THE CITY IS A DREAM ON A SUMMER SATURDAY

My heart was all set on going to the beach last Saturday. But that wasn't going to happen. For starters, Mike and I needed to decompress after his lovely Friday night art opening at the Fall Cafe. On top of that, weather folks had predicted rain.

After brunch at LeLuc, a cheerful spot on Smith Street, we ventured to the historic Ziegfeld Theater to see the movie Mama Mia. There was barely anyone in the enormous field of seats, so we had our choice of where to sit. We sat smack in the middle without any legs to scramble over on our way in or out of the aisle. Ahhhh....what luxury!

After the movie, which was a ton 'o fun, we set out for Central Park. Once there, we sat just outside of the entrance of the Children's Zoo, right in time to watch the feeding of the shiny black seals. The funnest part was watching the people - most of whom were tourists - walk to and 'fro.

With a little group also parked on the bench outside the zoo, we watched the instrument-playing animals of the Delacorte Music Clock march 'round and 'round on the half-hour. Pure delight!

A little droopy from the humidity, we straggled over to the Loeb Boat House grill to gulp down lemonade and share a surprisingly good fruit salad. I loved watching the pigeons and their more diminutive companions - we'll call them the tiny fluffy birds - hop underfoot of the outdoor diners.

From there, we made our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we ascended to a very crowded rooftop to enjoy a view of the park's verdent canopy. We got a nice glimpse of the off-in-the-distance hot air balloon attraction as well as the roof's main attraction: a shiny Jeff Koons balloon dog sculpture. A nice, Manhattany bonus: we got to evesdrop on a conversation between the star of a primetime comedy and the guy we assumed was her date.

After sundown, we took the bus down to Rockefeller Center, where hundreds of people were lounging in the Rink Bar, the space that doubles as the famous ice skating rink in the winter. When a sudden heavy burst of rain showers hit, the diners and drinkers huddled under the bar's scattering of orange umbrellas.

Once underground, we took the F back to our quiet abode in Carroll Gardens.

I'm already planning a trip back to the Ziegfeld.

Photo by Jeanine