I am at work yawning some and recovering from my weekend trip to New York City. The same three of us that went to Paris -that is, Lindsey, Kirsten, and myself- took on the Big Apple for a few days, and even though it got kind of chilly there at times, we were, on the whole, not nearly as cold as the often-miserable experience that was France. Midtown Manhattan has a lot of tall buildings (and people and automobiles too, see, because it's this big city...), so sometimes it's sort of like a series of wind tunnels. When that happens, it's pretty cold.
I forgot my camera at home like a big dumb, and Lindsey's quit working most of the time we were there, also like a big dumb, so I don't have pictures to put up, but I thought I'd just run down some of the highlights for you. Just a few:
- Not going to the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, or most of the other things that are touristy. I very much prefer walking around a city and seeing the way it breathes and moves and goes about living to gawking at its makeup and jewelry. Cities are like people to me in this way, I guess. Kirsten takes on cities in the same way, and I think Lindsey does too, so we just walked all over Manhattan and looked at things and enjoyed ourselves.
- H & H Bagels/Zabar's. Seriously, if you haven't been to these places, you just can't really give them the proper attention from your imagination. H & H is a no-frills bagel shop that doesn't tout itself as anything, not even no-frills. (Because, seriously, how pretentious is it to boast about a lack of frills? But how often is it done?) Here are the best bagels ever put into my face, hands down. They have just a few options: plain, poppy seed, sesame seed, sourdough, everything, cinnamon r***in (it's a bad word, seriously; that's how disgusting those things are), and blueberry. I went and got sourdough, everything, and sesame seed bagels for us in the mornings. Then I went to Zabar's for spread. Just go to www.zabars.com and look at what's there. Appetizers and quiches and fishes and breads and several hundred varieties of cheese, and it's all really, really good. The best way to start a morning in New York: a trip up to 80th and Broadway and a couple of bagels (one sourdough, one everything) with Zabar's garlic and herb spread. Amazing.
- My new jacket from H&M. I didn't have a really warm winter coat, and Kirsten and I said a while ago that we were both going to to get each other a gift from New York, so she decided that her gift to me was going to be a warm jacket for Prague and wherever else life may take us. I found one I loved in the 5th Avenue H&M, but the small was just a little too small, and they didn't have a medium. At the time, I didn't find another jacket I really liked that was under about 300 bucks, at H&M or otherwise, so we went to all of the other H&M stores in Manhattan (and there are five others all over the place) over the next two days. In the very last one, about an hour before leaving town, I found the same jacket, but only in small, and another that I hadn't seen before and actually liked more. And this one was too large in a medium but perfect in a small, so my quest was finally complete. Huzzah!
- Washington Square Park. Still my favorite part of New York. We were only there for about ten minutes on our way to somewhere else, but it was still great to be there, however briefly.
- Spamalot. The on-Broadway adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail co-written by Eric Idle, one of the original members of the Python troupe. The film was made for £150,000 in 1975, some of which was donated by Pink Floyd (yes!), and now it's made it all the way to Broadway. Very good show. Very Monty Python, with Gilliam-esque, clipped paper style sets and props in parts, ridiculous songs, and crazy props. It was very self-aware, with lines about the fourth wall and being on Broadway and songs like, "You'll Never Succeed on Broadway Without Any Jews" and the twice-reprised "The Song That Goes Like This," about the obligatory emotional duets in Broadway shows. Really enjoyable, really funny.
- Way too much very good food. A weekend-long binge of delights, for serious. Mudslides and cheesecake on Broadway at midnight? Sure. Sushi and katsudon two blocks from the hotel, one-dollar hot dogs that take four seconds to eat, rudely served pizza, and overpriced Reubens? Check.
It wasn't my first or my second trip to New York, and it wasn't for very long, but Kirsten had never been, so there was an element of wonder and newness to things, and it was worth the driving and the tolls and everything to go and relax for a bit and enjoy what may have been the last big trip for The Travelers Three. Next stop: Prague. And that will be a cold affair, but it will be my honeymoon too, so...
I'll post pictures of New York if I get the chance.
Kent
|