May 5, 2000

it's a wonderful town if you don't weaken

We decided to start out by walking up Fifth across from the park. We saw the Pierre and decided to have breakfast so we could see the dining room. It was small and closed in but very elegant. Lots of folks were buried in papers and two earnest journalists took notes while some ebusiness wonk expounded.

It was early yet and the dog walkers were out in force and the doormen were cleaning awnings and sidewalks and such. One dog walker deftly walked six dogs of various sizes and breeds and was scooping the poop, too.

We wandered over to Madison and peered in shop and gallery windows. Most things weren't open yet.

It was after 9:30, though, when we got to The Metropolitan Museum. We did a ramble through European painting. We decided that we wanted to walk around some more.

We headed back toward The Whitney Museum of American Art. On the way we found a great little gem--the Crawford Doyle Bookstore. FFP got a first edition of a Joan Didion book. I bought a book that looked interesting just to buy something because the staff was so friendly and so much fun to talk to and the books were so artfully arranged.

We also went in one gallery where we saw a very bizarre Jamie Wyeth painting for which they were asking $350,000. Whoa.

We went through the Biennial Show at the Whitney where there were fascinating sculptures from household items and tires and bunches of multimedia shows.

As we hoofed it back to the hotel a Cole Haan store loomed up and we had to pop in for a shoe fix. Both of us prefer these shoes and Austin is not a big enough metropolis to have a store devoted to Cole Haan and the department stores carry a lousy selection. As a result, we buy shoes in the cities we visit: Houston, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Toronto.

We had a brief rest (we walked a long way!) and then thought we'd have a drink in the lobby bar of the Four Seasons. But it was full! So we decided we'd just walk to Daniel and look at stuff along the way to kill the time.

FFP thought it would be fun to go into Barney's. We were wandering around looking for even a single tie in the thousands displayed that he would like.

"That's a great tie," said a young salesman, referring to the one FFP was wearing. We had discovered a Gucci FFP liked pretty well so as a kind of souvenir, he bought it. The tie kept coming up all night. Not the one we bought (which was carefully wrapped in tissue in Forrest's jacket pocket, but the one he was wearing. It's one he bought in Austin, by the way.

We got to the restaurant a little early. So we told them we were there and went to the bar and sat on the bar stools. The barman was friendly and we discussed this and that and he...told FFP he liked his tie.

The food was pretty outstanding. They brought these amuses bouche and they were so tasty (a lobster taste in a spoon with a delicious sauce, a shrimp thing, a quarter size cheese tart thing) that I would have been happy to sit there with a glass of wine and let them send me bits of food like that all night. (Especially with the garlic foccacio which was one of the best breads I've ever had.) But we ordered from the menu.

I had tuna tartare and FFP had caviar which he shared. The caviar service was very nice but the blinis don't hold a candle to Jeffrey's. The tuna tartare was good...but not the best I've ever had. I had duck and FFP had veal and I think we both enjoyed them but I wouldn't rank mine as the top entree of all time either. The cheese service was the best part. They had wonderful cheeses like an aged goat cheese. Not enough Austin restaurants offer cheese at all and certainly not a selection from a trolley, French-style. We had a nice Burgundy with it all and a glass of Sauterne to top it off.

We lucked into a cab right away and headed for the Village Vanguard. The cab driver didn't know where it was. Cabbies don't seem to know much in New York anymore. The driver was friendly enough though and asserted that he was going back to Sicily soon. We gave him the address and helped him spot it. Johnny Griffin and some young guys on piano, bass and drums did a great concert. We sat by a couple from Petaluma...who had recently had a vacation in Austin. They were very nice. We were kind of overdressed for the place. The guy from Petaluma, you guessed it, complimented FFP on his tie.

We were lucky again to nab a cab. The driver didn't know where the Four Seasons was and, even with us giving directions and pointing it out, he drove right by. He wasn't that friendly either. So I gave him a normal tip instead of the little extra I'd given to the guy headed back to Sicily.

It was a long fun day. I slept well.

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"Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough. "

Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues

tenor sax for sale on ebay

dog walker on Fifth Avenue