What I Did On My Summer Vacation........

I have had such a wonderful time in the past year, making new friends, arguing the fine details and every nuance of every episode of The Nanny. And all these friends are faceless words on a screen, no less real, but a question mark as to their "true" natures. So when the opportunity presented itself this summer to gather my courage and drive 630 miles by myself to visit Abby in New York City (somewhere I had never been before), it was a chance I could not pass up. A person I had never even spoken to on the phone became my goal, and every mile covered was a personal challenge to be overcome. It didn't help that I managed to arrive at the outskirts of New York at straight up five o'clock in the afternoon, so I had rush hour traffic to contend with too. I finally arrived at eight, and to the relief of all concerned, neither of us turned out to be an ax murderer or a fourteen year old boy (not that there's anything wrong with that, should that have been what we were expecting, but it wasn't).

My faith in our abilities to judge character based on months of e-mail was immediately confirmed, contrary to the horror stories one hears on the news. Abby and I felt at home with each other within minutes, and got down to serious Nanny gossip right away. We spent the first evening talking and getting to know the "real" person, till the long drive took it's toll, and we headed off to bed. (Okay, get your minds out of the gutter!)

	The Train, we spent hours on this baby.		FAO Schwartz, left, and Bergdorf Goodman's

The next morning, we got up bright and early and took the train into Manhattan. We had a lot of Nanny sights to see (and some regular 'tourist' type stuff too), and not a lot of time to see it in. That first day, we walked and gawked and walked some more. Fifth Avenue was fun since we saw so many of the stores that Fran Fine frequents. Recognize Bergdorf Goodman's from 'Shopoholic?' FAO Schwartz (a famous toy store) was right across the street, so we had to bop in there to check out the possibilities for souvenirs to take home to my kids! We stopped in St. Patrick's Cathedral (where the Sheffields attended Christmas services) and had lunch in Trump Tower, then walked down to.......

	Rockefeller Center and the entrance to the NBC tour. Notice it's also the...	entrance to the Rainbow Room, a favorite restaurant of Fran's.	Times Square!

Rockefeller Center to take the NBC tour. We got to see Rosie O'Donnells Studio on the tour, but we couldn't take pictures there. The studio is a whole lot smaller in person than you would think from seeing it on TV!

We also spent some time in the Museum of Television and Radio. It is a library of old TV shows, you order which show you would like to see from thier catalog and then go view them. I watched a very young Charles Shaughnessy in an old "Days of Our Lives" episode get dumped by his fianceé. It was fun to see Stephen Nichols too, a co-star on Days with Charlie that guested on the Nanny as Brock Storm, a soap star that Fran dated. He really did wear that eye patch on Days! (I also watched an episode of "Here Come The Brides"~~even I don't think "The Nanny" all the time. Bobby Sherman still has it, though to my adult eyes, that Robert Brown wasn't bad either!)

We then walked over to Times Square and on down to catch the train home.

The next day, we hailed a cab, and asked to be taken to 7 E. 75th Street, the address that had been passed on to me from a reader of the page (thanks Greg!) as being the house that is used for the exterior shots of the Sheffield Mansion. But I had no idea if it was actually correct or not. So as the cab rounded the corner down 75th, we were greatly relieved to see it, and our shouted "There it is!" probably startled our cab driver!

The house is located on a fairly quiet street, and is only ½ a block from Central Park on one side, and two blocks from Park Avenue on the other. It's very easy to picture this as a perfect location for the Sheffield home. A gentleman who was outside his office on the other side of the street took our pictures together for us. Apparently the address of the house is not widely known, since he had no idea it was a "famous" house and didn't indicate that he had ever seen any other fans there. Okay, we knew were special!

From the house we walked the half block to Central Park and strolled along the paths there. We passed a small playground just filled with Nannies and their charges--but most of these Nannies were in full uniform! Fran would definately stand out in that crowd!

	The Guggenhiem Museum~~where Maggie was going to hold her "Sweet Sixteen." The interior shot is looking up inside the "Grand Foyer" area.

We walked up to see the Guggenhiem Musuem, and spent an enjoyable ½ hour feeding the pigeons! The rest of the day was spent at the Metropolitian Museum of Art, and we didn't even get close to seeing it all.

	Barb at the Met
	Zabar's ("Not gay bars, Ma!")

Our Third and final day was devoted to the Upper West Side. We took a cab up Central Park West, and stopped at the Museum of Natural History. We strolled through the grounds, and passed the Manhattan Mens Club (where Max is a member) on our way to Zabars. Zabars is a gourmet food lovers delight, with every kind of fresh food and meat imaginable. Niles could definately buy his paté here and pass it off as his own!!

Then we walked on down Broadway towards the theater where we had tickets to Renee Taylor's play, Bermuda Avenue Triangle. We were early, so we stopped for lunch at a yuppie coffee shop next door to the theater and planned strategy for trying to get backstage to meet Renee. We had a paper copy of the front page of my web page, and had a fan letter to be passed to her if we got the opportunity. We decided to better our odds by also buying a bouquet of fresh flowers for her.

I asked the guy at the counter of the coffee shop where the stage door was--figuring to do a little lurking outside. He responded that we had just missed Joe Bologna--he had been in the shop earlier and we had come in right as he was leaving! Rats~~our first opportunity missed!

So we went back to the original plan and walked down the street to buy the flowers. By the time we returned, it was almost time for the show, and the front of the theater was awash in a sea of "Sylvia's" waiting to see the show. We were definitely among the youngest ones there, but it was fun listening to the chatter around us.

We took our seats and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves throughout the first act. During intermission we made sure to identify the house manager so that we could speak to him after the show. The second act was not quite as uproariously funny as the first had been, but that was mostly due to them trying to teach us a life lesson, IMHO.

The show ended, and Renee interrupted the applause at the end to tell us what a great audience we had been and that it was a pleasure to do the show for such a great crowd. Abby and I waited for the crowd to thin, and then made our way over to the house manager at the back of the theater. We handed him the flowers and the card and asked him to deliver them to Renee. He responded with a quick "But you can give them to her yourself. No problem." He gave us instructions on how to find Renee's assistant, and that she would take us backstage. The whole thing was way too easy!

So we connected with the assistant, and she took us to the cubbyhole that was Renee's dressing room. Renee immediately greeted us very graciously and made grateful noises over the flowers. We explained who we were, and tried to explain a little about the page. I think most of that went over her head, but she did offer any of our readers a discount on the show if you mention the password "Sylvia Fine" when you order your tickets! So if any of you go, be sure to give it a try. She consented to a picture, and then our audience was over and we were escorted out. On our way through the maze to get out, her assistant asked us if we knew where the Sheffield House was. She had been wondering! We happily supplied the information and plotzed our way across the street to a little Greek restaurant called "Niko's."

Niko's

Home again. I did it!!

We sat down a table that had a good view of the door, and proceed to have a couple of drinks to celebrate. A short time later, Renee, Joe, and their small dog arrived for drinks. Renee was carrying the flowers we had given her and she smiled and waved at us. They were seated not too far away, so during the entire meal I had an eagle eye view.

The next morning, it was time to say goodbye, and start the 630 mile trip home. I must say I was glad to arrive safely, and my family was glad to see me too! Next year, I'll fly!

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