WOW! Best Halloween ever!!! Fred and Kim are here visiting and while Fred and Tom hit the NYC Marathon expo on Friday afternoon (after dining with Kim and I at one of our fave hangouts, Dos Caminos), they headed home and Kim and I decided to stay in the city and see the sights. Not only did we hit the regular haunts (pun intended) the highlights including Top of the Rock (got my fall pic of the Park), Grand Central Station, Union Square, Bryant Park.. and Greenwich Village (more on that in a sec). This wasn't just any day in the city-- people were dressed in great costumes (adults and kids) all throughout the city and many of them were getting ready for the famous Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Each year this parade heads from Houston St up 6th Ave and finishes at Union Square. It starts around 7pm and approximently 2 million people head to this stretch of the city to see the spectacles. Greenwich is one of the more liberal areas of this liberal city. As many of you know, the beatnik area pretty much IS Greenwich Village. Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and more all lived and played here and today the music stars of now, that keep with the hippie chic feel of the 60's and 70's--and 80's actually, can be found performing impromptu shows in small bars and clubs through the Village. The parade, one of the most famous that occurs in the city is quite the event and that is why Kim and I had no choice but to go. We had to, how could we not?? As we got closer to the Village the crowds grew and the costumes became more common. Some people really went all out and the gashes in the face and swords sticking out of the chests look quite real. Others, like us, just witnessed the fun in our normal clothes. It was 65 degrees out--we couldn't have asked for better weahter. After having yogurt at Red Mango (missed you Kristen) we headed to the parade route and took our place behind one of the countless barricades. We marveled at the costumes in the crowd and made conversation with the folks around us (one inpaticular complimented on my beautiful toes (I was wearing sandals). For real. I didn't know what to say. Kim, like a good sister-in-law who had my back, chimed in with "you do have nice toes" and a guy to my right encouraged me to consider foot modeling. He was kidding. I think) so needless to say, we enjoyed the crowd well before the parade started.
We got some great pics of the parade and some video with our faves being the reinactment of the Michael Jackson Thriller video and some really cool ghost float things. We had SO much fun and were so happy to witness this tradition. And just for you Eric (our nephew, Kim and Fred's 18yr old son) we snapped a pic of some clothing challenged women that were very happy to be part of the action. After leaving the parade we headed back towards McDougal and Bleeker (the main drag in the Village) thinking that we'd miss some of the crowd while we headed back uptown. Wrong. There were just as many people partying on the streets there than there was at the parade. It was great and we got a bunch more pics of some great costumes. People were very nice and more than willing to pose for pics.
We managed to shake the crowd and hopped the subway to catch the train home. Tom and Fred picked us up at home and we are sure they wished that they were in Greenwich with us for the parade. haha.
It was a great time, we had so much fun and we can now scratch this off our "to-do in life list".
Today, we took a quiet day at the boat and took a spin out in the Atlantic. It was warm again today--Spring weather--we can't believe its Nov 1. The dogs had their little halloween party. the pics are great.
Tomorrow we head to the city again to cheer Fred on for the Marathon. The race starts in Staten Island and ends at the Tavern on the Green. We had our pasta for dinner and have sympathy pains for Fred as he prepares to run the 26 hilly miles through each of the 5 boroughs.
The attached pics are:
Diana and "Andre Agassi" at the parade
Some parade shots
Di & Kim with the Empire State Building
Autumn shot at Central Park
Ollie (dragon), Frank (frankendog and possible future participant in the greenwich parade), Reces (Hula girl). Snicks grew tired of his costume and chose not to be pictured. :-)
videos to come...
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