Rising to the Top
YAYA SISTERS IN THE BIG APPLE, CHAPTER 3: IN WHICH WE FIND OUR VOICESNEW YORK, New York — By Day #4 of our 'Yayas Take New York' adventure, we were ready to rise to the top. So we headed for... what else? The Empire State Building. Along the way, we took time to enjoy our five seconds of fame at Forever 21's interactive Times Square billboard.
Finding a way to stand out in the jungle of giant plasma-screen billboards in Times Square is no small feat, but that's just what the Forever 21 store did last summer when it debuted its interactive video billboard above the store's entrance. What better way to get people to look at this new monster screen than to put them on it? From time to time, a model walks in front of the image of the crowd in Times Square and makes things more interesting by magnifying, drawing hearts around, or taking a photo of parts of the crowd. Brilliant! (We're the tiny ones in the circle on the photo above.)
As we continued on our way to the top, we made a stop at the 34th Street flagship location of Marion's favorite department store, Macy's. No way could we let her miss an opportunity to visit this retail behemoth, often billed as the largest store in the world (though a Chinese store has since claimed that record). At nearly 3 million square feet, the store was a bit large for us to see everything, but we did locate some lovely hats.
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Hat chance at Macy's |
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Empire State view from the top |
Since none of us was eager to perform a rendition of "Danny Boy," we felt safe going for lunch at Foley's Pub and Restaurant across 33rd Street from the Empire State. After listening to too many drunken renditions of the legendary Irish ballad over the years, the pub's owner famously banned the song from his pub in 2008, declaring it too depressing.
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Chilling at Foley's, just before the transformation |
Where do you go from an Irish pub except to visit St. Patrick, or at least his cathedral on Fifth Avenue? The seat of the archbishop of New York, the Neo-Gothic Cathedral of St. Patrick was completed in 1878. At the time, its massive spires dominated the neighborhood. Today it is dwarfed by the surrounding skyscrapers, but the hush inside once you enter the massive doors provides a calming respite to the bustle of the streets.
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St Patrick's interior |
Following our theme of rising to the top, we continued our stroll up Fifth Avenue. Originally a residential street for the city's ultra-wealthy, Fifth Avenue is now home to some of New York's priciest retailers and often cited as one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world. Cartier sells its fabulous jewelry from one of the greatest Renaissance mansions on Fifth Avenue. Next door, Versace occupies an elegant building which formerly housed the Vanderbilt family.
Cartier (Photo from Wikipedia) |
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American Girl salon (not kidding!) |
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Channeling our inner Rockettes |
For our 'last meal' together, we returned to Thalia on Eighth Avenue near our hotel. The food was excellent as it had been before, but this time we found the service disappointing.
One last visit to Times Square and we were ready to wrap up our final big day in New York. Pam had an early train back home the next day and everyone else was scattering later in the day. Based on the reactions we had experienced, we had to agree when Jeanne assessed our visit: "We touched this town."