The Garden State and the Big Apple Part II

I'm going to finally finish writing about my trip, but I'm feeling lazy, so I'm not going to include any pictures (even though I have some great pics of Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park).

So let's see...day 3. We got a later start because my friend Laura's daughter Lily had a music class. But the only things I hadn't seen yet that I didn't want to miss were the Met and Central Park. Laura's husband Brian dropped us off on the Upper East Side, where I got a slice of pizza at a place Brian had found online for me. (Brian and Laura are Orthodox Jews, so they eat only kosher foods, which is mostly what I also ate during the week, except for a hot dog from a street vendor and pizza.) I wrote down the name of the pizza place but can remember it now. Anyway, the pizza was great.

From there Laura and I walked to the Met. I really liked getting a chance to see different areas of Manhattan. In the Village, the sidewalks seemed smaller, and they were crowded with people and vendors. I heard all kinds of different languages. On the Upper East Side, the sidewalks seemed huge, and although there were still people walking, there were fewer people and fewer vendors, etc. Along the sidewalk by the Met there were quite a few artists and photographers selling their wares. I was thinking how cool that would be if I could just set up a table by the art museum here or along Delmar or something and sell my knits and yarns.

The Met was beautiful, of course. We didn't have a lot of time, but I got to see the European wing, with the Impressionists, etc. They had some nice VanGoghs, Monets, and Degas. They allow you to take pictures, so I got several pictures. Unfortunately the pictures of the Degas were too blurry. They also had some Picassos, but not the ones that I particularly like. They also had a special super heroes exhibit, but unfortunately we didn't have time to see it.

From the Met we walked into Central Park, where we walked by the Great Lawn and Turtle Pond. We then walked up to Belvedere Tower, which overlooks Turtle Pond. As we were walking, we passed several musicians, which was really cool. We then went to see Cleopatra's Needle, which is an obelisk that was actually erected in Heliopolis Egypt in 1600 BC, moved to Alexandria in 12 BC, and then given to New York City and erected in Central Park in 1881.

After walking around Central Park, we walked back over to the Upper East Side, where we got take out from a vegetarian/kosher Indian restaurant and then headed home to eat. It was delicious! I got a curry dish with eggplant and potatoes and a variety of appetizers (like samosas).

We had planned to go to the Jersey Shore on Thursday, but the weather didn't really cooperate, so we ended up just going shopping at Ikea. I was happy with that though, since we don't have an Ikea in St. Louis.

Friday morning we drove Brian into the city and stopped at H & H Bagels on the way. Yum! After we dropped him off, we drove past the UN, and I also got to see both Yankee Stadiums across the East River. Then I flew home Friday afternoon.

It was a really busy trip, but I did also feel like I had time to relax and to visit with my friends.

It is strange because even though we only spent a few days in the city, there is a part of me that misses it. I was trying to think of a way to explain how I felt about New York. I finally came up with this... If you think of visiting a city as kind of like dating, there are sort of three categories: there's the person you go out with who you really don't care if you see again (you may actively dislike the person or just not like him enough to see care if you see him again); then there's the person you like, who you could be friends with, but that little inexplainable something is missing; then there's the person who you have chemistry with (regardless of whether it ever actually goes anywhere). Well, when it comes to cities, I feel the same way. Kansas City is in the first category... I could take it or leave it and really don't care. Chicago is in the friend category... I love to visit and spend time there.

But New York and I, we have chemistry.