Nonsense fun-fest #2, Whose shoes is whose? Or, find the lesbian! has drawn to a close, and we have us a winner. Her name is Liesel, and she writes the blog Dante’s Inferno with Children. [Liesel, I’ll write you later today to get your contact info & further skinny re: choice of booty.]
Now to the post-mortem.
Item in the first: the shoeses. I have been handily spotted as a dandy from a block away, so absolutely and decisively that only one player thought I could be skipping about town in the sporty checked Vans. 
At the left, you’ll see a revealing self portrait, complete with fancy Italian wool trousers and one of those ubiquitous “We are happy to serve you” Greek emblem coffee cups.
If L,D! were in town for business rather than pleasure, or if I was in town for pleasure and not business, I feel quite certain that he and I would have been virtually indistinguishable, haberdasherily speaking. Really.
Item in the second: location, location, location. Issuing as I do from not one, but two cartographers, I couldn’t resist mapping out the various guesses as to our locale. For your viewing pleasure, behold, the spiffy Google mash-up. Actual location of photograph is indicated by the black marker. You can scootch the center of the map over if you like, by clicking and dragging the image. Also, especially if you are viewing this from work, you MUST dawdle a bit longer and entertain yourself by toggling to the satellite and hybrid versions of the map as well, by clicking the buttons in the upper right corner of the map.
The photograph in question (reproduced at left) was taken on West 44th, between Broadway and 6th Ave. You all’s were right to deduce that L,D! had come into Penn Station and walked not too far: we met at MOMA and then went to get a bite at a place recommended by, who else, my Know-It-All-Brother-In-Law, who prides himself on being able to make knowlegable dining recommendations in every time zone.
I was inspired to photograph our shoes just after we’d left Cafe UnDeuxTrois, where we spent as little as possible while having as much fun as possible. It wasn’t hard. As the primary caregiver of two twin girls and a six year old, Looky, Daddy! hadn’t been kid-free in the big city for as long as he could remember. I think he could have been fully entertained simply sitting on a bench at Penn Station and watching the passers-by.
Thank you all, those of you who played this here fluffy guessing game. Wish’t I could afford to send a trinket of gratitude to everyone. I can at least offer a reference: if you want more of the same, you could join in similar such guessing game fun on the Flickr “Guess Where?” groups. Folks post tempting images of various spots around their various towns, and procrastinators world-wide try to figure out where the image was taken. There are 420 Flickr Guess Where groups; pick your favorite town and then fritter away some productive working hours! Here’s the one for NYC.
Rats!! I almost went back and changed my answer to somewhere near the Heartland Brewery Chophouse (I believe on 43rd between Broadway and 6th) but the chairs in there didn’t match the ones in the weekend bonus shot. Loved the game. I had a ton of fun searching online to figure out where you all met for beers. Congrats Leisel!!
I knew I was right about those shoes! Still no offense, LookyDaddy 🙂
No offense whatsoever, Vikki. It was pretty obvious to me whose shoes were whose, if only that I would never believe a stay-at-home dad of twin toddlers could own a pair of shoes with laces.
Sorry for the close call, avyates. I had a ton of fun myself, plus I picked up a pocketful of ideas for where to go on my next visit to town (e.g., the Heartland Brewery Chophouse, or Cafeteria on 7th & 17th, Hudson Corner in the W. Village, etc.). If I can make it fun enough, I may just have to do this a regular feature.
And Vikki: worry not. I think L,D! would only really be offended if you mistook him for a Yankees fan, rather than a Mets fan, which egregious mistake I made when I quipped that I’d be looking for “the guy in the Yankees cap.” You know, thinking there’d be so many of them. Oops. Forgot this fabu post of his from last December, which he finishes with the clear reference to his Mets cap. I had to buy him a beer to make up for that.
It was indeed fun. The best part for me was finally checking out Google maps Street View. I had never bothered with it before, but you gave me an excuse for traveling the street of Manhattan via my laptop.
Thanks.
Man, and I ate there once and everything. Totally forgot about the crayons.
And I’d have to concur on the bad service: They told my girlfriend, who is allergic to eggs and all their derivatives, that the house vinaigrette was mayonnaise-free. It wasn’t. Luckily she only had a small bite.
More contests! 🙂
PS Where’d you get those shoes, anyway? They’re pretty sweet.
Liesel: Groovy, huh! Scary, the Big Brother potential of satellite technology. But groovy, in this application.
And debbie: if you Google crayons + NYC + snooty waiter + cafe (as my Know-It-All-Brother-In-Law did), you actually get Cafe UnDeuxTrois as your first hit! I’m glad your sweetie didn’t go into anaphalactic shock over the vinagrette, because I’m not so sure the wait staff could be bothered to adminster any medical aid.
And on the shoes: voilá! Ain’t cheap, but as any self-respecting gentle-manly gal knows, men’s shoes are made twice as well as women’s shoes, and they last three times as long. You can actually walk in them, etc. This brand is especially good for actual walking use. I expect to go many a mile in these wingtips.