The Big Apple Store, Fifth Avenue, NY

We’ve shopped for antiques in Rangoon, silverware in Bangkok, silk in Saigon, but nothing compares to our adventures in the Big Apple.

(photos by shamash)

Miss Mary Mac flew in to JFK, I trained it from Pennsylvania, and we met at The Pod Hotel in Midtown Manhatten. This centrally-located hotel, a fantastic option for the iPod generation, features clean, stream-lined rooms complete with docking stations/ speakers for ipods, individual tv’s at each bed with earphone connection, and complementary wireless connection.

One of our first stops was The Apple Store on 5th Avenue. Freddie had told me about this Mac Mecca, but nothing could have prepared me for the two-story glass cube of an entrance with a see-through, spiraling, staircase and a transparent round, tubular elevator that descended into a futuristic underworld. There, “The Genius Bar” stands ready with 20-some Mac specialists sitting behind a bar talking to concerned Mac owners with (heaven forbid!) computer problems. The place was so user-friendly and hip, I half-expected to see Mai Thais with umbrellas at their elbows.

At various computer stations, men, women, and children tested products: ipods, iMacs, macbooks, and an unbelievable variety of Apple speakers, the designs of which are so sleek, so smooth, so zen, I almost fainted in a post-modern swoon. By the time I left, my oh-so-5th-avenue Apple Store bag contained a black 80G iPod video, an i-talk, and i-video TV hook-up cable. I was tempted to pick up a few more items: a cute, neon-green ipod shuffle, the wrap-around portable speakers with surround-sound, or an all-terrain external hard drive. But, I refrained.

On the way home we stopped for a coffee at the brass/gold/marble Trump Towers (no Donald Trump, thank god!) and for a look-see at the new diamond designs at Tiffany’s.

Our evening show-of-the-day was Avenue Q, an irreverent, hilariously funny musical at the Golden Theatre. Row 3, orchestra seats were ideal, and how great to hear the soundtrack of one of my favorite musical soundtracks performed live. (Read it and weep, dear podmates from Plymouth. I still don’t believe the internet is only for that, but I do believe, at times, that “It Sucks to Be Me.” ;-)

Happy with our evening at the theater and our Apple purchases in the Big Apple, Miss Mary Mac and I are here at the hotel, snuggled in our little pod-cubicles with our laptops and NYC TV. Tomorrow is The Lion King and shopping in the Village.

Comments

[legend of y]

remember my aunt frances-- the one i wrote that story about? she used to live in the pod hotel-- back when it used to be the pickwick arms hotel! have a GREAT time in nyc. i hear that you may be passing through dc but i may miss you-- i'm moving to chapel hill at the end of this week! come and visit!

[shamash]

Hey, Legend of Y! That's amazing that of all the places I could have stayed in New York, I stayed where your amazing, eccentric Aunt Frances used to live! They've recently remodeled, and the location is perfect. Hope to see you in DC!

[the bluest eye]

Shamash! Great pics from big apple! I am so looking to my first concerning the States! No chance for us to meet in in NYC? 1000 Besos!

[shamash]

Hey, bluest eyes! I wish so much we could connect in the Big Apple, but I'm now in DC. I can't wait to hear all about your adventures in the U.S., above all in one of my favorite cities in the world. Mil besitos to you, too!