Day 53 - What are 2 things that can stop you dead in your tracks in Manhattan?

Well there are waaaaay more than 2 but how about a celebrity trailer surrounded by screaming fans and a whole city block lined with spring time flowers.  If you never experienced one or the other before, then you're missing a genuine NYC experience.

I was walking on 32nd street between Madison and 5th when I spotted what looked like a construction trailer.  What made this different from the ones I've seen in my home town was the lack of mud spattering, 2 handsome body guards in leather jackets and dark glasses standing guard, and the presence of a jumping, excited, quasi mob surrounding it.  Not a hard hat in sight either.  The intrigue stopped me dead in my tracks.  It didn't take too long even for this tourist-in-transition to realize it was actually a celebrity trailer.  "Who's in there", I asked a near breathless teenager.  I could have sworn she said Liam Neeson!  "Really?  Hmm.  I'll hang out a while to see him", I thought.  Not just because he's handsome - he's one of my favorite actors.  So I made myself as small as possible by squeezing up against the wall and waited to see if Liam would really emerge.  After a few minutes the door opened, shrieks of  "OH MY GOD" and "aaaaaaaaaaaaa" erupted everywhere and then, "Ohhhhhhhh...".  It was an assistant coming out to run an errand.  More minutes passed and I was wondering how much longer a reasonable person would spend just to get a glimpse of another person when the door swung open again.....more screaming...more shrieking!  And this time the star emerged.  It was Lieghton Meester...not Liam Neeson.  No wonder there were so many teenaged girls waiting around.  I wondered how Liam had developed such a young group of followers.  Joke's on me LOL.  Oh well.  It was kind of fun anyway just to see how the presence of one actor can cause so much excitement in the hearts of a NYC fan.

On the way home I turned down 31st street at 6th Ave headed toward 7th.  I've walked this way before but never noticed that the entire block is almost exclusively lined with florists and silk flower wholesalers.  Today, every florist had shrubs, topiaries and all around gorgeous, fragrant, fresh spring flowers lining the sidewalk in front of their stores.  I noticed the aroma before I even saw the displays and literally slowed from women-on-a-mission pace to near crawl in a single step. You see flowers outside of small produce stores and florist shops all around Manhattan everyday but this was different.  It was as if the concrete had given way to the earth and an entire garden had miraculously sprung up lining my path most of the way to 7th avenue.   Very nice.

I have a feeling I'm going to love spring time in NYC.