New York, New York
Hey lovely people! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend (and holiday, for those of you stateside). I'm back from New York, and I had a wonderful time! We packed quite a bit in for the few days we stayed in town, so it's hard to pick a highlight. This particular trip to New York really impressed upon me the vast number of things to see and experience there. I can see why some people just never leave the city, when there is so much to do. I was also quite taken by how nice everyone was. All kinds of people would offer help without our asking. Not to mention the restaurant service, which was some of the best I've ever had. ♥
I took quite a few pictures! Pictured above is St. Thomas Cathedral, off 5th Avenue. It's just down the street from St. Patrick's, which is (I believe) where the pope held mass when he was here back in March.
I poked in to St. Patrick's to take a few pictures, but it was sort of dark and they didn't really come out that well.
Right across the street from the Cathedral was the 5th Ave. Banana Republic, which is three stories and houses practically everything, including stuff from their signature collection. I tried on that wool "Yoite" trench coat that I had been eying for a while, but ended up getting the (much more affordable) cotton version instead, to great satisfaction. I almost can't wait until the weather gets a little more brisk so I can start wearing it.
As you can see, the weather was absolutely gorgeous! This was very fortunate, because before I left, the forecast had called for clouds and rain for most of the week.
More pics under the cut >>
The bus dropped us off in Chinatown (yes, we took the rather infamous Chinatown bus and managed to arrive in one piece!). I was happy to get a chance to see the winding side streets of Chinatown...there's so much character here. Lots of little cafes, bakeries and trinket shops line the narrow streets. It's not the cleanest part of town, but bustling and fun to look around.
We stayed at my friend's cousin's apartment, located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. I loved these pretty brownstones, which reminded me of D.C.'s Georgetown. Apparently Jennifer Connelly used to live in this neighborhood and would often be spotted in the park or the gym.
The apartment wasn't in one of those brownstones, but still quite comfortable and close to lots of cafes and restaurants. I met up with my girl mlliu for dinner the first night at the Blue Ribbon bistro and we shared some yummy surf & turf.
There was lots of shopping to be done, and one of my very first stops was of course, the Kinokuniya bookstore. I picked up the Nabari artbook, Yugioh R (which I'm almost done reading already), and God Child 8. They didn't have Zero Sum, which was kind of bummer...but I think it was being released in Japan the same day, so it wasn't too surprising.
I *love* Yugioh R. I remember I started reading it back when it first came out years ago, but I didn't keep up with it. Now I know what I was missing!! Have any of you read it yet??
I also got myself a Jiji plush (from Kiki's Delivery Service), something that I'd always wanted. Could be because my nickname is Jojo.. XD
There's a cafe on the top level of Kino, and I shared a pot of tea and a dessert with my friend. Isn't this the cutest pot ever? It's specially designed to go with this triangular tea filter.
And this is the dessert, which was fabulous! A warm chocolate souffle paired with vanilla ice cream and fruit in a demitasse cup.
We stopped in the New York Public Library to admire the grand foyer, but the outside is just as pretty.
It's guarded at the front by two stone lions. On the right hand side is carved this quote, from the Bible.
The library's architecture is beautiful! This is the arched ceiling at the top of the stairs. The main doors to the library are to the right.
I had a chance to really look around the Brooklyn area this time, which was nice! Last time I visited NY, I stayed in Manhattan and didn't get out to the boroughs.
Above is the Brooklyn Public Library, just down the street from the apartment. Pretty impressive, huh? It's right across the street from Grand Army Plaza, which has an arch that's pretty reminiscent of the Washington Square arch where Sally drops Harry off in the movie and says, "Have a nice life!"
And right down the block from the library is the Brooklyn Museum. The building is really lovely, and has names and sculptures of Greek philosophers running down the length of the front side.
The entrance is a sort of strange fusion of old and modern. I'm not sure I like it very much..
The Brooklyn Museum houses a wonderful Egypt collection, including this stela from the Third Intermediate Period (circa 825-773 B.C.) Apparently, it commemorates the donation of a plot of land, and promises "dire punishments" to those who misappropriate it.
I love these stone tablets! And not just because they remind me of Yugioh. XD
A chest; I don't remember what it had inside, but I believe it was for burial purposes.
We spent one afternoon taking the train all the way up to 190th Street to visit the Cloisters, a sort of annex to the Met that's devoted to medieval architecture and art. It's located just beyond the Fort Tryon Park by the Hudson River. This is a view from a walkway that looks out onto the river.
Walking up to the Cloisters. The museum itself is designed with neo-medieval architecture, and houses chapels, cloisters and gothic halls.
Needless to say, I took a lot of pictures here!
The Cuxa Cloister: "Twelfth-century cloister elements from the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa, located in the Pyrenees."
I think this was the Pontaut Chapter House, from the Benedictine abbey of Notre-Dame.
We took a train back to the Upper East Side to catch afternoon tea at the Carlyle hotel. I had the orange pekoe, which was delicious! The scones were so warm and wonderful.
The service was also lovely! Our waiter didn't charge us for the extra pots of tea, and threw in a few more scones because we were all covetous for those, and weren't so eager to share, lol.
Food in New York is phenomenal. *___* Loved every bite! The only sad thing is, there are only a few meals in a day. But that still didn't stop us from having appetizers and drinks at Morimoto (his NY branch), then hopping into a cab to catch our dinner reservation at another restaurant. (I'd much rather "restaurant-crawl" than bar-crawl!)
This was from my dinner that night, the Elysian fields lamb done two-ways. We dined at Tabla, a French-Indian fusion restaurant that has a casual dining area downstairs and a more formal dining room upstairs, where the menu is prix fix. The waiter was so helpful, and even brought out tastings for the wines because we couldn't decide which ones to get!
This happened also at Craft (Tom Colicchio's restaurant), where the waiter brought out 4 tastings. ♥
What's a trip to NY without a few Broadway shows? We saw two shows - "A Tale of Two Cities" the musical and "The 39 Steps," a comedic spoof of Alfred Hitchcock's movie.
The Tale of Two Cities is relatively new, and was very well done! The sets aren't elaborate so didn't take away from the performances. The actor who played Sydney was amazing, and was definitely the highlight of the show. The songs themselves weren't so memorable as some other musicals, but the acting (especially Sydney's) was very good.
The 39 Steps was so funny! I haven't seen the movie, but I'm really curious now to see how its mood compares to the play. The image pictured above (from a postcard ad) is from a scene where the main character is escaping from a moving train. "He's on the roof, sir!" the guy on the train yells as the man flaps at his coat furiously to show us how the wind is whipping across on top of the train. XDD
Last pic is a view from my table at the local bakery/cafe in Park Slope called Sweet Melissa. I looooved their bakery items. They had a wonderful almond bread pudding served with raspberry sauce that I wish I could have again!
So there you have it, my trip in a nutshell! It was definitely a well needed vacation. ♥ I'm gonna try to catch up with my flist, though I'm afraid I'm going to miss a few things, since it's been quite a few days.
The week starts tomorrow for me. Back to the daily grind! X)