NYC Day 4

The "Today Show," (I was too lazy to ever try and get up early enough to actually witness the action...) yes, they are advertising Osama Bin Laden's death, Rockefeller, Easter lilies ALL over the city - gorgeous, St. Patrick's, again (!), and one of the many window displays advertising Alexander McQueen - AMAZING.

Kip's Bay House aka donated home where a bunch of famous designers each take a room to design and they charge tourists lots of money to see their designs and give the money to charity aka glorified Parade of Homes. Melia, you would have loved it. This is actually a view form the fourth floor patio - freaking amazing. The patio. And the view. We weren't allowed to take pics inside.

STELLAR trade show aka place where buyers come to buy their stock for the season from the sellers aka Lucky Brand selling all their clothes to various department stores for example etc. I was way more fascinated than my classmates. We were VIP.

Deep-fried zucchini fries at Carmine's. Probably the only thing I really ate there. A. Maze. Ing. If all vegetables could be deep-fried, I'd eat them way more often.

News de la Bin Ladin's death al la Times Square. No big.

Empire State Building - we went on the most PERFECT night. Now lines. No wind. Warm spring air. Gorgeous.

Tragically, none of my pictures of the flatiron building turned out - really a shame because it was one piece of architecture I really wanted to see. Well, I saw it. From King Kong's hideout. But no pics to prove it.

Cheers.

NYC Day 3

SO. Day three dawned bright and early. We had nine o'clock church. We picked up a creeper along the way...This guy saw a group of pretty young ladies and followed us into the subway, onto the train, off the train, and into the first floor of the church/temple (which, ps, blends into the landscape upon first glance. It really sneaks up on you and then you can't miss it) all while staring and saying stalker-ish things like, "Oooh my! Guurrrl, you are Cuuute!" Fortunately, divine intervention, he would not get into the elevator with us...even though one of the girls invited him to church.

We stayed all three hours. The majority of the ward was visitors and we filled up the entire Relief Society room. I almost had to sit on the floor. But the ward was super duper nice! Right after church we met with our tour guide, Marlayna, who ushered us onto a train bound for Battery Park where we jumped on a Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

I thought it was bigger...and I'm not just saying that because in this picture it fits in the palm of my hand.

Ellis Island was really neat - there is sort of a reverence about it - full of both sadness and joy. The exhibits were very educational - it's interesting to see how much our society has changed. I'm reading a book now about the Titanic and having been to Ellis Island, I'm intrigued by how much immigration laws, specifically some outdated ones enforced by America, played into the tragedy of the ship's sinking. Just a side note there for you...

After we got off the boat we took a walking tour of the Financial District including Wall Street and such. We passed through a Romanian street fair and the oldest park in NYC - which happens to be the same park featured in the last battle in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." We passed by Trinity Church, the exact site where George Washington was inaugurated as well as his family church, the Wall Street Bull, and some other strange and interesting sites.

Trinity Church

George Washington's family church.

A bunch of Asians laughed at me for this...

Strange and interesting site.

This is a statue in Battery Park at the foot of the Financial District. It stood between the two World Trade Center towers as a symbol of world unity and peace. Rescue workers, when clearing away the last of the rubble, anticipated a pool of molten metal and were surprised to find this:

I throw this in here not only because it is super cool, but because our next stop was Ground Zero. There's really not much to see - it's all fenced in and you can hardly see the construction on the memorial, though you can go down the street through the memorial museum to see what it's going to look like - but here's a picture all the same.

The partial tower with the glass is going to be the tallest all-office tower in the world, and tallest building in America, standing at a remarkable 1,776 feet. Plus it's a pretty neat design too. Originally it was called the Freedom Tower, now it's the One World Trade Center, and it's supposed to be done on one of the 9/11 anniversaries...this year? Maybe? Or dedicated? Something like that. Either way, it was pretty cool.

By this time it was really cold...so we breezed through Chinatown to see where it was at, and went back to the hotel. The evening was ours to do with as we wished. I spent it taking a train back up the Washington Heights to get my glasses from Abbie's house...accidentally left them behind. I took a friend along and on the way home the train stopped and everyone got kicked off. We all stood on the platform wondering what to do next...the old train didn't leave and new trains wouldn't stop because it was in the way. Finally we saw the firemen with their axes and the paramedics with a stretcher. Apparently some guy collapsed on the platform. Eventually we were allowed back on the train and continued on our way. I don't know why we couldn't wait ON the train...but it was an adventure.

Back at the hotel we saw the news of Osama Bin Laden's death and watched Obama's speech live. It was really neat to be in Times Square when everyone heard the news. There was a party on Ground Zero that night. We weren't allowed to go. But at least I can say that I was there that day.

That's the end of day three, but for anyone who still needs proof that Canon is the best digital camera you can find, here it is:

Straight from New York, kids. What more do you need?

NYC Day 2

Um...How much did I love the Cloisters? If you don't know what they are, go here because I'm sick of explaining. I had a friend (also an art history major) recommend them to me as her favorite part of the the city. She also said they were sort of out of the way, so I didn't have much hope of seeing them and I put them out of my mind. But when Abbie asked me what I wanted to do, I casually asked if she'd heard of them. Turns out Abbie lives "far out of the way" herself (Manhattan really isn't that big...) and they were practically up the street. So we went, and it was AMAZING. Gorgeous weather, gorgeous views, gorgeous architecture, gorgeous art...Brilliant. All around.

Mucho famous triptych that I studied. Awesome.

Pit stop at the apartment to drop off Forrest and the kids (we actually were babysitting a set of twins for Abbie's friend as well, thus we had four kids to tote and the Cloisters are not stroller friendly. Adventure.) Then Abbie and I went out on our own for lunch in Little Italy: real Italian pizza with arugula, olive oil and pencetta. Yum! And yes, we ate pretty much that whole thing. Go team.

Off for some downtown exploration - we passed through Soho and some other neighborhoods on our way to Chinatown. We poked our heads into this shop that looked like a forest of chandeliers...they all hung at eye level so you were literally walking through them. So. Cool.

I bought a bag on Canal Street after we hit up an AMAZING French Bakery. Most heavenly things I've ever eaten: apple danish and almond croissant. (Yes. I ate two pastries. It was legit French - how could I buy just one?!) Then off the the Brooklyn Bridge. We took the subway into Brooklyn then walked across the bridge back to Manhattan. It was beautiful - we had the most amazing weather and the sites were incredible. It was probably one of my most favorite things.

Macrame bicycle? Check. It's at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge - the Brooklyn side.

I had to rush to meet up with my group after that - late. Oops. I had time to dump my bags in my hotel room before we went to dinner. Who happened to be dining right next to us?

Could it be Timothy Omundson? The man who plays Carlton Lassiter on the popular television series "Psych"? Why, yes. Yes it is. That man in the blue plaid shirt eating a famous Junior's cheeseburger is indeed that Carlton Lassiter.

The funny thing is, I thought that I was an almost celebrity for seeing him in the bar next to my booth, then Abbie's friend hooks up with Leonardo Dicaprio in Central Park. Whatever. (We totally stalked the same playground later in the week in hopes of catching him...)

Our hotel was right on Times Square. After dinner we were free for wandering. I thought I'd seen most of Manhattan with Abbie, but this was something else all together. Stunning.

That's all for this one. Stay tuned for more...someday...when I have more time...maybe. Blech.

NYC Day 1

This is going to be exceptionally abbreviated because I'm lazy. But not too lazy to add a sentence after that one so the word "lazy" doesn't hang awkwardly by itself.

SO. NYC. Red-eye flight to JFK landed right as the sun was rising over the city (beautiful!) and as Prince William and Kate Middleton were taking their vows (watched the wedding as we landed). Made it all the way from the airport to Forrest and Abbie's apartment by my lonesome with no trouble aside from the weird train that mapquest told me to get on that apparently isn't part of the subway system and cost me $10 when the conductor discovered I didn't have the right ticket. Other than that...I was proud of myself!

After a shower, change of clothes, and some breakfast, I set off to explore - crossed Central Park to see the Guggenheim. JAW. DROPPING. This famous museum full of famous artworks and artists that I've been studying in one of the most fascinating art movements of this century: The Great Upheaval.

Just a side note...as if the exhibit wasn't amazing enough, Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture is astoundingly breathtaking. Another side note...nobody in New York speaks English. Fortunately I think most people have figured out hand gestures for, "Will you take a picture of me?"

Next stop: meet up with Abbie for lunch at Shake Shack, dessert at Magnolia Bakery, and then see the best of the best sites of Central Park aka "Enchanted" landmarks including Bethesda Fountain.

Central Park was followed by a pit stop at F.A.O. Schwartz, home of the most expensive fooseball table...okay. I may have made that up. But I wouldn't pay that much for even this collector's item:

Statue of Liberty made of Legos. Classic. The kids are the adorable Eli and Audrey, Abbie's children.

Off to see St. Patrick's Cathedral! Um...incredible? Yeah. The word doesn't do it justice. Inside the cathedral is absolutely astonishing - we ended the semester learning about cathedrals in my art history class so this was a real treat for me. If I had more patience for this blogging program, I'd post a zillion pictures. We even got to sit in on the beginning of evening mass. Eli: "Mommy, I don't like this church. I like our church better. This church is weird!" FHE lesson in the making? Yes.

Forrest took the kids (lucky he got off work early!) home and Abbie and I took a quick shopping trip to H&M (which was very successful) and found these awful...keychains? Purse pulls? Whatever. They were bad. But H&M was good. And rumor has it they are coming to Utah. Thank goodness.

Evening ended at Free Fridays at the MoMA. Abbie says it's much more fun without the kids...Once again, I am completely overwhelmed by the beautiful artworks and artists I've studied, including Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night." This particular piece is a Monet and I LOVED it.

For more details on the time with my newfound friend Abbie, visit her blog. Or you can see some more pics here. Enjoy.

Sad Goodbye

No fears. I am alive and well and back from the big city of which I shall post all about later. But right now I want to take a moment to celebrate my best friend of 19 years who I said good-bye to this evening. Jacob leaves Wednesday morning to enter the MTC to begin training to serve a mission in Mongolia. Words can't describe folks. Words can't describe.

Here's to you, Jake. I will miss you.