Bahamas spring break Anna Nicole-style
Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 3:23 PM
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On Assignment
By Michelle Kosinski, NBC News correspondent
It's past high noon in the center of Nassau, the well-worn Bahamian capital. A buzz is growing again around the old pink courthouse newly scrubbed to be shiny clean last week.
Again, dozens of tourists in pastels and clutching cameras have the place covered.
Why did they come here, and skip that unbelievably gorgeous beach? Two smiling spring breakers from Ohio say they are so fascinated by the Anna Nicole Smith saga that they had to stop by and catch a glimpse, hopefully a photo, of the now-world-famous players: attorney Howard K. Stern (a surprise showing on Tuesday), ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead (a crowd favorite who now enjoys cheers, well wishes and near-rock-star status on the island) and mom Virgie Arthur, who would like temporary custody of that little baby, Danielynn.
As the spring break girls tell it, they "just want to know who the father is!" And so does just about everyone here, locals included.
Spring break souvenir? An Anna Nicole tattoo?
It has been unusually chilly and windy, a strange feeling on an island where we're more used to broiling in sun-baked live shots and constantly wiping shiny foreheads, than putting on jackets.
The island is certainly captivated by all this. Tourist buses now haul people slowly past us. We’ve slowly realized that we – the media – have become a mini-tourist attraction as well.
On Monday, I walked past some local men shooting the breeze on a downtown street corner. What were they talking about? Anna Nicole.
Every cab driver seems to have a more intricate conspiracy theory than the last.
And most surprisingly, a tattoo parlor that caters to tourists is proudly – and hugely –advertising that the company is the one that did Anna and Howard's tattoos. Photos of those tattoos, and tacky pink t-shirts sporting them, are also circulating round here. Would that cause someone to stop in and grab a few tatts? It does draw attention....
Larry Birkhead has just arrived for another day in court – and the cheers are even louder today.
"Go, Larry, go!" they are yelling.
A strange spring break it is.
