annie is flourishing and that's what matters.