We heart NYC part two

After leaving the hotel, the girls and I took off down to Times Square because we are shameless tourists and we all grew up watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. When you first lay eyes on the Panasonic Astro Vision screen at One Times Square, where Broadway and Seventh Ave intersect, you cannot help but be awed. You've seen it a million times on tv and by george, there it is. For real.



As you can tell from Cindi's hand, we took care of kid business straight away with a pit stop in Toys R Us. We didn't want to be scrambling at the airport on the way home trying to find that special souvenir for our children and settling for the $200
T-shirt that was made in China.

No, we needed something that said, WE'RE FREE "we were thinking about you" and nothing speaks to a child more clearly than new toy loot.

After negotiating our way through the crush, we caught a pedicab at 47th. Pedicabs are those cool 2 person rickshaws joined to a bike and pedaled by some beefy, hungry, college kid from Iowa. Well, we had loads of bags and there were three of us. Eager college boy said, "No problem. If you can squeeze in, I can get you where you need to go." All right, then. Did I mention that he only flinched slightly when we told him our destination was Columbus Circle, a mere 12 blocks away?

Oh my. Somewhere around 50th, he started to sweat serious amounts. By 54th, we could hear him wheeze. At 56th, he was barking like a dog. At 59th, he began speaking in tongues, alternately crying out for his mother and begging for water. He stopped, let us out, took our picture and tried to smile. He was unable to form words. His hair might have been smoking. We threw gobs of money at him and I think it was Jennie who sagely said,

"That's gonna hurt tomorrow". Yep.



After that, my friend Richie called to invite us out for a drink at Kennedy's, this great Irish pub on west 57th. Perfect! We were in the neighbourhood. Poor Jennie was exhausted and she elected to go back to our room to crash. Cindi, the brave, chose to accompany me since I have this somewhat unwarranted reputation in our family for being wild, dangerous, benignly blonde after a few cocktails. We met Richie and his friend and the drinks flowed. At some point, I will admit to crossing the line from pleasantly buzzy to 30 seconds behind the punchline. Richie and I went outside for a cigarette (nasty, filthy, blah, blah, blah) and all of the sudden, Octopus Man arrived on the scene. Richie grew six more arms, came in for the swoop and out there on the street, we had a new and improved version of The Karate Kid. Do you remember the part where the kid learns "wax on, wax off". Have you got the visual on his hands? That was me, battling the tentacles. I was Wonder Woman with her shiny bracelets deflecting remarkably nimble hands . It was a very athletic cigarette break in a self-defense kind of way. Not long after, Cindi and I pulled the chute and headed home. It was well, well into the wee hours of the following day.

The next morning, we woke up somewhere around 7 or 8. Jennie, after a full night's sleep and no alcohol, was eager to get going. Who could blame her? Where did she want to go? Fifth Ave? Rockefeller Center? Chelsea Piers? Central Park? The Village? No, no, no ,no and no.

Regis and Kelly.

I wanted the shoe fairy to get my stilettos out of the closet and drive them into my brain because Kathy Lee was annoying but at least you could despise her. Kelly is perfect. Their show is thunderously loud. Audience participation is encouraged.

HANGOVER + SHOW FOR GOOD MOTHERS DEMOGRAPHIC + ENDLESS QUEUES + TOURISTS IN SPANDEX =



Shamefully, we didn't make it to Regis and Kelly.

Tomorrow: part three- grief, the subway and the best pub EVER