Yesterday was a long one - Tom and I packed in about two days’ worth of New York experiences into one day. We were awake by 8:45 and at breakfast by 9:15. We hit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Empire State Building, two bars in the East Villiage, the site of the World Trade Center, a veggie restaurant in Chelsea, and Times Square. And all this with jet lag (me) and a cold (him). Today we’re going a bit slower (mostly out of necessity; my feet are still killing me) - up by 9, breakfast at Starbucks in Trump Tower (hee!) and a ride in a horse-drawn carriage through Central Park. We’re taking a short internet break (to avoid the withdrawl shakes, don’t you know) before we hit the train in Penn Station and head down to Jersey to visit Tom’s grandparents.

We’ve really lucked out with weather. It’s been sunny and clear, warm but not hot. Spring has sprung in the city and it’s making everyone smile. The tulips are in bloom. It’s almost enough to make me willing to move out here. Almost. I think the mid-summer and mid-winter would change my mind quite quickly.

The few hours we spent in the Met wasn’t nearly long enough - but we were able to see quite a bit. We saw some of the new Greek and Roman galleries, plenty of pots and bowls, some interesting coins, and some marble figures. Then we headed up to a temporary exhibit - Barcelona and Modernity: Gaudi to Dali. Tom’s family had gone to see it and thought it was quite interesting. My favorite part was the surrealists - Dali especially.  It’s interesting to consider the psychological underpinnings of the nightmarish paintings.  The colors were vivid and the images disturbing.  I’m not sure I actually *liked* the paintings, but they were oddly compelling.  I’m intrigued by the way artists can render emotion through the changes they make to common figures - like Picasso in ‘Guernica’.  You can see the suffering in the way figures are distorted.  But how does that translate?  For me, I get stuck attempting to create more realistic, or photographic images.  It would never occur to me to go in such a completely different direction.

Going up to the top of the Empire State building was a total trip.  It was so clear we could see for at least 25 miles (not that I’d know that off the top of my head, that’s just what they tell us).  I took about a thousand pictures.  I love how so much of the area was spread out before us.  Helicopters flew right at our level.  And birds flew lower.  Fortunately the fence around the observation deck was high enough to keep me from getting vertigo, so I got to spend a good while up there before getting dizzy.

After that, we both needed a bit of break from walking.  So we headed out to McSorley’s Old Ale House, the oldest continually operating saloon in New York.  I wanted to see an old ale house, and Tom wanted beer.  Perfect!  So we hoofed it out to the East Village (by subway).  McSorley’s was great - wood floors covered with sawdust.  Dark.  Crowded, even in the middle of the afternoon.  That was the only downside, since we couldn’t find a place to sit for long.  We had just enough time to drink one small beer (him dark, me light - the only choices) and then we moved on.  We headed to St. Mark’s Place and hit up another bar where we actually got to relax and sip our drink.  The East Village is pretty cool - full of tattoo and piercing shops, brownstones and funky people.

A little tipsy, we moved on.  Tom wanted to see how much progress had been made at the site of the World Trade Center (now to be the Freedom Tower.  Gag) so we took the subway out there.  Neither of us had been back since late 2001, when all we saw was a cordoned off area.  Now we got to see the huge hole, and all of the earth movers they have getting stuff ready for the memorial.  There were still pictures of the day, and people afterwords, and lists of all of those who died.  Part of me was nauseated by the ‘rah rah America’ of it all, but most of me was touched by the magnitude of the loss.  Regardless of anything else, so many people lost family members and friends that day, and nothing will erase their grief.  It is still a place of mourning.

Unfortunately our reverie was interrupted by the need to find a bathroom (Damn that beer) so we moved on.  After finding a hotel to duck into, we decided it was time for dinner.  To my dismay, Tom wanted to just wander around an area of the city and see what we could find.  We took the subway to Chelsea and started our trek.  I was doubtful, but he was right.  We found a wonderful new vegetarian restaurant called “Blossom”.  My mood improved substantially with gingerale and a chair.  And everything we ate was delicious.  We shared an appetizer of potstickers and tempura, then I had a lentil-phyllo dish.  The only bad thing was I didn’t have room for dessert.

Feeling much energized, and attempting to ignore my swiftly growing blisters, we headed out to see Times Square at night.  I haven’t been there in over 15 years, and so much has changed.  I was gawking like a total n00b - all the lights!  All the screens!  The crowd!  Egads.  We were thinking of finding a place for dessert, but didn’t want to hit either the Hard Rock Cafe or Planet Hollywood.  And I was too tired to explore much.  We decided to head back to the hotel and check email and put up our feet.  It was a full day.

Today Tom decided to be wonderfully sweet and take me on a horse and carriage ride around Central Park.  I picked out the carriage mostly because the driver had an adorable accent.  But also the carriage was pretty. Ahem.  We got to curl up together and take in the sights in a relaxing fashion.  I think we should ban cars and go back to horse and buggys.  Sure it would be slow, but think of the environment!  Plus, I love hearing horses walk along.

Now we’re off to hit the New Jersey train down to Red Bank to visit Tom’s grandparents.  Both sets.  It should be quiet.  No need for hiking.

Posted on May 7th, 2007 by Kat
Filed under: General