The One Where Lili Goes To New York
Yes! I am finally doing my New York post. Lots of pics but not even close to all of them - I took about 700! I should never be allowed to have a camera. I also still haven't finished my journal - I'm two days from the end! Deary me. But step right up for a summary of my trip, the highlights, and a meeting with you know who...
Ok, so I went there with my mother, as it was my after-A-Level-Treat. Helped me get my mind off impending results (of course now I'm back it's nail biting time!). We stayed in a great little hotel in Tribeca (the almost-bottom of Manhatten) called the Cosmopolitan...
The guys at the hotel were lots of fun - we were always chatting to them and they had a bowl of sweets for anyone to take! Of course I managed to eat about half the bowl every day :D I still have about 10 sweets in my bag! Our room was great - we'd struck lucky and got the best room in the hotel! (Mentioned on Trip Advisor - my mum's addicted to that site.) We even had a view of the Empire State Buildin!
Nice, huh? The TV was awesome. And it's a lot bigger than it seems.
So we stayed for a week, and it was very hot (interesting when you're trekking around a city all day). But all in all very enjoyable.
Highlights:
- Meeting Fran Kranz (more about this later).
- Watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail in the park with about 1,000 people.
It was awesome - this film festival that coincided with our trip. And one of my fave films too! We had to get there early (4 hours before!!) to get seats, but it was so worth it. The energy of the place was amazing, and of course the film rules.
About three hours before the film starts - look, you can still see grass!
- Going to see Bachelorette (Fran's play).
Just an amazing play - it's about the effect of Gluttony on the modern world (part of a 7 play cycle about the Sins). In the play, Gluttony is no longer about stuffing yourself with food, it's about binging on drugs, alcohol, and a nihilistic lifestyle. The play follows 5 people - Becky (the bride, only in one scene), Regan (the maid of honour, who hates her best friend Becky), Katie and Gena (ex-friends of Becky's), and the two men they pick up Jeff and Joe (Fran) - as they spiral downwards on the eve of Becky's wedding. There's a good summary/review here (I actually have a copy of the NY Times that it was in - found it the next day just by chance!), but a better explanation of the play and its themes is here. All in all the play was excellent - well written, brilliantly acted, sharply directed, poignant, hilarious and brutal. Just my style!
- Finding my park.
You know how you visualise stuff when you're listening to music? I'd seen myself in this park SO many times, usually when listening to The Boxer (Simon and Garfunkel), and I never thought it was real. But here it is - right by my hotel!!
(That's me btw.)
- Standing on Ed Norton's bridge.
So in one of his films, Ed (in character ofc) says that this bridge is where he comes when he's feeling lost. And I found it! I've visualised myself on this bridge so many times, it was so awesome to actually be there...
- Central Park: going to that fountain (think Enchanted) and seeing a real live light saber fight (or ten)!
This was our first night in the city, so we decided to pop along to Central Park. It was magical. The fountain was amazing, with this awesome little buildingy thing behind (that you never see in the films because the cameras are pointed towards the lake), in which a string quartet were playing Ave Maria. And there was this group of Star Wars people (no doubt a club or something) with proper (ish) light sabers, all fighting! It looks crap in the pictures, but in the twilight with all the light sabers lit up it was awesome.
The fountain (only crappy picture I have of it grrrr).
Lightsabers all aglow!
Pictures from Central Park.
- Walking along the Highline Park.
So I heard about this two years ago during my Ed Norton obsession. Basically he was part of this project to transform the Highline, an elevated urban industrial railway, into a park. So I've dreamt of going there since then. And now I have! It's really beautiful, a wonderful mix of urban architecture and natural beauty. And in the old warehouses the line goes through there are art installations. One was the sound of every since bell in New York, one sounding each minute.
- Meeting up with the Treehouse gals!
For those of you who don't know Treehouse, it's an SPN RP comm on LJ. And it's cracky fun :D As I was going to NY, we organised a meet up (aw!), which was awesome. The girls were great - so much fun to hang out with them! We went to a cafe for lunch (omg massive puddings), then to an enormous sweetshop, then wandered around Central Park until I had to go. If you're reading this thanks for an awesome day girls!!
All of us.
Eating an iced hot chocolate in Serendipity.
Much bigger than it looks, trust me. I'm so ashamed of the waste. I mean, it's all well and good being known for having huge puddings, but the amount of waste food that cafe must create is terrible. Starving children anyone? Sorry, rant over now.
Totally didn't graze and eat loads of Jelly Bellys free....
- Going to Ellis Island.
- Seeing Frida Kahlo's paintings in MoMA.
- Sitting in Brooklyn looking at Manhatten.
Beautiful huh? And the city's pretty too... :P This is where my icon picture comes from btw.
Pretty sure that's all the highlights. Though of course the entire trip was great! Here's a summary of my purchases...
What I Bought
- 2 Buffy Comics (the Strand Bookstore).
- 1 Strand Satchel (the Strand).
- 2 pioneer books (the Strand).
- 1 luggage label with the caption "Think of me as unexpected turbulence" (the Strand).
- Presents for my best friend (fridge magnet - "a best friend will always help you hide the body", Reese's headphones, Romance for Dummies, nailvarnish, Believe In God mouthspray, a blowpop - various stores).
- 2 NYC t-shirts (one from The Top Of The Rock, another from a stall by Central Park).
- 4 nailvarnishes (Duane Reed).
- 1 Little Brown Bag key ring (Bloomingdale's).
- 1 mug (Gee Whiz Diner).
Places I Went
- The Rockefeller Centre.
- Grand Central Station.
- Bloomingdale's.
- Central Park.
- Radio City.
- Brooklyn.
- Broadway.
- The Flat Iron Building.
- The Kriesler Building.
- The Museum of Modern Art.
I'll tell you two stories now, maybe more in subsequent posts when I remember. First...
How Lili Got Lost On The Subway
Yes, I did. Inevitable really. So we were in a subway car, and the air conditioning was broken. This may seem alright, but the subway is horrible when it comes to heat - it's often hotter than the streets and the humidity is through the roof (ironically, this is because of all the heat being pumped out of the air con trains...). So mum and I were boiling, and watched as the only other people in the coach (illegally) went through the inside doors to the other carriage (you know, the doors at the end that you're only supposed to use in an emergency?).
So mum says to me "shall we move into the next carriage when we get to the station". I say "sure". We get to the station, and, naturally, I hope out of the carriage to rush through to the other one. Only subway trains don't stay nearly as long at the station as underground trains (London) do, so the doors were soon closing, and I was left staring into the carriage where mum, poised to (illegally) open the carriage doors, was staring right back at me!
The train zoomed off and I was left standing alone on the station.
Giggling slightly. (I'd like to say it was hysteria, but I just found the whole thing very amusing. Which is terrible, as my mother was distraught. Oh well.)
So there I am, at the station, wondering what to do. I'm sure that my mum has got off at the next station and is waiting for me to hop on the next train and join her. This seems very logical to me, as it's the quickest and easiest way to get back together. So when the next train comes along I get on it.
Just as I get off the train at the next station, I see my mother... on a train in the opposite direction back to the previous station!
I didn't realise, you see - I'm a child so I should stay where I am. (I thought this rule expired at 18.) Talking it over with her later though, mum's logic was also sound - me being at the previous station was the only known constant - mum could have got off at a different station or stayed on the train.
Basically there I am, on the station mum's just left, giggling to myself again. But these are slightly panicked giggles. So I go up onto the street (in the pouring rain) to phone my mother. Who's still on the subway, so her phone doesn't work. By this point the humour is going out of the situation - I'm wet, cold, and I want my mummy. Just as I'm about to ask for help, mum phones me, tells me to stay where I am and that she'll come get me.
This is where it got boring (and agonising) for me. I had to sit in a boiling, humid ,(dripping) station (when I needed the toilet).
Mum, on the other hand, was having a terrible time. You see, subway stations are NOT SENSIBLE like Underground stations, and are incredibly hard to work out if you're not a New Yorker. PLUS there are NO MAPS on the stations!! (There are plenty on the Underground - big maps on the walls, little maps showing just the stations each line is calling at, and little leaflet maps with all the work going on. Sorry, New York, but MASSIVE FAIL when it comes to the Subway. The Tube trumps you in EVERY WAY.)
So mum was trying desperately to get to the uptown part of the station. If any of you know New York, she was at Canal Street, which is a bitch of a station (I had to navigate it alone the next day). You have to go overground to get to the uptown part, through a crowded and confusing street and, in mum's case, in the pouring rain. Poor thing. She had to ask loads of people for help.
Btw New York Observation: random people are helpful, but those trained to help are NOT - bitchy, patronising (especially in my case) and sullen. Ironic, no? (Of course this is only my experience.)
Eventually mum found me. Problem was, though, us meeting in the station, all dramatic and such, reminded me so much of that scene in the Matrix Revolution when Trinity and Neo find each other again.
So yeah, I was giggling. A lot. I think I managed to convince mum it was hysterical though...
When Lili Met Fran
Unfortunately, this story does not have a photo attached. I KNOW I KNOW. So kicking myself now. But I thought it would be all fangirly and wierd and I didn't want to creep him out. *sighs* Anyway onto the story.
So I went to see his play (amazing ofc). And afterwards I wasn't sure whether I wanted to meet him cos, you know, omg terrifying. I hung around the foyer for ages (mum was very discouraging, wanting to leave). Finally he came out... but with the rest of the cast. So I was of course too scared to go up to him.
Mum and I caught the lift downstairs, and on the street I dawdled for ages, waiting for him to come out. Finally he did... to go and chat with his friends. And of course I wasn't going to interrupt because that would be rude, wierd, and incredible embarassing. So I was totally torn. On the one hand - rude, wierd, embarassing, but on the other - once in a lifetime opportunity to talk to an actor I admire (and have a crush on).
So I stood there for about 5 minutes, maybe more, undeciding. Finally I decided to talk to him, however embarassing (and rude and wierd) it would be. So I glance out and huzzah!! He is walking to the bar next door in a loose group.
EXCELLENT chance to intercept him. Because if I'd looked out a moment before they would still be in a group and I would have been disheartened, a moment after and I would have lost my chance.
I dash up to him (shaking like crazy, especially my legs) and tap him on the shoulder.
omg
Talking to him was amazing. We chatted about the play, New York, acting... But as much as I wanted to grill him about his acting choices in the play and in Dollhouse, I didn't want to keep him from his friends (who had continued to the pub). So the conversation was brief but amazing. He's a lot taller in real life (or I'm shorter than I thought). And his real voice is REALLY deep - he makes it higher for Topher. It was just electrifying talking to him.
I had to (let him) go, so we shook hands (!) and he told me to keep in touch (!!).
I was dizzy for the rest of the night. Mum got really sick of me sighing and giggling to myself. But it was so worth all the agonising and nervousness.
The best part was - when he first came out onto the street I caught his eye, and he gave me a lovely little smile.
Moment of my life.
Ok, so that was my trip to New York! I have lots more stories, of course, but I've been working on this post for 2 hours and don't want to bore you any longer. Artwork is coming soon (next post), along with a Buffy ship fanmix. And also the long awaited (yeah right) pictures from my play! I hope you enjoyed my post and I missed you guys!
~Lili
PS: saw Salt in NY (waaay better cinemas over there). I now adore Angelina Jolie. And this is an epic film. Very feminist. Go see it.