a nap during Formula1...

... is better than shoes!

I have been watching Formula1 since as long as I can remember and even before than I can remember my mum doing that! Not my dad, mind you, my mum! She has been a fan forever and the germ passed to us kids, my brother and me, as it was rather expected. Many a time when I lived in Greece we would all three of us gather on her bed on warm Sunday afternoons, eating ice cream and enjoying the cool breeze the fan offered us while watching some of the best drivers on the planet drive some of the fastest cars on the planet and competing for a (usually ugly...) trophy! Ah, those were the days my friends...

Many years have past, I no longer live close to my family, as fate had it but, still, the same habits remain for all of us... sometime we have been even on the phone while watching, just to compare views and share comments... But lately, I have developed a further habit... the nap! Ok, I have not really invented naps, could not take credit for that, but I have realised the pleasure of falling asleep during a race whith the lullaby of the cars' engines and the soothing voice of the commentators... Mmm... bliss! Usually I fall asleep before the 10th round and I sleep all the way to the 40th... And yes, I do miss the race essentially... but I gain the nap!

Truth be told, I feel no longer like a true Formula1 fan... I mean, someone who sleeps through about half of the championship every year cannot claim that, can she? I still like it, in my own way I do watch the races, ok, the start and the finish evidently, and I never want to miss one... in the sense that I'm always in front of TV when it takes place... but, yes, I snooze and I sleep and I get cosy on the sofa and well, for me it a "better than shoes" thing... Wanna give it a try? ;)

@ the Met...

Well, the thing is, I had to write again about the Metropolitan Museum of Art! I just had to! I did write briefly about it in the previous post, as it was indeed one of the highlights of my trip to NY, but it just seamed unfair not to dedicate a complete blog post to it... as there is no doubt in my mind it was so much better than any pair of shoes, even those magnificent Manolo's I found on discount at Barney's and I didn't even try them on due to a rather annoying allergic reaction I had developed since I spent Sunday at Central Park which left me with an elephant foot... just one foot... the right one... oh, well...

So there I was in the best museum I have ever visited in my life! No, it was not just the size of it that overwhelmed me, though truth be told, it is big!! And it was not the amount of people in it, though at 1pm when I arrived on a Tuesday, it was buzzing like a bee hive! And it was not the multiplicity of nationalities. And it was not the incredible variety of collections, both permanent and temporary (the Prada exhibition was amazing...) and it was not the amount of stuff that is accumulated in there from all over the world! And it was not the fact that in every room, in every corner there was something worth photographing and it was not the fact that I was walking around recognising pieces of art I had seen in books and magazines and the TV. It was ALL that that overwhelmed me!

It was the first time in my life, and I will repeat that I have been to the Louvre (twice) and I had not had the same sensation, that I felt like the history of mankind, everything our civilisation has offered in the arts (therefore, our lives!) was there for me to see! That I was having a cultural trip around the planet and I was left so much richer that before! So much beauty accumulated in one place (ok, a huge place...) that eventually brought tears to my eyes! And I will not even begin to describe what I saw as I would not know where to begin with... I will just keep the memories and this longing I have to go back! Soon!!

New York, New Yooooork...

Need I really say it?... Need I?... The city that never sleeps stole my heart and now I will never have it back! There is nothing like it, never in my life have I been in a place with such energy! So many things to do, so much to see, eat, drink, walk, buy, visit... Madness in its best! I honestly do not know where to start describing the experience, the beginning seams that actually happened long before I landed in Newark and the end is not written yet... I have already a list of things I did not manage to do that can easily cover another week... and I was tempted yesterday, 5 hours after I got back, to book another plane ticket and go back!

Highlights... it is not at all easy to choose... Times Square, the crossroads of the world, upon arrival there just to get you in the NY mood! Top of the Rocks, certainly! That magical view over Manhattan shining in the morning sun (and the evening one for that matter... twice up there in the same day, don't do half things...) was just spectacular! My favourite building, the Chrysler, lit up in the night, pretty as can be and so distinguished! Theatre, no doubt! Saw two shows "Rock of Ages" and "Harvey", both great experiences! Sunday morning in Central Park, evening walk around Bryant park, the Villages, Soho, all priceless! And my birthday dinner at the "River Café" with that amazing view over the Brooklyn bridge and the Manhattan skyline (and the little birthday candle that came with my desert.. someone put some thought in it and and is greatly appreciated for that ;) will be unforgettable! Last but not least the Met, the best museum I have ever been in my life, if I can actually say I have been there as in just 5 hours I think I only saw 1/5 of it, (yep, it's better than Le Louvre and I'm not afraid to say it...) and the MoMA with its magnificent collection that I feel both made me a better person... art can do that, right? ;)

As for shopping? Well... surely I did not come back empty handed ;) but to be honest, it was not such a high priority. No, I did not take any bus to go to an outlet, no I did not not shop 'till I dropped and no my credit cards did not suffer... that much... New York is better than shoes and being there left me so fulfilled that anything else but just being there was a far second... Hey, I even got to sing in the rain in NY, who can ask for more??!!