BIG day - NYC Day 5

After Friday's snafu what with the WTC subway station not having an elevator (as advertised), we swapped our days around a bit - another great development - SUN! And HEAT! I was beginning to wonder if NYC was taking a page from the Vancouver playbook for late spring and bathing everyone in drizzly warm downpour.

Saturday we trekked up the 6 blocks from our hotel to Central park on an absolutely gorgeous day - 77 degrees and a light breeze. We walked from the corner of 5th avenue and Central Park South, past the little vendor booths, caricture artists and cheap paintings of NYC sights. We realized early on that it was both too hot and not enough time to see such a great park but we figured we'd walk until we got hungry/tired, or until we got to Museum Mile (5th ave from roughly 81st to 110th), whichever came first.

Turns out, it all happened at once. We passed the Central Park Zoo, the children's petting zoo, the Conservatory Water (and people sailing their r/c boats), several buskers, and several hundred thousand people sunning themselves, playing, picnicing and walking their pets. S&P keenly noticed that this city is LOUSY with pregnant women - as she put it, "every uterus, like every living space, is full in this town!" Interestingly, every woman we saw pregnant was married - verified by either an incredibly expensive rock, or the presence of a doting husband/partner/spouse/daddy/other. Central park was simply the proof - we've seen this phenomenon in every neighbourhood we've been in since we got here.

We came out of the park briefly at 81st ave seeing the white stone walls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) rising up out of the greenery. It was enormous, and S&P, who has traveled to Russia and visited the Hermitage, said that it seemed almost as large. It was beautiful, very classically designed, and the steps and square were overrun with people, vendors, entertainers, and tourists. We took a time out to get food (which has gradually become more difficult as our trip goes on - I'm sure we'll fill you in in another post on this). Happily today we stumbled on the decadent grocer Dean & Deluca, and we feasted on yummy sandwiches, fruit, yogurt and (gasp) a raspberry cupcake split in two. We debated the finer points of gourmet cupcakery as we sat on a shady bench by the Met and ate our lunch.

The Met is hard to describe. Almost every major piece of greek sculpture that pops readily to mind seems to be in their Greek and Roman Antiquities section. The architecture of the building is phenomenal and lends itself to a wild sense of size, grandeur and glory. The light itself is beautiful. I was anxious for the Egyptian wing (having seen the amazing collection in the British Museum), however it was very crowded. I don't remember much of it at the moment, but S&P sure does! and unintential part of the museum's attractions that day was pop star and actress Mandy Moore and her husband Ryan Adams (whom if I had known was there I would have mobbed him and made a fool of myself. Good thing I didn't notice). My favourite part was the Temple of Dendur hall, with an ancient Egyptian burial temple and archway reconstructed in the midst of a stunning wall of windows and pond.

Another highlight for both of us was the traveling exhibition, Model as Muse (sponsored by Marc Jacobs!). Buffy, you should have seen it. It was fantastic, and featured a century of classic fashion art pieces and the models who inspired them. The 60's Yves St. Laurent dress, for example, featuring vivid cubist (?) squares in red, blue and yellow on a white background; the Dior gown from the golden age of Haute Couture, seen on the model posed between two elephants.



Our flight is about to be called, so we'll continue this in another post. We are tired, really dirty, and glad to be coming home - though the consensus is that New Yorkers are much friendlier than anyone gives them credit for, New York City needs at least two weeks to do it justice, and we are both now looking for graduate programs at NYU.

Now, talk amongst yo'selves....

(Oh and S&P says that we have also agreed that we are pretty much at our end and are looking forward to some sleep - despite Mom's admonition from earlier this week - we walked an estimated 30 blocks today alone, on average 3-4 miles a day. S&P's feet hurt. Mine, not so much.)