September (2010) Travels Part III - Friends in NYC
In celebration of *finally* getting my NYC pictures posted I thought I would seize on that trend and finally finish the narrative update too (I know, I know, look at me on a roll). The downside is that I've probably forgotten a lot, so electrichobbit and aristos1 should feel free to add in any bits I've forgotten.
Part I - Crossing the Atlantic, Part II - The Family, and now for Part III. . .
From the very beginning, we knew this trip was going to be a bit schitzophrenic, because we had two different objectives - spending time with my family and then catching up with a certain monkey before he did his hop across the pond. We got double lucky because not only did we get to see electrichobbit, but aristos1 also came up for the weekend.
We actually met up with electrichobbit for lunch after getting off the boat at an awesome little Indonesian place in Hell's Kitchen before wandering up 5th street and bits of Central Park. We also discovered a pretty cool photography exhibit on NYC's changing green spaces. And since we were with a local, we got the inside scoop on a number of the images.
Then, after family time was done and R and i checked into our new hotel, we met up with the boys again for a(nother) wander around central park and then over to the High Line and cupcakes! (Crumbs (the East Village location) Somehow I totally missed getting pictures of the cupcakes, but suffice it to say they were super yummy. The high line was pretty cool itself - I had heard a programme on it's history a few weeks before. After that it was time for tasty Japanese (Sushi on Hudson in the West Village). I don't remember where we ate (electrichobbit any ideas?) but it was one of those little hole in the wall places.
After more walking about enjoying the city (and a tasty bit of hot cocoa) we headed up to electrichobbit's neck of the woods (I got to ride the A Train!!) for what our group of friends seem to do best - boozy chats until late in the night.
The next morning was the requisite greasy spoon breakfast at a little place electrichobbit knew over by the Port Authority Bus Terminal. aristos1 had come to NY by bus (brave man) and so this also gave us the chance to ogle the bizareness that is the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The best you can say is that they've tried to make it something more than a horribly bleak. Still, any excuse for cool kinetic sculpture is a good one in my book.
After that, we headed back up to electrichobbit 's stomping ground for (wait for it) more walking and then a pretty awesome lunch of falaffel wraps across from a jewish university (Golan Heights in Washington Heights). Then we headed over to a gem of a museum - The Cloisters. It's part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is incredible. I'd seen it in my guidebook and thought it looked cool, but the reality is much more amazing than that. It's effectively parts of 4 different monasteries/convents that Rockefeller had dismantled, shipped back to the US and reassembled. It's now home to the Met's medieval art collection. It's fantastically well curated and the surroundings really bring the art alive in way that few museums can. We spent several hours there and most of the time we were the only ones in the galleries. It's a bit of a trek from the centre of town, but definitely worth it.
After that we just had time for tea and a bit of dessert at a nearby cafe (New Leaf), and then back to the hotel to grab bags and head off to the airport for our flight. We gave Hobbit big hugs knowing that he was soon heading off on an expat adventure of his own. Bittersweet, but so glad to have been able to explore the city he's called home for so many years with him, if only for a very short time.
edited to add the names of most of the places we ate, courtesy of electrichobbit
Part I - Crossing the Atlantic, Part II - The Family, and now for Part III. . .
From the very beginning, we knew this trip was going to be a bit schitzophrenic, because we had two different objectives - spending time with my family and then catching up with a certain monkey before he did his hop across the pond. We got double lucky because not only did we get to see electrichobbit, but aristos1 also came up for the weekend.
We actually met up with electrichobbit for lunch after getting off the boat at an awesome little Indonesian place in Hell's Kitchen before wandering up 5th street and bits of Central Park. We also discovered a pretty cool photography exhibit on NYC's changing green spaces. And since we were with a local, we got the inside scoop on a number of the images.
Then, after family time was done and R and i checked into our new hotel, we met up with the boys again for a(nother) wander around central park and then over to the High Line and cupcakes! (Crumbs (the East Village location) Somehow I totally missed getting pictures of the cupcakes, but suffice it to say they were super yummy. The high line was pretty cool itself - I had heard a programme on it's history a few weeks before. After that it was time for tasty Japanese (Sushi on Hudson in the West Village). I don't remember where we ate (electrichobbit any ideas?) but it was one of those little hole in the wall places.
After more walking about enjoying the city (and a tasty bit of hot cocoa) we headed up to electrichobbit's neck of the woods (I got to ride the A Train!!) for what our group of friends seem to do best - boozy chats until late in the night.
The next morning was the requisite greasy spoon breakfast at a little place electrichobbit knew over by the Port Authority Bus Terminal. aristos1 had come to NY by bus (brave man) and so this also gave us the chance to ogle the bizareness that is the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The best you can say is that they've tried to make it something more than a horribly bleak. Still, any excuse for cool kinetic sculpture is a good one in my book.
After that, we headed back up to electrichobbit 's stomping ground for (wait for it) more walking and then a pretty awesome lunch of falaffel wraps across from a jewish university (Golan Heights in Washington Heights). Then we headed over to a gem of a museum - The Cloisters. It's part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is incredible. I'd seen it in my guidebook and thought it looked cool, but the reality is much more amazing than that. It's effectively parts of 4 different monasteries/convents that Rockefeller had dismantled, shipped back to the US and reassembled. It's now home to the Met's medieval art collection. It's fantastically well curated and the surroundings really bring the art alive in way that few museums can. We spent several hours there and most of the time we were the only ones in the galleries. It's a bit of a trek from the centre of town, but definitely worth it.
After that we just had time for tea and a bit of dessert at a nearby cafe (New Leaf), and then back to the hotel to grab bags and head off to the airport for our flight. We gave Hobbit big hugs knowing that he was soon heading off on an expat adventure of his own. Bittersweet, but so glad to have been able to explore the city he's called home for so many years with him, if only for a very short time.
edited to add the names of most of the places we ate, courtesy of electrichobbit