M and S's Excellent Adventure, Day 4

S and I woke up on Tuesday morning to find that we had been again re-booked on the noon flight....on Wednesday. So, trying to make the best of our extra day in New York, we headed out for breakfast at H&H Bagels and World Coffee, then back towards Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History. Like the Met, this museum is way more than a person can absorb in one go. I had actually been to the AMNH once before, when J took me to New York for my birthday a few years ago. He and I were a bit rushed, though, because we got there fairly close to closing time, so it was nice to be able to take a more leisurely look at some of the exhibits.

One of the first things we saw, though, was not one of the old classic exhibits (we'll get to those - don't fret), but rather a great series of photographs called "On Feathered Wings: Birds in Flight." It was exactly what the title says it was, and it was great. I took a few snapshots, but they're not great. The hall was very dark so I had to use a flash, but that required that I stand off to the side of the picture so as to avoid massive reflection in the glass. Anyway, here's a sampling; there are some more on the website above:

Atlantic Puffin
Apparently the Atlantic Puffin is very hard to capture in photographs, since they typically average 300-400 wing beats per minute. This one was slowing down, coming in for a landing.

Double-crested Cormorant
Cormorants have webbed feet, and dive underwater to catch fish

Bald Eagles
These eagles were fighting over food, which apparently happens with some regularity in the eagle community. In this picture, the lower eagle had just attacked the upper eagle, causing the upper eagle to drop the fish he had snagged. The lower one waits to catch it.

Snowy Owl
Sorry, I know this picture is fuzzy, but I loved how the photographer captured the owl coming right at him. Intense.

Peregrine Falcon
Who doesn't know the total awesomeness of the peregrine falcon. It watches for prey from high above, then swoops down from up to 1 km above said prey at speeds of 320 km/h. It hits the unsuspecting bird victim (usually a pigeon, dove, or songbird) with its feet, then kills the bird by biting its neck. Ouch.

Great Gray Owl
This owl locates mice and other rodents under snow using its incredible hearing, then plunges through the snow to grab its unsuspecting victim.

We also spent time in some of the more traditional (read: permanent) exhibits while we were there. We spent lots of time with the African mammals:

From there we ventured into the world of humans of many stripes - African Peoples, Asian Peoples, and a few others. No pictures of that though. Apparently people are just less interesting than animals! We also saw the Asian Mammals exhibit, and I only have two pictures from it. This, which I thought was cool for some reason (maybe just because it's old):
and a pair of water buffalo. Can't tell you exactly what was going on with those choices.

From there we headed up to see the dinos and other long-extinct creatures, exhibits collectively known as the Fossil Halls. I especially liked this weird dude that looked like a lizard the size of a 12-year-old child:
and this guy, a saber-toothed cat called a Smilodon:
Just for emphasis, let me show you those enormous teeth again:
Whoa. Also, I like that his name sounds like "smile." That seems cruelly ironic.

After looking at old animals for an hour or so, we decided we needed to see more old people. And we're talking really old, not just culture that is a few hundred years old. This is the skeleton of Turkana Boy (so named because he was found near Lake Turkana, Kenya), which is estimated to be 1.6 million years old. Like I said: really old.

But by then, we were pretty much bored with science and just wanted to look at shiny things. We set off in search of said shiny things, and found some:
The second photo is the museum's collection of tourmalines. For some reason, I'm totally into pink tourmaline right now. The tourmaline group is actually comprised of a number of different types of stones, but it got its start as a group because scientists didn't know what else to call things, so they all got tossed together in the big "I-don't-know-what-this-is-so-I'll-call-it-a-tourmaline" pot. And it stuck. That last picture is of the Star of India, the world's largest blue star sapphire. This particular gem was found in Sri Lanka and donated to the museum by J.P. Morgan in 1901.

That, folks, was a long, long day at the museum. (Not to be confused with Night at the Museum. Quite different.) Unfortunately, the minerals and gems are way back at the back of the museum, so we had to walk through some other exhibits on the way out. Which didn't turn out to be all bad, because we saw some cool random things:

"Hm, that looks like it was once a pretty enormous tree," you say.

"Indeed it was," says I. "And old, too."

I don't know why I like the fact that there were fake fish swimming above my head, but I did. I also very much liked the information I learned about polar bears. Did you know that they will wait for hours next to a hole in the ice, waiting for a seal to surface so they can snatch it up and eat it for dinner? And they swim a long damn way if they have to. How cool are they? I think I would like a pet polar bear. Does anyone know where I can buy seals in bulk?

This is not a polar bear. It is, in fact, a blue whale, or was at one time. It now lives in a literal and figurative state of suspended animation in the Hall of Ocean Life (where they also talk about the aforementioned polar bears).

Whew, that's it for that museum. If any of you are planning on going there, I'd recommend the gems, the Hall of Ocean Life, and some of the mammals. And the bird photos, if they're still there, but they're not a permanent exhibition. We didn't even make it to any of the super-special exhibits, like the one on the brain, so I have no review for you.

Believe it or not, after all that the day was not over. It was probably 3:00 in the afternoon or so by the time we left the museum, and a gray day it was. But there was still much of NYC that we hadn't explored, so we decided to continue our adventure.

First things first, I had to have the black and white cookie I promised E I would have on her behalf. It was accompanied by a hot chocolate the size of my head. Once sated, we headed south towards Lincoln Center, which I had only ever seen in movies and on TV! There is a lot of very expensive entertainment that happens at Lincoln Center. Ballet, opera, events and concerts of all types, on every night of the week. Quite a place.

Gray day indeed.

Ice on the fountain

Me in front of the Metropolitan Opera

It was still fairly early when we were finished there, maybe 6:00 or so. Feeling brave, we picked out another museum - but a small one this time, and with totally different subject matter.


That's right, ladies and gents, we went to the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. But let's back up for a minute and ask this question: why is there a Fashion Institute of Technology anyway? What is so technological about it? Anyone have any thoughts, because I sure don't know.

The museum itself gets mixed reviews. There was one exhibit of his and hers clothing through the last 250 years or so, and that was pretty interesting. There was also an exhibit of Japanese fashion, and that was, well, it was as crazy and Japanese as you would expect. I'm even having a hard time calling it fashion, but I guess that's not for me to judge. Or is it?

We were walking back in the general direction of our hotel, a walk which took us through Times Square. We were stopped by a guy selling tickets to a comedy club. I do not stop to talk to these people. Not that they're bad people, but (1) whatever they're selling probably isn't worth the price of admission, (2) I don't like comedy clubs, and (3) it just seems like a bad idea.

S, on the other hand, likes comedy clubs, and had been wanting to go to one. We went. Reasons (1) through (3) all hold true. And as a further point of argument, what kind of sales pitch is it when the dude selling tickets says, "there's a two drink minimum, and by the time you've finished your second drink, it will be funny"? Doesn't it just seem like there's something wrong with that?

In fairness, I did get a few decent chuckles from some of the comedians, but seriously, there were eight people in the audience. I am not exaggerating. Eight. It was sad. The funniest part of the whole night was seeing how tipsy S got on her two drinks! And because of that fact alone, we called it a night.

M and S's Excellent Adventure, Day 3

Sunday was a day of leisurely strolling through museums. Monday was a day of walking miles. There are a lot of things in New York that you just have to see. There isn't anything to do, exactly; it's just a sight, and you want to take pictures and tell people you've seen it. Seeing those things was the agenda for Monday.

We started out the day with a little bit of work though. The ABA TechShow (or LegalTech, as it's officially known) was being held at our hotel beginning on Monday. Since we were there, and it was convenient, we stopped in for a bit to learn about some practice management software. It was enormous. ENORMOUS! I got lost just trying to find the booth I was looking for, then I had to go back out to the registration tables to find S, who arrived a little later (she had gone on an NBC Studio tour), and she got lost following me back to the booth where we were learning about the products! Anyway, we did our learning (and I'm excited about this new program we're going to get!); I really think it will help me stay organized at work.

Then the fun began. We hopped a cab all the way down to Battery Park, as far south as you can go in Manhattan before you drive into the water. From there, you can look out towards the water and see the Statue of Liberty. The Ellis Island Immigration Museum is actually pretty neat, but the ferry ride out and back takes up a good chunk of the day. We had a lot of walking ahead of us, so we pressed on.

We started up Broadway of course had to pass by the Bull (who knew, he's actually called Charging Bull and has his own Wikipedia site). How can you miss it?

S was getting hungry so we stopped in a cafeteria-style eatery, probably frequented by people who work in the financial district) for lunch. I wasn't too hungry, given that I had been out so late the night before, but I did get a soda and chuckle at the pay-by-the-minute Internet-connected computers over in the corner of the cafeteria. There were three of them.

We continued our march north after S finished her (very greasy) pizza, to the intersection with Wall Street. To the west is the lovely Trinity Church, and to the east is the most famous street where money is made (and lost) in the country, maybe in the world. In addition to playing host to the NYSE, Wall Street is also home to Federal Hall, the site of George Washington's presidential inauguration.

We had both already seen Ground Zero, which for all its memorial value is now just a huge construction site. So, since it was later in the day than we would have liked, we skipped that and just kept on trucking up Broadway towards City Hall Park. And right near the park, I saw this:
Can someone explain this to me? Why are we naming a plaza after people with AIDS? Is that really necessary? I realize this is very politically incorrect of me to say, but frankly, I don't care. We're supposed to name streets and buildings and plazas and parks after people who did something great, or at least something good, or maybe even halfway decent. Not who went out and got AIDS. Okay, I'm done. For now.

We were headed towards the New York Criminal Courts Building - S wanted to see how much more impressive their courthouse was than ours; turns out, not much - but along the way we passed by the city office building at 1 Center Street, which is lovely, if somewhat self-consciously so:

Having had quite enough of the official stuff, we headed back west for a stroll through Tribeca and Soho. We stopped for a hot chocolate to warm up, and then continued north up West Broadway into Greenwich Village's Washington Square Park. For some reason, the park was closed and we couldn't walk through it, but we walked around the outside, sharing the sidewalk with many an NYU student. Turns out it was an appropriate stop; having just a few hours before seen the place where GW was inaugurated, we were now seeing the centennial celebration of that same event.

We got around to the north side of the park and then continued up 5th Avenue, with a brief detour over to Madison Square Park to see the Metropolitan Life Insurance building (where S works in the North Building), and not to be confused with the MetLife building, to see some more landmarks:

The Flatiron

Isn't this one pretty obvious?

Ditto
I'm not much into department stores, but S wanted to see the world's largest store. We even went inside, but were immediately overwhelmed, so proceeded to turn around and walk right back out again.

The New York Public Library,
of which there are actually many branches (believe it or not!), but this one (5th and 42nd) is the one everyone knows and loves, including Carrie Bradshaw!

The Chrysler Building - my favorite!

Grand Central Station

This very building, actually called Grand Central Terminal (but "station" just rolls off the tongue so much more easily) was the subject of the Penn Central v. NYC case, for those who have an interest in eminent domain law. They even talk about the case on Grand Central's own website. How can you destroy a building this cool?

We walked through the Grand Central Market, which I love, and came out on Lex. We headed north to 50th, ambled through the New York Palace hotel, and then continued up Madison to 53rd, then back over to our hotel. 6.7467 miles, according to the Gmap Pedometer.

But it was not quite time to relax. Since we booked our rooms at the last minute and the TechShow was happening at the Hilton, the rooms were all booked up beginning on Monday night. We had left our bags with the doorman when we departed that morning, and now it was time to pick them up. Our timing was terrible though, because the TechShow was just getting out for the day, so there was a line of lawyers probably 200 long waiting for cabs. Since we had been walking all day, I figured (much to Sally's chagrin), what's a few more blocks before we can get a cab? So we kept on walking, and the first cab that pulled over was a pedicab! I had never been in a pedicab before, at least not in New York. It was somewhat reminiscent of the auto rickshaws in India, although - believe it or not - far less terrifying. Our bike rider was a very nice guy from Turkmenistan, who's been living in New York for six years, and helped us out by pointing out some good places to go near our new hotel, which was The Lucerne, at 79th and Amsterdam on the upper west side. It was a long ride for him, but he was very nice about it, and it was probably cheaper than a cab anyway, and definitely more interesting.

Our new hotel

We were about finished with walking, but still hadn't had dinner. So we braved the sidewalks again and found a place called the Amsterdam Ale House not far from our hotel. Dinner was pretty good, but we were beat, so we headed back for some TV and reading. What I discovered while trying to do my homework was that our flight home for the following day had already been canceled; they were predicting a monster snowstorm in St. Louis. We had been re-booked on a later flight, which was only the beginning....

M and S's Excellent Adventure, Day 2

Sunday was a museum-tastic day. We started out with a long hike up 5th Avenue, all the way from 53rd to the Met (roundabout 82nd St.). But walking is good for you and it wasn't too cold, so off we went.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in case you've never been there, is a monster. You could spend days in it and still not see everything. We had about four hours.

Main hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Our first stop, undoubtedly a popular one, was the European paintings. Now, I hadn't taken my camera, because most museums don't let you take pictures. I knew some did, but I have a big camera and frankly didn't want to haul it all that way on the off chance that this was one of the museums that allowed pictures. So I left it at the hotel. Wrong choice. I did use my cell phone to take pictures of a few items though, just to give a taste. I've also included links to the Met website, which has higher quality pictures not taken at odd angles (yes, because I'm short and have to look up at everything), but mine are more fun because they're genuine:

Vincent Van Gogh (my favorite!), Irises, 1890

Vincent Van Gogh, Wheat Field With Cypresses, 1889
The cypresses really look like that in southern France - I was shocked when I saw them for real

Van Gogh, Self Portrait With a Straw Hat, 1887

Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi, Red Sunset on the Dnieper, 1905-1908

Also lots of Seurat, Pissarro, Panini (including one version of his painting Interior of Saint Peter's, Rome, another of which is at the St. Louis Art Museum), Degas, Picasso (including lots of early stuff before he got really wacky), Monet, Rembrandt, Vermeer...need I go on?

We took a stroll through the modern galleries on our way to the cafe for lunch, mostly for curiosity's sake. And it was a curiosity indeed. As was my sandwich - an apple and tofu curry wrap with arugula. Interesting; something I would probably eat again, but probably not before I'd pick a regular old ham and cheese.

Andy Warhol, Nine Jackies, 1964

The after-lunch portion of the program included American landscapes, a brief tour through the Greek and Roman galleries, Arms and Armor, and the American art galleries. Unfortunately for the American galleries, many of the paintings and the decorative art pieces were in open storage, because the galleries were (still? again?) closed for renovation. Pretty much the only pieces that we saw which were in their original condition/location were the period rooms.

The former (and interesting) exterior of the building, before a new and totally architecturally devoid addition was added.

Armors for Man and Horse

Armor for Horse, Italian
(It's a little fuzzy, but the engraving is impressive - trust me.)

Renaissance Revival Parlor, Connecticut, 1868

Louis Comfort Tiffany, Necklace and Pendant, Moonstones/Sapphires/Platinum, 1910

The picture below is terrible because the Eakins work was in the open storage that I talked about - rows and rows of paintings all jammed together behind plexiglass - but I had to take and post this picture. Remember when I talked about how much I loved the book Stoner? Does the cover image look familiar? I was very excited to see it there! I didn't even know at the time I read the book that it was an Eakins painting on the cover, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Thomas Eakins because of his association with the Head of the Schuylkill, a regatta I've always loved. A little bit of history about the link is available here, but I can mostly summarize it by saying that the painter was from Philadelphia and painted lots of rowers on the river.

Thomas Eakins, The Thinker: Portrait of Louis N. Kenton, 1900

And that, folks, wasn't even half of the museum. We missed a lot of the Eastern art (not S's bag, and I'd already been), as well as much of the photography and Native American art. But, like I said, we only had four hours. I think we did pretty well for ourselves.

Upon departing the Met, we marched 20 blocks south on 5th to the Frick Collection, which I've been to once before and absolutely love. It's quite a contrast to the Met - the entire collection is in the house of the steel magnate Henry Clay Frick, which he left to his wife upon his death for the remainder of her life, and then to the city of New York as a museum. Mr. Frick was a rich man in his own right, but multiplied his fortune many times over after a falling out with Andrew Carnegie, whom he worked with in the steel business (Frick supplied coke which was required for the manufacturing process). The buyout/hush/get-out-of-my-business money Frick received from Carnegie freed the former up to pursue his passion for art collection. In fact, there falling out is probably a big reason Frick donated his collection to begin with; there was a ongoing game of I'll-do-you-one-better between the two men, even in the philanthropic realm. There is actually a book, Meet You In Hell, about their feud. I may have to pick it up.

The Frick Collection houses paintings, sculpture, decorative pieces, furniture, and more. It's really quite an impressive collection, and the intimate setting was a nice reprieve after the overwhelmingly enormous galleries of the Met. As a bonus, included in the price of admission is an audio tour, which is filled with fascinating tidbits about the Fricks. For example, I learned that Mr. Frick hosted formal dinners twice weekly for 26. And it turns out that T.S. Eliot once did a reading of some of his poetry in the Fricks' music room. Also, I discovered while visiting Henry Frick's library that he had custom-made tooled leather book covers which rest over the top of the books to protect them from dust! He loved his books. You can get right up to the shelves and see what he liked to read; titles included a 14-volume set of Twain's works, Prison Life of Marie Antoinette, and a multi-volume history of the queens of Scotland.

While the paintings and sculpture in the house are amazing, I especially enjoyed the furniture - it's the would-be designer in me, I think. The pieces he had was incredible! There were a dresser and chest commissioned by Marie Antoinette (maybe he had a thing for her) and a commode originally made for the daughter of King Louis XV. Wild.

Sadly, we had to leave the Frick and double-time it back to our hotel so we wouldn't be late for our dinner. We went to a place on West 56th Street, very near our hotel. Afterwards, I changed clothes, putting one of my new Madison Avenue shirts to use, and went out to meet my friend S at a wine bar on the Lower East Side. We closed the place down, and three more places after that - I was out until 4 in the morning! On a Sunday night! I love New York, just because you can do things like that if you're so inclined. I am not often so inclined, but it's nice to know it's an option.

M and S's Excellent Adventure, Day 1

S and I, it turns out, are very busy and important! We had to do some work stuff in New York, which really meant we had an excuse to go to New York! Unfortunately the weather was less than cooperative, but we didn't let that stand in the way of a good time!

Our first day was mostly touring the neighborhood around our hotel. We were staying at the Hilton New York for two nights, which is at 53rd and 6th (or Avenue of the Americas, if you must). We wandered up 5th Avenue to gawk at Prada, Escada, and the Plaza Hotel on our way to Central Park, where we saw some guy blowing enormous bubbles by dipping a length of rope into a bucket of soapy water.

The Plaza

We walked some of the paths inside the park, saw lots of kids sledding, meandered through the zoo, and headed back south on 5th when we started getting cold. We stopped for a hot dog - because how can you be doing all this walking on the sidewalks of New York and not get a hot dog? - which was as delightful as I remembered. We passed by this memorial to World War I soldiers, which I thought deserved a photo spot on this here blog.

I also saw this apartment building with a quote carved into the stone that definitely needs to be on far, far more apartment buildings: "Love thy neighbor as thyself." What a brilliant idea!

We crossed over to Madison Avenue for part of the trip home and did some shopping. I got two shirts (one fun, one work) and a pair of leggings which I didn't end up needing. Oh well, now I have them in the arsenal just in case.

After a stop back by our hotel to take a breather, we went to see the lights and sounds and crowds and craziness of Times Square at night. I had been there before (actually there's a picture I love of S [different S] and I from the summer of 2008 in Times Square, but I don't have it handy either), but S had only ever seen it in the daylight. Even then it's something to see, but nighttime is when the Square really shines. Literally. Everything shines. Lights so bright it looks like daytime. It's wild. And, to make it even better, it started snowing - big, fluffy flakes! It was beautiful!

We grabbed a way overpriced dinner near our hotel and headed back for some R&R. It had been quite a crazy week leading up to this trip for me, so I really needed the sleep.

S has most of the photos from the day on her camera, actually, but I'll add them in where appropriate as soon as I can get my digital hands on them. Check back for updates! I command you!

Apologies

I know there has not been much to read of late, but I have been very busy getting stranded due to the weather. I promise there will be a full run-down of my extended stay in New York when I am actually in town for more than six hours at a stretch! And there will be pictures!