The British Empire Building

I was in New York City during the past week, enjoying the traditional Catholic festivities of a rich friend's wedding. (I like how the rich live - I like how I live when I'm with them). It was quite literally (and figuratively) a moveable feast in the vicinity of Manhattan's midtown, where hundreds of us were chaperoned from location to location on coaches equipped with porters and champagne.

It was on the way to this moveable feast and the opulent Cathedral Mass that preceded it, when I happenstanced across the British Empire Building, which was established in 1933 to showcase the culture, commerce and industries of the British Commonwealth. I was quite startled to come across it, as there's no evidence of anglophilia in the area to prepare the passerby, just the upscale shops of 5th Avenue.

By the way, if you are ever in New York, be sure to have lunch at The Boathouse in Central Park where you can wine the afternoon hours away watching the Gondolas and row boats float by. Whatever you do, don't deprive yourself of your dignity and be a tourist. Do what I do and pretend you're a New Yorker. Go to all the best bars and lounges. Take the subway everywhere. Go to St. Patrick's on Sunday. Take in the history, the great monuments and the fabulous museums, but make it look like you're visiting for the umpteenth time. Even offer to provide directions to people who look lost and stupid. I'm proud to say that looking lost and stupid only happened to me once while in New York - it was when I passed the British Empire Building.