Boston and New York - part two

Today has been incredible. I'm utterly exhausted, but I've had a brilliant day. Starting off with getting lost, and having to take seven trains to go two stops, but that's okay. I like to people watch.

I SAW THE BLUE MAN GROUP!! The theatre was not so impressive. Very small, seats so tiny my ass is still bruised. But the show!! The show was magnificent. The Blue Men are so very cool. They don't speak, and they keep mostly straight faces, but they manage to show so much curiousity and passion and love and friendship and entertainment with their glances at one another. They did the famed paint drumming, and then some paint spitting, and various little bits and pieces that were all just so hilarious I can't begin to describe them. YOU MUST GO AND SEE THE BLUE MEN. BLUE MEN RULE!!! I wish to God I'd brought that DVD they had on sale. Very very very very very funny. And it had what is officially the best finale of all time. They switched on blacklights, and covered the audience in what was essentially toilet paper. Lots and lots of toilet paper. Rolls and rolls of the stuff. They fed it down from the back, and from the ceiling. And they had luminescent tubes of plastic swinging around, and there was strobe lighting and black lights and flashing and drumming and clapping and feet stamping and just general brilliantness. I can't rave about these guys enough. They were absolutely incredible. Side note to say thank you soooooo much to my darling Neil for buying me the ticket as a birthday present. I love you!!

After that I went for a wander around some shops and found a gorgeous one called Papyrus. Sells what it says on the tin. Paper. Mostly cards and notesets and things. They had some delicious journals. I picked one up and fell in love with it. It was thick and leather and a dark dark red with gold sketching and smooth soft paper and it smelt so good. And I knew it was going to be expensive, but I decided I'd splash out and buy myself a lovely gift. Until I saw the price. $80 is a little out of my price range for a journal I'm afraid. But it hurt to put it back on the shelf.

Next stop - The Bodies Exhibit. You know that Dr Gunther guy who did autopsies on the TV and has exhibitions of bodies and things? Well it's not by him (or endorsed or associated with in any way - according to the signs) but it's that kind of thing. Look it up. It's brilliant. I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it, and I'm still not sure whether I did or not, but it was certainly interesting. The exhibits were creepy, amazing and so intricate. I had no idea about some of that stuff. It was really cool. I nearly burst into tears when I saw a slice of an emphysema infected lung, but I didn't. It's gross. I touched a lung too. I touched part of a healthy one which was kinda gross and spongy, and then I touched a lung from a smoker. Hard as a rock. And black too. Very unhealthy. I've never smoked, never wanted to, but if I did, I'd have quit today. One of the exhibit rooms was a little hard to cope with and they did provide a bypass for people who didn't want to see it. Fetuses. Very teeny tiny babies. Right from 4 days after conception to full term. So small. So very small and disturbing. It was hard to think that they were real babies, not models. They were real, dead babies. Very disturbing, but fascinating. They had a pair of conjoined twins too. Joined at the stomach. It was weird. The reproductive exhibit was kinda weird too. I had no idea how small the uterus is. A baby fits in that?!! No fricking way. And the vaginal canal? That thing is tiny. No more sex for me!! And if that hadn't put me off, then I saw a cross section of a penis. No way I'm going near one of those things ever again. I think the weirdest thing in the exhibit though was in one of the first rooms, demonstrating skeletal and muscular structures. They had a skeleton linking fingers with a muscle body and they were both leaning back, but supporting each other. Pretty cool. Then I read the sign. It was the same dude!! They'd taken the skeleton out and stood it next to its body!! Freaky! It was pricey, but I'm very glad I went. Amazing stuff.

After the heaviness of dead babies and black lungs and penis aversion therapy, I needed some light relief. So I rode the buses around randomly for a while before heading to another movie. Planet 51. Very good. Lots of jokes for the grown ups too, and lots of references to other movies. Made me laugh a lot. Will definitely be getting it when it comes out on DVD.

Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow. I had planned on going to the Bronx Zoo and/or the Museum of Natural History (plus spaceshow), but my ankle is really really killing me and both those activities involve lots of walking. Also, I'm having a bit of a fat girl issue which is making walking uncomfortable at the moment. I'm tempted to head to the Garment District. I still have to go to Mood, and I cannot possibly leave the city without visiting at least six or seven of those trimming stores I saw on the way in. Maybe an open bus tour too? We'll see.