One of my favorite cities is Nashville. The people are vibrant and colorful and there’s a different approach to life. It is like going to a foreign land from New York, perhaps more like Canada than France, but there are cultural differences.
Once I finally arrived after a long day of heinous airline travel whig included being bumped for a first class passenger….American eagle you deserve that recent Meanest Airline poll. Glad y’all are looking to hold the title….it was straight to Music Row. The heart of the Country Music Industry. I was taken on a tour of a house that is an office for a label. Need more cultural differences then step up, go out and toss a nickel because you will most likely find yourself face to face at some point with an artist on the rise or decline.
I seem to be collecting my fellow Eurasians (hey Patti Stanger take that term ‘Amerasians’ and lose it, you are leaving out my global brethren.) I love showing off the NY in case you haven’t guessed by now dear readers.
I met up with the Swiss Miss & Her Mister at MOMA for another go round of the Tim Burton Exhibit. A little update for you, due to the overcrowding and probably the endless complaints, you need to either book a reservation online for it or queue up early and hit the information desk for an assigned time to enter. Although it was still overly crowded and poorly laid out, there is a prolific amount to see. I had a chance to see things I missed the first time and actually read some of Mr. Burton’s notes ie to Johnny Depp about a line he had for ‘Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.’ It was on cable the other day and the line made it in there so that gave me a little giggle.
Please Don't Touch!
If you are a huge Burton fan, at the end of the exhibit you will find one sketch from the forthcoming 3-D Alice In Wonderland film. ( I personally love that Johnny Depp snort laughs in the trailer as I am a snort laugher myself! Own your snorts!)
I suggest you also skip watching the Stainboy short films since you can watch them & actually hear them online.
We also enjoyed our fair share of Rothko, Miro, Picasso, and the circle obsessed Orozco. Seriously Senior Orozco you are a genius getting away with having an entire room with just one yogurt cap on each wall. It’s an implied Dannon yogurt endorsement.
We added a little Sex & The City to our day tour by staring at the Manolo Blanik window display and then hitting Magnolia for some red velvet cupcakes.
It was time to get things on track with a little Yum Cha Hong Kong Style which they do not apparently serve in all of Switzerland. How do you Eurasians survive over there without yum cha? Egads! Keeping it young and hip, we headed to the Golden Unicorn just like they did on ….yes, Gossip Girl. Hey, it’s in the top 10 rated Yum Cha restaurants in Chinatown so why protest? I was also very pleased Golden Unicorn serves yum cha until 4pm unlike LA where it ends at 2. I love you New York!
Don't look directly into the blinking eye!
A little bargaining can go a long way so tourists, please do not get your t-shirts in Times Square. Head down to Canal Street and get a bargain. You can negotiate and it’s fun. I rescued several random Swiss guys from overspending last week. I am happy to be paid for my services in….Swiss Chocolate. Oh it is so delicious. I may have to move there!
xoxo Grrlgenius
ps hit up Hopstop.com for subway directions! There are free maps of NYC available in the subway. xx
The holidays bring together many random friends dropping in from all over the globe. Since mid-November I’ve caught up with friends from LA & The UK. I’ve been looking forward to one of my Down Under cousins spending Christmas in New York, the best city in the world to enjoy this holiday! Who can resist the lure of Cartier wrapped up like a present? It really is the most wonderful time of the year especially since I was born in December. I love that the whole city is decorated.
On Christmas Eve aka Ricky Martin’s birthday, I found out we were doubling our Aussie young visitors from one to two. Is there anything better than showing off your city? If you are looking for some New York Fun, the Eurasian Power Trio has some suggestions:
1) Brooklyn Bridge– walking over this one should not forget that it gets seriously windy so bundle up and make sure to advise your guests to wear walking shoes. (Visitors constantly underestimate how tiring walking in NYC will be for novices.) Walking over The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the greatest ways to see the Statue of Liberty and vistas of Brooklyn and New York that are astonishing.
2) Pizza! Who doesn’t want to have a slice of New York Pizza? The food in NYC is just as legendary as Wall Street. You can take Scott’s Three Hour Pizza Tour for $33. It’s supposed to be completely amazing or try your luck walking over to Grimaldi’s which is good enough for John Turturro. You gonna mess with him? Of course, the queue is always crazy. I find it hilarious since there is a location on Long Island, no wait, ever! No matter what your pizza choice, it’s a must for visitors.
3) Jacques Torres Wicked Hot Chocolate. As always, the D.U.M.B.O location was overflowing with tourists, but that was no deterrent for us. I had to appease the Swiss Eurasian Aussie male who laid down the gauntlet with the greatest of facial expressions.
4) The Metropolitan Museum of Art— this was the one request of our engineering Eurasian’s mother. He thinks in binary code so he didn’t recognize or care for the beauty of Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir or the other masters. Unfortunately the Modern Art sections were closed at this time. This sums up our feelings on that, and of course, we still had fun in the Temple of Dendur
Yes, I know you are wishing you were with us so you could’ve heard me put on my bad mall accent or French one. Unfortunately, these are the only two I do. This makes me the Pied Piper of my young chargers who I strongly encouraged to pose on the steps of the Met ala Gossip Girl so their friends back home could be envious of their NY adventures.
5) The Subway– what?! Oh yes, I hate to admit this but there was a too close encounter with two big guys who put up their fists behind us. My young charges were fortunately ahead of me and I turned on my New York ‘keep moving’ voice that keeps feet heading for safer ground. It is always an amusing freak show in the subway and achieving the fulfillment of a one day passes’ “destiny” with at least 4 rides!
6) Good news! Tim Burton’s exhibit at MOMA has been extended through April. Woot.
8) Greenich Village– okay, it’s sort of water down from how racy it used to be, but of course I still managed to expose my poor visitors to a “local” caressing a rat as he exercised his turrets syndrome and somehow steered them into a fetish shop which we all thought would be kitchsy, not traumatizing. Opps. Luckily the guys at Employees Only (which the iPhone App “Around Me” suggested for good coffee. Hello, it’s a cocktail bar!) to Joe’s The Art of Coffee.
9) MOCA— I told you we are all Eurasian and the Asian part is Chinese. While scouring for fabulous handbags, meeting up for ‘Legitimate Massages Only’ and eating tasty treats at Taipan Bakery are always fun, you can also get some culture in at The Museum of Chinese in America.
Too bad the dude never heard of the Eurasian discount! We left these glorious beauties behind.
Guess I won’t be making some extra cash at Fishion. LOL!
Louis was holding on to that cake like there was no tomorrow. It was not sweet enough for him, but I really liked it and …it’s pink!
Our brief two days of exploration ended seeing the amazing Erin Quill sing at Splash‘s Musical Monday at Midnight. She sounded amazing and even did a duet with her hubbie Chil Kong, you may have seen recently on Law & Order: SVU “Anchor Babies.”
Yeah, I’m classy, I took that off the TV old school style like when I was 10 and did that when George Michael was on TV. Happy Holidays!
Xoxo Grrl Genius
note: minus Chil & Friends all those pictured are gorgeous Eurasians! I can count. There are five of us, but the players changed but the Power Trio was together the past 2 days.
Friends are always asking me for suggestions of what to do in one of my other ‘hometowns’, Sydney. When people say they’ve always dreamed of going to Australia, I say “go!” Seriously my passport is worn out but that long flight I’ve been doing since my Aussie mum was preggers with me, is totally worthwhile the second you see the Harbour, sailboats dotting the landscape, and a quick sweeping view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
Did you know you can climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge? I’ve done it twice. I recently suggested this to my friend Dave, the inspiration for this blog. He responded “You want me to climb a BRIDGE?!” Yes Dave I do. Trust me, this is an incredible way to see how Sydney lays out and orientate yourself geographically. The veiws are spectacular. There is an instruction, a fabulous jumpsuit and you get strapped to a line. It takes about 2 hours. There was a Tina Turner Ad for HBO you may recall “Your Simply The Best” that was filmed atop that bridge. It is thrilling to see the cars rushing underneath you if you bother to look straight down. There are moments of extreme caution so even though a sunset climb might sound appealing, it’s a bit treacherous navigating the steps down in some spots so for the semi-freaked out a nice morning climb is reccommended.
Ever dreamed of being Jason Bourne? Well Matt Damon climbed this sucker, but to sooth your fears so has the cast of “Glee” in case you Gleeks are still a little anxious. This requieres no physical skill!
Head to Circular Quay (this is also the stop for The Opera House) Â taking the ferry (30 minutes) or the Jetcat (15 minutes and more expensive) to Manly Beach. Â Skip the initial beach when you arrive, follow the crowds across the street to the Esplanade. Go all the way down, it ends in a spectacular beach that has three main parts. If you walk to the left you are headed towards The Steyne to the right, around the twists and turns you’ll find the darling Shelly Beach, which Bill Bryson captured so brilliantly in his book ‘In A Sunburned Country.’ Snorkeling or diving is fruitful so bring your own equipment or rent it on the beach.
If you are the sort of person who thinks a day on the beach is semi-boring (why are you going to Australia?) one of my favorite things to do is hit the walk from the Spit Bridge back to Manly. The easy way to do this from the city (and wear good shoes) take the ferry to Manly. Head to the left where you will pass the small aquarium. Go up around the back, climbing the stairs and you will see signs for the nature walk. It takes about two hours to complete. You can swim in the inlets. It will leave out at Spit Junction. You can either take a bus back to Manly and have a nice lunch there or grab a bus to the city. Be careful crossing the road. It’s a main throughfare.
Sundays are a great day at the pub! Any pub whether it’s Darling Harbor or The Rocks or Elizabeth Bay, Watson’s Bay. Hmm, seems to me I’ve hit all of those and more. Forget your trigylcerid count and have a good time at the pub!
Here’s some tips from my very hip cousin, Celeste, a native of Sydney. When her limo failed to show up for her prom, I drove her and her friends from the suburbs in her dad’s refurbished Bentley. Shhh, he still doesn’t know! ha.
IVY POOL NIGHTCLUB + Uccello Restaurant
The’changeroom‘ is under the pool – there is a cocktail bar there etc. go upstairs to the pool. Bring your swimsuit if you like to walk around in a bikini!!! Â Can you say FABULOUS?
My own tips: Bondi markets on Sunday! Take the train or bus over to Bondi Beach. As Cel told me when I was living in Manly, the people with ambition live in the Eastern Suberbs and hang at Bondi. Don’t worry, there are plenty of fast food places and hippie coffee joints if the high-end cafes are not for you. Mmm, order chips (fries) with hot chili sauce.
Australia has the best junk food in the world. Warning if you order an ice coffee or an ice chocolate these drinks are floats complete with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! I prefer to get a flat white for a straight up coffee with milk for my caffeine fix.
Kings Cross is not as seedy as it once was but it is the Times Square of Sydney.
QVC Building for shopping– a lot of brands are the same as in the US and more expensive. Don’t forget the conversion rate isn’t as great as it used to be.
Taronga Zoo
If you have always dreamt of seeing a Koala (it’s not a bear, don’t make that mistake) take a ride on the ferry to TARONGA ZOO. If you get to hold one for a photo, do not mistake these loveable, territorial!!!! looking creatures for a baby. If your hand naturally slides to their bum, look out son you may end up with a hand full of poop and some claw marks. I once got stuck holding one for ten minutes (not at Taronga) and it was not light. I’m like, hello people anyone? Koalas mark their territory with pee just like dogs.
What’s the second worst sound in the world? A koala being shot, they sound like humans. The worst sound? Hearing it again two minutes later. I’m paraphasing from a video I saw in Sydney at the Powerhouse Museum. I prefer the MCA which is located at Circular Quay opposite the Opera House. One of my friends used to work at the Opera House so I’ve had a private tour there as well as seeing The Gypsy Princesscomplete with the requisite glass of champagne at intermission. It’s totally worth going to see a concert there. I’m sad I missed Crowded House’s Farewell To The World ‘final’ concert on the steps of the Opera House. Lucky me, a decade later they released a DVD and double disc of the whole thing and reunited.
Whenever taking a trip to another country, with another language and culture, I like to pick up a few things from the locals. In Roma, I learned that one should never trust Faux Gladiators in fishnet stockings and how to run away from them laughing and pointing (opps sorry Melva to abandon you!)
Here are a few of the cosas de Peru:
1) If you are going on a job interview and the question “Is there anything else you want to tell me” Â comes up, you should respond “I rock and I’m HOT!” (Gracias Luisa!)
2) No engaging in acts that would bring down the moral reputation of the hotel Rimpampaco in Cuzco, their themesong should be Kelly Clarkson’s “I Do Not Hook Up!”
3) Pisco sour gets me beyond giddy, except if it’s a crappy brand no matter little is consumed= ill!
4) Private beach clubs give 3 months free membership to foreigners endorsed by club members! But don’t bring your offspring wrapped in anything but cotton or they will give you and your friends crap about it the whole time you are there!
5) Plastic surgery- good boob jobs can be had for a mere $900 dollars! Don’t bother looking, I wasn’t there long enough for that!
6) Inca natives are only a few inches taller than their llamas.
7) Every meal is a Peruvian tradition.
8 ) Peruvians have been culturally unconcerned with being on time since the 1500’s! (Men if you are dating a South American woman don’t expect her to ever be ready on time. I still remember certain people inviting people over for lunch, and serving food at dinner time…!)
9) Nannies (aka nineras) learn English by listening to ‘Sailing Away’ from Christopher Cross (and of course ‘America’s Next Top Model!’) Look how pop culture helps change lives!
Ramblings of the BK GrrlGenius 