NYC, and the trip to Pittsburgh and back; 10-29-07 too
**blinkblink** …you know, today did NOT go as planned. But it was a pretty damned nice day, at that, so-
The idea was this: I would get up fairly (well, sort of) early and head out to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the east edge of Central Park; I would then walk north a few blocks to the Gugenheim Museum. Then I’d spend time goofing around CP, maybe rent a boat, maybe go see the zoo-I hadn’t really made up my mind. And THEN I’d catch a bus or the subway to a brewpub, or possibly stop for sushi somewhere.
It started off fine, though I left a bit late; then, after *finally* making my way to the Met, I found that it was closed on Mondays. This provoked a fit of dammit-it’s-not-FAIR that beat anything a sulky 4-year-old could’ve produced-my discount tickets turn into a pumpkin at midnight tonight. **sigh** So I tromped on down to the Guggenheim (which was open) and spent a few hours there. Interesting; not my favorite sort of art, modernistic, but I did like a lot of R. Prince’s stuff (the main display at the moment) and finally found a Picasso that I liked so much that it made me burst into giggles very publicly (and oh, didn’t THAT get a few dark looks-I mean, I was laughing out loud in Modern Art Church! The horror!). It’s called ‘Cat And Lobster’ and man, you can just *hear* the sound-effects when you look at it-RROWWWLLLHISSSS!!! Clatter-clatter-clatter-SNAP!!SNAP!! **snicker** Honestly, you can. Liked it so much I hunted for a copy of the print in the gift-shop, but sadly it was unavailable; a pity, because I think I’d frame it and hang it somewhere at home if I could find a good one. And I don’t care much for Picasso, usually. XD
After the Guggenheim, I wandered out a bit at a loss… and decided to basically spend the day in the park. And that is precisely what I did: I explored, I wandered, I wore my freaking feet out… I took photos of statues, of people on the lawns, of buildings in the distance and water mirroring trees and bits of architecture and street musicians and… I ate a sausageinnabun at the Turtle Pond and a raspberry crepe at the Bethesda Terrace; I fed sparrows from a bench along 6th Avenue at the park’s edge and chatted with policemen and vendors and random people sitting on the grass in the Sheep Meadow.
I had a GREAT time. It was a really, really beautiful day. But I need new feet please; mine have expired. Here you go, pics!
Afterwards, I took the R train to Union Square (vainly wishing it would magically turn into the Brooklyn-bound L train so I wouldn’t have to get up and make the transfer, lazy bum that I am) and then the L to 3rd Avenue, where I stopped at a tiny place called Chino’s to pick up what they called ‘Asian tapas’ (in this case a container of steamed veggies with excellent miso dipping-sauce and the very best shrimp shu mai I’ve ever had) to take back to my hotel. While I was waiting, I sipped some iced-tea and listened to two very elderly ladies with heavy accents in deep conversation at a table a couple of yards away as they discussed the life and history of Moses over their chopsticks and stir-fry:
Lady #1: “So who was his mother? Why’d she let him get put in the basket?”
Lady #2: “Um, I’m not sure-think it was because they were too poor to support all their kids, something like that. Or maybe somebody was going to kill him, I forget.”
Lady #1, shaking her head: “So tragic, when loving families break up like that… They shoulda given him to a cousin or something.”
Heh; so much for the entire Jewish rebellion against Pharaoh and the subsequent wandering-in-the-desert, etc. Biblical history would have been so different if only they had had a proper Child Protective Agency back then.
Soooooooo tiiiiiiiiiiiired……. So now I’m drinking a White Chocolate at the Sunburst Café again, posting pics once more.
Spent the last few days in Pittsburgh, visiting with Em and Shadow from domino_effect_ and got to meet Shadow’s roommate and her boyfriend and Em’s friend Melissa; everybody COMPLETELY rocked. Rocked, I tell you! And I got to see Em’s new kitty, Chambray, who is a lovely orange-on-white fluffball, very calm and graceful (except while suddenly exploding like a claymore mine into zoom-around-the-apartment craziness, as cats are wont to do.) We ate noodles and icecream and climbed a gorgeous repro-gothic tower (can’t recall the name of the thing, unfortunately, but the pics are here) and the next day me and Em went out for Indian food and afterwards drank Egyptian coffee in a hookah place that had once been a church, complete with stained-glass windows. Man, I hated having to leave on the bus that night; I really did. So much warmth… words fail me, they really do. But back I did go (after missing my first bus due to Cab Driver Failure), and I spent most of Sunday morning resting. (Psst: pics here!)
I did, however, go down to Noho (the area north of Houston Street, therefore called Noho) to watch an early Victorian funeral procession from the Merchant House museum, which ended in a cemetery down on 2nd and 2nd. I met and talked with a number of Goths-nice people-and several museum personnel who really knew their history, particularly one named John (very nice-looking, too.) The funny thing? I met John today in Central Park again! Talk about coincidence…. Anyway, I also went out that night and spend two hours on the Circle Line Harbor-lights Cruise, listening to a really good tourguide and taking many, many pics of Manhattan’s skyline and Lady Liberty from the decks of the boat. Brrr, it was chilly.
Heh; when I was at the cemetery, I mentioned to one of the staff about thinking I had seen someone sitting on the stairs to the attic during the Ghost Tour; turns out that the person I was speaking with keeps a log of such occurrences and stated that he’d list that one in it, as they had had four other such reports that night. I don’t know exactly what I saw, but-it really did look like there was someone sitting on the stairs with their knees drawn up and their arms clasped around them. And then they weren’t there. I don’t know.
So, tomorrow? Tomorrow I have plans for Soho and Greenwich Village shopping, and a brewpub for lunch. Café Wha? maybe (and yes, that’s how it’s spelled) or The Baggot. Or maybe I’ll wait a bit and hit the Hop Devil Grill in Noho instead for dinner, because that evening, I have the Blue Man Group show to see at 8 p.m. in that area-whoooot! Man, my feet’re gonna be SO tired.
Wednesday: More shopping for souvenirs, and if it’s not too expensive I may have the tattoo extended on my left hand down in Greenwich Village-it’s Halloween and the Village, why not? And that night’s the Parade! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy! I get to be a dragon! I get to be a dragon! **dances** And *then* I expect I’ll fall over like a lead brick, possibly under the influence of alcohol and/or sugar. Trick or treat! Yes!!! **punches the air**
I shall post more pics tomorrow.