Wandering around The Big Apple
The day started out with a train ride from Chatham into the city. We walked from Enid's place just in time to catch the train with only enough time to say our quick "goodbye"s and "thank you"s and pose for one group shot before jumping on the departing train.
It was a quick ride into the city that left us dealing with the mess that is Penn Station. With only one wrong turn we were on our way uptown.
We walked through Central Park, past a Latin Reggae concert and stopped at the zoo. Enid had given us tickets that were good at any of the metro zoos and we hoped to use it here since it was right there. Getting to the ticket office we notice the unfortunate sign that the zoo closed in half an hour and no matter how small the zoo there was no way to see it fairly in 30 minutes. We kept on walking. From outside the zoo fence we were able to see a sea lion though...
The park was filled with sunbathers and people escaping from the city life. There were people laid out on the grass, perched in the rocks, sitting at the base of the trees, everywhere. For anyone that likes to people watch this is an amazing place to do it. One of the comedic highlights for me was a heavy set guy that we saw walking towards us with his shirt off. He was sweating up a storm and fondling his man-boobs. It took quite a bit of self restraint to stop my self from laughing out loud or taking a picture. It was hilarious.
Getting out of the park we wandered up to the Guggenheim to start our museum hopping. We got there only to see a MASSIVE line that wrapped around the side of the building. It turns out that on Saturdays (or at least this one) the museum doesn't charge a set fee but requests a donation of anything you think is fair. That meant you could get in free or give what ever you felt like. It was getting close to dinner time and we were both hungry so that desire won out over getting into the Gug for free.
Off we went in search of food. Sarah's cousin recommended a sushi bar that was on our way so off we went looking for that. Dozens of blocks later our hunger is growing ever more audible and this mystery restaraunt is nowhere to be found. We start looking for anything sushi and come across a restaurant called "Amber". It turned out to be very good sushi and good drinks to boot. We walked out of there very satisfied with our choice. Starting our walk back we got two blocks down and saw the restaurant we were looking for. Doh!
Sunday was the museum hopping day. Setting out for the morning we got breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts. The unique thing about this shop was that it was right next to a subway station and a church that was holding service. It was very odd to be sitting on the steps as people were going into the church and the subway station, all with the city moving at it's normal speed up on street level...
Up on street level we came across a street fair on 53rd street and wandered through that. There were booths with food, clothing, accessories, crap, and tons of other stuff. It was fun to walk through. We came across a booth selling shirts with the phrase "Trickle Up Effect" on it. It was for a cool little company that employs homeless workers that are looking for work. Pretty cool and worth the support so I picked up a t-shirt.
First order of the morning was visiting the Museum of Modern Art, only a couple blocks away from the street fair. Getting in was easy and we were greeted by cool artwork straight away.
Of course as soon as we got into the museum my camera warned me that I had a low charge on the battery. So the rest of the day I was in battery saver mode and took a dramatically reduced number of photos.
The first exhibit on display was a collection of "junk" from a Japanese artist's deceased parents that covered a huge floor area. There were some really cool exhibits there including one where they marked your height, name and date on a white wall. With the thousands of people that visit the museum a day the marks added up to quite a work.
With my height standing slightly above the average my name was clearly visible on the wall, to the left of the joint...
unlike like Sarah's...
notice the difference between them? ;)
So more great art and several hours later we finished the museum tour with this piece
For food we headed down to Little Italy, skirting some serious thunder storms with hail and lightening. Fortunately we were inside eating when the skies really opened up and were entertained by a lady running up and down the street selling umbrellas to unprepared diners. When we left the restaurant in search of desert she chased us down shouting "Umbrella, Umbrella!" behind us. It was rather amusing.
Down the street was a desert place that has THE BEST canolli I've ever had. Mind you I have only had two and I think they were both from this shop so I might be biased.
By the time we were done with desert the skies had cleared but only long enough for us to get to a subway station. Thank goodness for the subway.
Pictures
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