End of an Era

As I walked to work this morning, I saw something that made me rather sad. The FAO Schwarz store on Fifth Avenue - featured in the movie Big - is closing. There are big signs on the windows about the store closing. I can't say that I shopped there very often, mostly because I don't have a need for many toys, but I always liked to go in and wander through the vast rooms of stuffed animals. I remember spending hot summer days cooling off in Legoland, building all kinds of stuff. Of course that was before they took that feature away and made it much less interactive.



I shouldn't be very surprised. I had heard that they were having more financial problems. But, I didn't think that their flagship store would be on the chopping block.

In more disturbing news, I think we are losing the war on rats. As I was walking down the street last night, I came across 2 rather large rats (the size of small cats) fighting on the sidewalk. Well, maybe they weren't fighting, they could have been playing, I don't know. In any case, that was one of the very few times when I felt physically uncomfortable on the streets of New York. I felt silly crossing the street for a few feet just to avoid them, but there was no way I was going to take my chances with feisty rodents.