sweat lodge (aka starbucks)

well this morning i walk down to the closest starbucks for breakfast and to log in and the aircon is down. oh my heavens, it is really bloody disgusting in here. but i suffer for my art... or my frappacino. of course, if it were only my frapp i would walk out of here right now but my audience is out there and i can't let them down. ha!!

and yesterday was nearly as bad. a comedy of errors... had thought i had planned the day well but lo and behold, there were forces at work against me.

after breakfast i caught a bus midtown as i was planning on going to the guggenheim- but i get there and it's closed on thursday - bum... so i have to re-arrange my timetable a little. i take a couple of hours to walk through central park though. that was part of the plan.




like i said, a few hours wandering around - mostly getting lost because i didn't know where i was going. walked by turtle pond, the great lawn, bethesda fountain - you know, all the highlights.







oh hark... what is that i hear? the beautiful choke and moan of an airconditioner starting up.... oh heil great aircon fix-it man. (he's a bit of a big fellow as well).


it's fantastic wandering through the park. it's funny remembering all the movies i've seen that have been filmed here. one of my favourites would have to be when harry met sally and i've been past a few sites from that flick.

oh blessed cooler of the air.

so from the park i walked down through uptown 5th avenue, passed the apple store.


and down to moma. or the museum of modern art. saw quite a few brilliant pieces, i'll throw some up for my pleasure because i know most of you just don't get me going to museum and gallery type places... whatever...





the space itself was pretty fantastic as well. large and spare with great views. i think i've got a couple of pics somewhere.




a couple of designs from the museum. did you know that the slinky was first built in 1945 by richard james. didn't realise it had been around for that long.



and i'm putting up a few pieces, not the best pics but some of them had glass in front so that reflects badly. also i have to ask, what is with rothko? i just don't get it. neither really with warhol. i mean, i like his stuff for the most part but come on, did he even do the work? i think not. the first one below is chagall, and i think i'm liking his stuff more and more as the years go by.





most of the later afternoon was suppose to have been taken up with a cruise around the harbour... but no... i read the ticket wrong. so i got on the subway - easy to navigate by the way - and headed down to the tip of manhatten to where i think the circle line is leaving from... but no... that's the staten island ferry... so i have a walk around there thinking that i've got time to get where i'm going for the ferry. big mistake. and this may be the closest i get to the statue of liberty this trip. will have to see how today goes.


so then i take the subway back uptown to 83rd street, well 79th but i walk the rest of the way. then read the ticket correctly and realise they meant pier 83 - so i've missed the mark again. but another good walk in a new area - the west side of the island of manhatten is really pretty, more like a suburb from home - maybe brisbane.


so then i try again. this time i cab to 42nd and 12th. and i've missed the boat by about 2 hours. bugger. so i'm going to try and see if can do a staten ferry trip later this arvo. if i've got time before i get picked up for the airport. we'll see. oh, on the walk back from union square i noticed a whole lot of squirreling going on. i think i remember correctly that ang doesn't like squirrels.... so this one's for you ang. ha!!


these signs are all over the place. for me (because of the zillion movies i've seen set in new york over the years) this city goes hand in hand with honking, but there you go... another extinction.


on the way back to the hotel there's another film being shot in the nearby styvesant park, can't work out if it's anyone i know so i give up. here's the outside of my hotel and i've also included a shot of my tiny tiny room.