NYC Trip
Ξ September 28th, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Interesting |
Unfiltered thoughts:
- The Ford Expedition is huge, and feels it. Has a good turning radius, but hard to take tight turns.
- Ann directed us to an Afghan restaurant in Schenectady. It’s like Indian, but different.
- The Poughkeepsie Line is a really scenic way to go into NYC. At least until you go underground into Grand Central.
- The train emptied out at Yankee Stadium.
- The Yankees were playing the Sox.
- The Boston fan on the train survived the trip.
- It takes a long time to get about in NYC, at least if you don’t know the subway and bus routes.
- I think Julie could walk a hundred miles. She was really well prepared for lots of walking.
- And she did it getting over a sinus infection. Trooper.
- Hotel had a fire alarm go off on Saturday. Was in the shower and didn’t hear it. Once I got out, I heard it, but thought it was more important to put pants on than to get out immediately. Before I got dressed the alarm turned off and I figured I might as well get properly dressed.
- Ann was very stylish the whole weekend. She took pain killers so she could wear her boots through the city. I’m impressed.
- The Cloisters is at the top of a hill. There were buses that went up it, but we discovered it only after we had walked up the winding path. Didn’t feel too bad about it, though, as it went through a wooded park and we got a great view of the Hudson.
- The Cloisters is beautiful. There is an elaborately created chapel right off the entrance, but it was crafted out of elements from different sites. Next time I go, I really want to take the tour so I can appreciate the context of all the elements.
- I still love Grand Central Station.
- Julie seemed to get a lot of sketching in. I’ll have to flip through her book next time I visit.
- I discovered that I like a lot of the same things that the girls like for completely different reasons. They really were enthusiastic about the artistic quality of the various artifacts, but I’m more interested in the historical context they represent.
- For instance, Kat noticed the fine details of two statues flanking one of the doors near the entrance. But what really peaked my interest (apart from the fact that they were meant to represent Clovis and Clothar, two of the first French kings and founders of the Merovingian dynasty) was when Kat noted that all the other elements of the entranceway, including religious symbols, were headless. This immediately implied defacement, and I began wondering what would have caused such an act. Maybe it was an area controlled by the English during the sacking of the monasteries under Henry VIII or Edward VI. Luckily, a tour went by just then, and explained it was the work of Huguenots, the Protestant French.
- The Met was impressive as always.
- But it seemed like a third of the place was roped off. What the heck. On a weekend?
- Didn’t get to see the Byzantine exhibit, but I’ve seen it like a million times. Plus we missed the special Byzantine exhibit by a month or two, so all they had was the regular stuff (which is still pretty impressive).
- Julie sketched a lot of armor there. Be interesting to see if any of it translates into garb for Novitas.
- I still like the pushcart vendors, even if the girls thought they were sketchy. They are, but that’s part of the NYC experience.
- I still have yet to walk through Central Park proper. I thought if we followed the road through from the Natural History Museum to the Met, we’d be able to wander a bit, but it was pretty much a man-made canyon, so we kinda missed it.
- Even ridiculous concepts tend to work out well on stage. Toxic Avenger seemed a ridiculous idea, but worked out fairly well in production. It was campy, but the actors really threw themselves into the role.
- Kat was right – the shifty cop was hilarious.
- I was really worried when I saw just how close to the stage the tickets were – the telecharge seating map indicated they were farther back. Need to be more careful when buying tickets in the future.
- But it worked out really well. We weren’t in the section that got wet, and even though I was worried there might be some splash damage, we didn’t get anything on us.
- And, with the exception of the very opening note, we didn’t get blasted by the music.
- And we got some interaction with the actors.
- Speaking of which, Kat got a bit of special attention from the lead actor playing the Toxic Avenger. She seemed to appreciate it.
- Ann said that she’s always had tickets reserved at the box office and picked them up just before the show. I think she’s right, that’s a better idea. I’ll need to do that next time.
- At the last minute, decided to stop at Howes Cavern. Hadn’t been there since grade school. Very touristy, but neat. The girls seemed to enjoy it.
- Along those lines, if you’re a tour guide, beware Ann and her camera.
- Got back at 8.
- Yankees swept the Sox.
Probably remember other things as well, but can’t think of them right now.
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