NEW YERK CITY UPDATE 1
Yay! So I got in a little early, actually; my plane was gonna land at 6A, but landed about 5.30 instead. So I can't complain on that one. I took a taxi over to Janet's (I was too tired to deal with figuring out subways, even though they are real easy and Janet gave me instructions), and then she introduced me to her cats and we both crashed.
I woke up about 10.30, and at noonish, we met up with Janet's parents, Monica and Hans, along with Janet's aunt Vivian, and we went and got an awesome bagel with lox, and a really great French Nut Cake. I recommend it ALL. We decided to do a car-tour of NYC, and we drove to the Flushing Meadows park to see the Panorama Of New York. It is SO awesome. It's a scale model of all of NYC that was originally built for the '64 World's Fair, but has been updated. It's SO neato. This is the first place I went that I was all "Oh, I should have brought my camera", just because we weren't really sure what was going on. (Also: This is the site of the "Don't Let's Start" video, but we didn't really explore that, and besides, it was most likely under a foot of snow, anyway.)
After that, I mentioned I'd heard the Bronx Zoo was really good and I was kinda hoping to go there while I was here. So, Monica said "OK! Let's go!" and so we did! We only got to spend about an hour and a half there, as it was closing at 4.30, but we saw lots of cool stuff. And again, I wish I'd brought my camera -- HOWEVER, Monica's cel phone actually takes real good pictures, so she shot some from Tiger Mountain, where the tiger basically came right up to the window to pose for a little while. He was ADORABLE. If it weren't for the fact that he'd kill and eat me in a matter of seconds, I would have given him a big ol' hug. (I think Monica's gonna send me the photos to share!)
We also saw the Monkey House, and the Madagascar exhibit (though the lemurs were all off exhibit by the time of day we were there), and the World Of Birds. It was AWESOME. Lots of cool, cool animals. And also some field mice! IT IS THE CIRCLE OF LIFE
After that, Monica and Hans and Vivian went back to their hotel, and dropped us off in Manhattan, so we could get a subway to Brooklyn to meet Janet's friend Emily for really good pizza at (sp?) De Fano? It's considered the best in Brooklyn, and it's always crowded, but it was pretty damn good. So, if you're in Brooklyn, you probably have already been there (it's right on Avenue J by the train station), so yeah.
Then we went back to Emily's apartment and played Lego Rock Band, which was pretty fun, and met her cats, Peter and Buzzy. Both were total sweethearts, too. Emily's a really talented musician, and she played a cover of Joanna Newsom's "Sadie" on her guitar, which made me go "Hey, wait, this actually IS a good song when there's no Demented Newfie Wailing!" and then a couple of her own songs on her banjo. She's wicked good, and also really nice and cool. So that was really fun.
Then, it was one of Janet's friend/coworkers' birthday parties at a bar, and so we went to the East Village and popped in a bit (as we were both exhausted). It was really loud, so I couldn't hear much, but I did beat Janet at Connect Four.
Afterwards, we came back to her apartment, and sadly, we found one of her cats, Billy, dead on the floor. So, um, that wasn't the best way to end a really good day. Janet's other cat, Isobel is fine, though it seems she occasionally looks around for Billy, too -- she saw his body, but if she's like us, she just figured he was sleeping, as Billy was super-duper low energy. So, that was really sad.
All tolled, we ended up going to bed probably around 3ish. Janet had to get up to go to work, and I slept in until noon. Oops!
Tonight, we shall see POLYSICS! Yaaaaay!
I woke up about 10.30, and at noonish, we met up with Janet's parents, Monica and Hans, along with Janet's aunt Vivian, and we went and got an awesome bagel with lox, and a really great French Nut Cake. I recommend it ALL. We decided to do a car-tour of NYC, and we drove to the Flushing Meadows park to see the Panorama Of New York. It is SO awesome. It's a scale model of all of NYC that was originally built for the '64 World's Fair, but has been updated. It's SO neato. This is the first place I went that I was all "Oh, I should have brought my camera", just because we weren't really sure what was going on. (Also: This is the site of the "Don't Let's Start" video, but we didn't really explore that, and besides, it was most likely under a foot of snow, anyway.)
After that, I mentioned I'd heard the Bronx Zoo was really good and I was kinda hoping to go there while I was here. So, Monica said "OK! Let's go!" and so we did! We only got to spend about an hour and a half there, as it was closing at 4.30, but we saw lots of cool stuff. And again, I wish I'd brought my camera -- HOWEVER, Monica's cel phone actually takes real good pictures, so she shot some from Tiger Mountain, where the tiger basically came right up to the window to pose for a little while. He was ADORABLE. If it weren't for the fact that he'd kill and eat me in a matter of seconds, I would have given him a big ol' hug. (I think Monica's gonna send me the photos to share!)
We also saw the Monkey House, and the Madagascar exhibit (though the lemurs were all off exhibit by the time of day we were there), and the World Of Birds. It was AWESOME. Lots of cool, cool animals. And also some field mice! IT IS THE CIRCLE OF LIFE
After that, Monica and Hans and Vivian went back to their hotel, and dropped us off in Manhattan, so we could get a subway to Brooklyn to meet Janet's friend Emily for really good pizza at (sp?) De Fano? It's considered the best in Brooklyn, and it's always crowded, but it was pretty damn good. So, if you're in Brooklyn, you probably have already been there (it's right on Avenue J by the train station), so yeah.
Then we went back to Emily's apartment and played Lego Rock Band, which was pretty fun, and met her cats, Peter and Buzzy. Both were total sweethearts, too. Emily's a really talented musician, and she played a cover of Joanna Newsom's "Sadie" on her guitar, which made me go "Hey, wait, this actually IS a good song when there's no Demented Newfie Wailing!" and then a couple of her own songs on her banjo. She's wicked good, and also really nice and cool. So that was really fun.
Then, it was one of Janet's friend/coworkers' birthday parties at a bar, and so we went to the East Village and popped in a bit (as we were both exhausted). It was really loud, so I couldn't hear much, but I did beat Janet at Connect Four.
Afterwards, we came back to her apartment, and sadly, we found one of her cats, Billy, dead on the floor. So, um, that wasn't the best way to end a really good day. Janet's other cat, Isobel is fine, though it seems she occasionally looks around for Billy, too -- she saw his body, but if she's like us, she just figured he was sleeping, as Billy was super-duper low energy. So, that was really sad.
All tolled, we ended up going to bed probably around 3ish. Janet had to get up to go to work, and I slept in until noon. Oops!
Tonight, we shall see POLYSICS! Yaaaaay!