New York Trip Part 1 (Part 2)
Photos for this trip can be found here.
March 26th
We took a red eye from San Diego Friday night and didn’t get much sleep for our arrival at 6am to New York. The middle seat really sucks for trying to sleep, you always end up with a sore neck. We grabbed the skytrain from JFK and headed into NYC on the subway. If you are in NY for more than 4 days, I highly recommend getting the 7day metro pass for $24. I used mine for 6 days and would have spent around 50 bucks if I used a cash card.
We stayed at the Hilton in Midtown (53rd St & 6th Ave). It was not our choice (it was the conference hotel for Anna), but the Hilton was once again confirmed as a crap hotel. As we dropped our bags off I was once again puzzled. How do they actually get people to pay for this place? Horrible service, ridiculous prices. A sample from the room service menu: Half a grapefruit, $5. Eggs and bacon, $18.96.
We were hungry so we went around to corner to Maison Brasserie instead. I had a smoked ham & gruyere crepe, not too shabby. Then they brought over fresh, hot, custardy beignets. Mmmm.
We were looking to do some touring, so we walked over to the Roosevelt Island Tramway. Two dollars gets you a nice tram ride over to Roosevelt island. The tram ride is fun and you get to see a good bit of the NY sky-line. Once there you can take a 25c bus ride for a mini tour of the island.
The last time our hair was cut was in Lima, Peru. I was looking a bit shaggy and Anna wanted a change. We took the subway down to Greenwich Village to get haircuts at Astor Place Hair. I wish I got some photos of this place, I loved it. It was a madhouse mix of old barbers and NY color. I had my hair cut by an older gent named Giovanni. Talked more italian than cut my hair – while looking the other way. Somehow he managed and I got a great cut for 13 bucks.
We wandered around the village some more, checked out the wine store, the bag store, and window shopped. We found a street fair/flea market, so we had to check that out. I bought myself a small sweet potato pie and dug in.
From there it was off to the west side docks on 14th and the Nomadic Museum. Interesting art, cooler building. The building is made of shipping containers and is designed to be able to pack itself up and move somewhere else. The art was photographs and video from Gregory Colbert. His work is mostly shots with animals at peace or cooperating with humans. Interesting style of prints – sepia tone, but almost a water color reproduction of the photographs.
I had wanted to try out The Spice Market for its take on asian street food (durian ice cream? I gotta try that), but it seems too be too popular – it was completely booked the entire time we were there. So we continued the asian theme and walked to Mooncake Foods. I highly recommend it. Very casual and unpretentious. We tried out the vietnamese summer rolls, miso salmon, lychee tea, and wonton soup. All of it was great.
After that we ran out of juice and headed back to the hotel. Not a bad day for running on 2 hours of sleep.
March 27th
We woke up, grabbed some bagels, and headed over to the Easter Parade on 5th. It is not the kind of parade you expect. There is no bands, floats, or structure. It is just a bunch of people that made easter hats (or dressed in their best) parading around. It had it all. Super hats, possible nut-jobs, and fancy pants. It reminded me of Burning Man ; it had an unscripted exposition/expression/whatever vibe.
After a dirty water dog we walked over to the new MoMA. Last time we were here I saw the small Queens exhibit, so I was excited to check out the new building and the full collection. It is expensive ($20), but the new building is beautiful and I really enjoyed most of the art. That night we headed over to the UCB Theatre to see ASSSSCAT 3000, an improv show. Horatio Sanz and Owen Burke hosted and put on a good show.