city for a year just to do it. But also, I don't. (Plus, it's so expensive!) My friend Robin that I went to high school with came with me and we stayed with our friend Sue in Brooklyn - also from HS.Here are somethings we did:
Day 1: the Natural History Museum, met Sue's friends for food and drinks, went to Pinkberry!
Day 2: Empire State Building, The METropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, Little Italy (pizza!).
Day 3: Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller Center, Harbor Cruise (by Statue of Liberty), Junior's Cheesecake (yum!), Times Square, Spamalot - on Broadway!
Day 4: Central Park (including a Lennon memorial, the carousel, Tavern on the Green, Bow Bridge, Alice and Wonderland sculpture), Magnolia Bakery (cupcakes!!), and the WTC site.
So, yes we were totally tourists, but you can't really avoid it when you want to see the famous places that everyone else wants to see! I'd like to go back and spend time not going to the big things now and just see different parts of Manhattan. I have such a better understanding of how it's all laid out now, so that's nice. I can watch Cash Cab with much more knowledge.
The views from the Empire State Building are amazing, I can't believe how big the city is! The
Met has some great stuff. I don't know if I've ever seen so many Rembrandts. The Guggenheim had a really interesting exhibit: cars hanging from the ceiling, fake tigers full of arrows (didn't get it!), art pieces (I don't know what you'd call it, like a giant portrait, except:) made using gunpowder and lighting it on fire and seeing what you end up with, kinda neat. We went through MOMA very quickly. I find some modern art to be 1. completely artless 2. non-sensical 3. totally weird. I can paint a canvass totally white too - why is yours in a museum though? But it does house Starry Night - one of my favorite paintings. Probably one of everyone's favorite paintings. Also some other Van Gogh, Warhol, Dali, Picasso. 
I guess I didn't really know what Rockefeller Center was, but it's not whatever I thought it was. Seeing the Statue of Liberty was pretty cool! I would've liked to walk around Ellis Island and check that out. Times Square is huge! It's like 4...uh...8? corners, not just one. There are far too many people there and every place is fighting for your attention with more lights than the place next door. Central Park is also gigantic! We did a lot of walking and maybe covered an eighth or sixth of it. It has some really pretty areas. I'd go there all the time. There are so many people there, it's great for people watching!
Going to Ground Zero was still emotional for me. It's been over 6 years. I can't believe that. They're doing construction there, so it's all blocked off and you can't really see in. But just walking down the streets that you know were full of fear and havoc brings you back. I don't know if it's because we were in a more businessy area after hours, but the city was so much more quiet there. The quick pace of the city is still evident, but it's as if people have a respect for the spirit of the dead that will forever hang over the place. Robin and I walked around the block that was destroyed to get an idea of how big the area is. The Fire Department that is right next door has a nice memorial on their wall. I think the plans for the memorial and the rebuilding are nice. A balance of remembering and grieving but striving to heal and move ahead.
New Yorkers are definitely proud of their city. They'll let you know it, and they really do have that in your face kind of fire about them. The subways aren't scary like tv makes them seem - it's
like any other big city public transportation. I've never seen so many Jews. I love it. I think it's because I think it would be cool to be Jewish. But a Jew for Jesus - I don't know how modern day Judaism is really practiced anyway. We saw a Jewish couple get engaged in the Park. They never touched each other. No kiss, no hug. Very proper I suppose, but different!Anyway, back to Clay Aiken! He was in Spamalot, which I have been wanting to see since I heard it was created! (Several years now!) So that was definitely a highlight for me. It was very funny. It basically follows The Holy Grail. They use a lot of the classic lines that everyone loves in that movie and added songs and other scenes. I'd like to watch it again! The only thing about having someone semi-famous in a show is that everyone cheers for them when they do anything. He had a terrible English accent, but the guy does have a great Broadway voice. I feel that he femmed up his party too much, I'd like to see someone else play the part. There were definitely Claymates there. The thing is, they were like 55-75 years old! haha!
Welp, I really enjoyed the trip. Leave me some love! Maybe in the form of a comment?
