Fieldtrip O'Friday III

Being St. Patrick's Day and all, I decided that the perfect fieldtrip for myself today would be...dun-da-da-dah, the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Yes, there is a St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York, we don't have a green river, but we do close off a huge chunk of Fifth Ave for an afternoon of fun. But, you're going to get double your money's worth with this entry, because I also went to the DMV, or the "License Xpress" DMV to get a NY State Drivers License. Two adventures, all in one very green day.

I had to plan my "St. Patrick's Day '06" day very carefully, as I was planning (and am currently doing) to make an actual corned beef for corned beef and cabbage. But, as you may know, this takes many hours, so I had to be home early enough to get 'er in the pot for dinner tonight. 3.5 pounds of brisket waiting to be enjoyed. Anyways, the parade started at 11 AM at 44th street and worked its way up to 88th (I think, maybe 86th), so I decided to leave our apartment at 11, hit Starbucks and head across the park for the parade. I was then planning to walk down to the DMV (34th street, right by Macy's) after I had enough parading.

I very carefully packed my bag, for this was a real adventure, two stops all in one day: newspaper and book (for waiting at the DMV), water, camera (yes, I actually took it with me), apple and soup in a thermos (well, I would need some nourishment throughout the afternoon).

I arrived at 81st and Fifth around 11:20 or so, and the parade had not yet made its way up there; taking the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade Website's advise, I headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to sit on the steps. Much to my dismay, the police had surrounded the steps and completely barricaded them off. Stupid website. But I was able to find a seat on a ledge of the museum, which was perfect, it was in the sun and the wind was blocked by the building. I realized that this was infinitely better than a Thanksgiving Day parade for one small reason, it was March, spring is coming in a week! It's not -30 degrees and my toes aren't frozen to bits, even with the chemical feet warmers. It was sunny, there were birds! I was dressed in a cotton sweater and my puffy vest, no hat or gloves...ahh, I love the St. Patrick's Day Parade!

After I decided I loved the parade (that hadn't actually gotten to me yet) I busted out the camera to take a picture showing that the parade wasn't there yet, so essentially a picture of nothing, when after taking the picture (or perhaps during the picture taking) the batteries died. I had the best of intentions, there really were going to be pictures this time..stupid camera.

I then called my mom to chat a bit about my corned beef adventure for the afternoon while I watched green balloons, green cotton candy, irish flags, green dr. suess hats and the like go by (this was before the parade started). Soon, the police car came leading the parade and I settled into my seat. Suddenly my stomach growled and so I pulled out the still very very hot soup. You can't even imagine how good it was (yes, I still had leftover pasta e fagioli from the other night, and yes, it was still delicious, especially because it was hot and it was cold outside). I had to pat myself on the back for thinking of packing it.

The parade mostly consisted of police officers, veterans, various military groups (army, marines, reserves, I'm not sure I couldn't tell them all apart) plus some bands - my favorite was the all bag pipe band, I'm not sure I could handle it any other day but today. No floats, which was too bad, imagine a shamrock float coming down Fifth Ave. Lots of men in skirts, both in the parade and not in the parade, and Rudi Giuliani (not in a skirt though, but that would have been awesome)...I had two thoughts while watching the parade:

1. Parades are funny (especially those with nothing to see but people walking). People who are in them are looking at the people on the sidewalks and people on the sidewalks are looking at those in the street. Everyone waves and smiles. A little curious, but everyone seems to enjoy themselves.

2. It seemed as though all of the police force was walking in the parade today, so I wondered, who exactly was on duty and where were they?

So the answer to that question came as I was walking to the DMV. As it turns out, the police people who aren't in the parade are stationed on the streets...outside the bars. Ha! That to me is awfully hilarious, duties for Friday the 17th were either: bar or parade. What a great day!

So my two favorite things that I saw today:
Runner-up: Guy with died green hair. What made this good though, was that he had a very very short buzz-cut so it looked much more like died green head. Classic.
Winner: Totally unrelated to St. Patrick's Day, unfortunately, but again while walking to the DMV, I saw a guy carrying a plastic naked headless mannequin. To be fair, it was the "Fashion District" (I'm not sure if that's an official district or not), but it still brought a smile to my face.

And on to the DMV, which was much less of an adventure than what I was hoping for. Since this location only handled licenses, everyone was pretty much there for the same reason. After our third try at attempting to get a license, I finally had all the correct paperwork: passport, social security card, Michigan license, and my driving record (which cost $7 to get). No, I'm not kidding, you actually need all that. But the whole thing was relatively well run, they have an information booth that you have to go to either get a number or forms. They make sure you have everything before letting you get in line. Then I was sent to take my eye exam and get my picture taken, let me assure you, it's not cute. Then I got a number to go to the counter, pay my $42.50 and get my paper temporary license. For $42.50 I get a piece of paper? Are you kidding me? So glad I didn't do this last week when we were traveling on the plane. Not sure they would have let Jeff rent a car either. Yeah, so a paper license is what I have now, they took the Michigan one away, no long teary goodbyes or anything, just whisked away. Good thing I do have a passport because if we want to get rockin' tonight at the bar, there's no way they'd let me in with a piece of paper (although my eye wrinkles are making my license less and less necessary when ordering drinks).

Anyways, I'd say this was another successful Fieldtrip Friday, lots of walking, lots of enjoying the city and lots of people wearing green, just as it should be. Stay tuned however, for Monday, where you'll get to read all about how the corned beef came out. I know, I know, you're going to be at the edge of your seat until then. Happy St. Patrick's Day, kiss someone (Irish or not)!