06.05.07
The Big Apple
This last weekend I went to New York for the first time EVAR. Here’s what happened:
Thursday night
- I took the train from Philly to Manhatten. It was not too expensive, so I went first class. I’m a huge fan of the train. You get on, like, 5 minutes before it leaves, you can use your phone/computer the entire trip, and there’s no crazy “Must have your explosive liquids in a ziplock bag before we can let you thru security” crap going on.
- Reshma picked me up at the station and we went to her place to pick up her best friend Shaun. He’s a cool guy, even if he does work for the enemy…
- We all met up with Tiffany and [insert other members of our party here]
- We decided to go to a restaurant that is super old and has old (sometime famous) people’s pipes on pretty much every wall and the entire ceiling. It was super-tasty
- Went and saw times square at night. I mean, I assume it was night based on my watch and tiredness level, but it was so brite I’m not convinced.
Friday
- Slept in to around 10-ish and then took a shower. Pretty much everybody I knew in NY was going to be working, so I was on my own for the touristy stuff.
- I decided to go to the WTC site (more on that below)
- Next I went to the statue of liberty. I had a phone call I had to be on at 2, so I didn’t take the farie over there, but I did see it from a distance. Turns out, in that case, the photo’s do it justice just fine
- I started walking around the financial discrict, had a street vendor hot dog, and saw the brooklyn bridge
- All in all, it was a good site seeing trip
- I headed back for my phone call, and then I took a nap.
I was up a little late chatting the nite before, and Chris needs his beauty sleep
Friday Night
- Had a hot date.
- We went to [insert name of place I can’t remember here]. It had awesome food. I was way impressed.
- Next, we had tickets to see Mary Poppins on Broadway. Now, if you know me well at all, you know that the Mary Poppins movie is consistantly in my top 2-3 favorite moves of all time. I have to say, I was impressed. They took out a few things from the movie, and added a few things from the book (there’s a book?!), and technically it was pretty amazing. Bert even walked all the way up the arch on stage right, along the top of the arch and down on stage left. It was pretty sweet.
Saturday
- Got up and took care of some email and errands I needed to do. Reshma woke up at 2pm. Yes, 2. Seriously.
- Headed to brunch (If you can call 2:30 brunch-time) with Shaun and Reshma. We ate at a french restaurant (they were out of quiche.
) - Next we decided to go to the Museum of Modern Art. I wish I could say it was amazing, but by the time we got over there it was only going to be open for another hour.
- Instead, we went to Central Park, stopping on the way to see the coolest apple store in the world. Awesome.
- We walked thru Central Park for a while. This place is awesome. I was seriously blown away. The insane contrast between how packed and fast paced the city is, compared to the open and mellow park is exquisite (I even looked up how to spell exquisite. That’s how much I love this park)
- We headed back to get ready to meet up with some other friends later that night.
- Met up with the other friends. For the record, Julia is the funniest person in the world. Seriously. I haven’t laughed that hard in a very long time. (Now it’s on the internet, so it must be true)
- We had wine on the terrace (with an amazing view I might add), and then headed out for sushi. Good stuff.
- We went to a little bar in some area or another (I know, very specific, eh?) and had a few drinks.
Sunday
- Went out for brunch again, this time to a place called Cafeteria. It was pretty fun. Good food.
- Next, I was on my own again since my friends had to go back in to work (insane, right?). I decided to go to the moma for real this time.
- Didn’t go to the moma again. I got there, realized that in order to get back to get ready for my train I was only going to have 1 hour to see the museum again, and decided not to (again). Instead, I walked in the park. I totally [heart] Central Park.
- I decided I was going to walk the long way thru the park. I get all the way thru it and reach the street. I was pretty impressed with myself. That was, of course, until I discovered that I had gotten turned somehow and ended up on the west side of the park, only about half way thru it. Dang. I decided to give up, since time was slim and it was starting to sprinkle.
- On my way back, I get a voice mail (phone didn’t ring for some reason) saying my train was canceled. So, I get back to the apartment and find my ticket and get the time changed.
- Went to dinner with Reshma and Tiffany at a chinese restaurant they call Room (only because the chinese characters look like the letters “Room”). It was pretty good.
- Went to the train station and headed back to Philly (after another hour of it being delayed…)
World Trade Center
I have to say that the thing that surprised me the most about this trip was seeing the world trade center. The entire time I was looking at the site, or at the pictures that were on the fence, or the timeline that was there, I didn’t feel a thing. I was really expecting some sort of emotional flailing, but nothing. My guess is it is a little bit of me being out of touch with my emotions (what, me?) and a little bit of complete desensitization by mainstream media, but it really did surprise me. It felt like just another construction site. Weird.