March 2011: New York, New York Day 2

The morning of my second day in New York City, Maria took us up on the roof of her building so that we could see the view, including Ground Zero.  Being down in the city, you forget that you are surrounded by water {the Hudson seen behind us}.   I couldn't believe how close her apartment building was to where the Twin Towers stood.  I thought of what that view must have been like, what the residents of this building must have witnessed during that horrific event.  Maria said that people don't talk about it.  I can understand that completely.  You can see the new construction occurring now.  With the morning fog you can see the new buildings high in the clouds and imagine the Towers high above them.

We ventured on the Subway on our own, without our trusty guide, only to have a mini-debacle, solved by an entertained Subway employee.  We headed out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art which borders Central Park.  I loved people-watching on the way: the boarding school girls in their uniforms and brightly colored Wellies carrying tennis rackets and books, the Wall Street men and women all in the uniform black - rarely did I see anyone wearing color besides a small accent piece, and my particular favorite scene: a petite older woman -must have been at least 75- decked out in a long fur coat, chandelier earrings, etc effortlessly pulling a wheeled luggage trunk across the street.  I have no idea where she was going, but she was no tourist.  This woman looked accustomed to such a task, she needed nor wanted any help.

We could have easily spent the entire day at the Met.  Its collections are extensive and often breathtaking.  Xochi was our resident Egyptologist.  We had some great discussions about their perception of the after-life and their curious ceremonies.  Fascinating!  Of course beside our stimulating conversations, were some just plain silliness.  We took turns squatting down in front of this exhibit of wig rings to get this perfect shot.  Behold Princess Xochitl!

It was exhilarating for me to be amongst great works of art again.  I miss my college days of studying the Masters and art in all its forms.  We went on a special hunt to find Van Gogh amongst the millions of art pieces.  I am sure he seems commonplace to most, but I have always been drawn to his pieces because of his cool color choices and the movement I feel his paintings capture.  Here I am beside "Wheat field with Cypresses", with "Roses" shown below.  My very favorite piece of his is Almond Blossom seen here.  {And I just discovered that I could have a pair of high tops adorned with the images of this painting seen here.  Yes please:-) }

I absolutely love European sculpture and architecture.  I am always amazed at the intricate detail which is achieved in working with marble.  The draping of the dress in this first sculpture is astounding.  What a tender scene!  And of course I have always been fascinated by columns.  I fell in love with this bust of this beautiful little girl, Louise Brongniart, the five year old daughter of the distinguished Neoclassical architect.  Such a cherubic face and I adore her head scarf!  Reminds me of my Felicity.

Another discovery was of this incredible oil painting of Joan of Arc which spans 8' x 9' by French naturalist painter Jules Bastien-Lepage.  It invites a sort of reverence as you're viewing it.  I loved seeing this soft, feminine side of the heroine.  Her eyes are piercing.  She is portrayed with such poise and nobility despite her common attire.  I just loved it!

We pried ourselves away from the Met, having only allotted part of the day there, and headed on over to another one of Maria's splendid eatery recommendations, Forty Carrots.  Located on the 7th floor of the 9th floored Bloomingdales, it is a gem of a little restaurant splashed with spring colors and tasty, healthful food and drinks.  Meet my Sweetie Juice: carrot, strawberry, and orange.  Yum, yum.  Sadly my food was devoured too quickly to be documented - the best hummus I have had accompanied by tasty flatbread as the appetizer with an entree of 3 mini sandwiches - quoted here by their menu "classic tuna on an organic pretzel roll sonoma chicken salad on onion roll with fresh sage egg salad on organic brioche roll".  

so interestingly enough, my keyboard will no longer allow me to type capital letters... hmmm. strange.  Here let me try.  T.  nope. T. no again!!

so anyway, tell me that you wouldn't have gobbled that food right up:-)

Downstairs {well there you go, Mr. Capital Letter is back!} some happy shoppers made some lovely purchases.  Myself I suffered majorly from sticker shock.  Sadly I hardly bought anything for myself the entire trip.  The next trip I will go on:-) I will be sure to give myself a budget that I can spend on myself. I am the weird one that you don't have to worry about over-spending, but disappointingly under-spending.  I think I drove my friends crazy with the hem and haw of should I buy this or not.  Then finally deciding to buy it, only to change my mind on the way to the cash register or while in line.  Annoying I'm sure, I'm annoyed with myself!!!  Well those of us who are normal people bought a few nice items and were happy with their purchases.  Don't you love this elevator?  It is straight out of Film Noir.  Love it!

After our late afternoon lunch and shopping, we went back to the apartment to rest before our play.  Even though I was exhausted I couldn't stand the idea of resting inside while there was so much to see outside, so I decided to take a little solitary stroll around the Financial District. {Don't tell Mike:-) Oh hi honey.}  I initially wanted to walk around Trinity Church, but the grounds were already closed.  I did however stay long enough to hear a tour guide of a group of teenagers describe the significance of Trinity Church as the church that Benjamin Gates comes to in "National Treasure".  Wow! Never mind that fact that George Washington attended a service there immediately following his inauguration.  George who?  I then strolled down Wall Street and people watched.  This is when I took this photo, a view of the Trinity Church between the looming financial buildings.

That evening Melinda, Xochi, Maria, and I attended Oscar Wilde's Broadway play "The Importance of Being Earnest".  It is  a "satirical farce" defined by Wikipedia as a comedy which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication. That definitely sums it up well.  It was so much fun to watch!  It felt so good to laugh at something that was worthy of your laughter.  

After the play we ate again :-).  This time at a restaurant with a late night club feel: loud jazzy music, low candle light, and lots & lots of chatting.  I think this was my favorite place we ate at.  It just embodied what I thought eating in New York should be like.  It may also have had something to do with the yummiest dinner ever- well, can you really call a crepe dinner?  Yes!  It was a Rosen Deli Smoked Turkey Crepe with sauteed mushrooms and melted swiss cheese.  Oh my word!  I left very happy:-)

Day 2 done {well if that includes the late-night chatting into the wee hours of Day 3}

See my Day 1 adventure here.

And our movie trailer here.