I'm back from NYC and soooOOOooo tired. Had a 6:50am flight out this morning to come back to the Bay Area, and considering
and I went to sleep at around 3:00 and can't sleep on planes, this has been an extremely long day. ^^BUT New York was fantastic! Seriously, I could not have asked for a better week-long break. ^__^ I slept about 12 hours a day (no, I'm definitely not the type to get up early to "try and see all the sights" when I'm somewhere new. Vacations are all about relaxation for me), ate out almost every meal, and did the ultimate touristy things in NYC. XD
Also, I looooved living in Greenwich village in our little Charles Ives apartment (courtesy of Google). It felt like a much more authentic experience than living in midtown in some hotel. ^_^ Plus, it was in a great location, close to most of the hotspots in lower Manhattan!
Speaking of hotspots, here are some of the highlights of our trip:
The Shows! - we caught two Broadway shows and an opera throughout our week. First was Beauty and the Beast, which is a movie I love to pieces. The show was pretty spectacular--great sets and costumes. I also liked how Belle sounded almost the same as she did in the movie. And the Beast was uber-cute--they tried to portray his personality as more silly and spoiled than in the movie version. >D >D The second show was Lestat, a fairly new Broadway show by Elton John based on Anne Rice novels. I've only read Interview with the Vampire, but really liked it, and so decided to give it a try. It was entertaining as a show--a solid story with a few good numbers. I'm not sure if it will go down in history or bring home any Tony's though… ^^ And lastly, we watch Mozart's Don Giovanni opera at the New York State Theatre which was also great. Although throughout most of the show I was just confused as so why Don Giovanni was so evil. I think my impression of the character from what I had heard was just that he was a playboy, so I kept waiting for him to reform or something, but nope. He's just a no-good very-bad character XD
The Museums! - I'm in love with NYC museums (okay, actually just the Met, although the Moma was pretty cool as well.) (The Guggenheim was under construction when we visited, alas. I'm not sure how I feel about the circular spire architecture. It's a bit tiresome, and there are far too many hidden nooks. Like you could walk around and completely miss some exhibits.) Anyway, we spent Saturday at the Met, focusing mostly on European and American paintings and sculptures although we tried to walk around and at least look briefly at everything. ^^ I loved Washington Crossing the Delaware (that thing is much bigger than I imagined!), and the John Singer Sargent paintings (although his famous "Madame X" was on loan to European museums, sadly ~_~), the Rembrandt pieces and those by David (particularly "The Death of Socrates"). There was also one gorgeous Tiffany stained glass that I can't remember the name of, but showed a waterfall scene, and the way the colors all blended together was breathtaking. I will definitely be coming back here on my next NYC visit!!
Drinks in the meatpacking district - man, the meatpacking district is just bizarre. So many trendier-than-thou bars and clubs right next to old, abandoned looking warehouses. O_O Mike and I went to Black Lotus on our second night there with our roommate Nathan who knew the area better than us although he was also from the Bay Area. The place was totally packed by around 1:00am, on a Sunday night! O_o I'm not a huge clubber, but I had a great time. It was very amusing to hear Nathan talk about his technique of picking up women, which was basically "let them come to you." According to him, the Manhattan bar/club scene is very favorable to guys because there are more single women than men. Pretty skeptical, but hey, the whole "do nothing and let them come to you" seemed to work for him. ^^
Belgium beer bar with Moules and Frites - Mike and I are totally obsessed with Lambic Framboise (a brand of delicious raspberry beer) with some good mussels and fries, something we've never had in the Bay Area but seemed to be quite popular in the city. Frites are good with a variety of dipping sauces. ^_^ And Moules and Frites just sound so cute when you say it together.
Other sites of fun - Mike and I love toy stores, so we had a field day with the giant Toys R' Us in Times Square and FAO Schwartz. We didn't come home empty-handed--honestly, how can you not look at one of those FAO Schwartz dogs and *not* get one? ^^ We also browsed Fifth Ave quite a bit, checked out the Tiffany's Jewelry
, went on top of the Empire State Building (seriously…. Freeezing up there, but great view!) Did I mention the awesome, fantastic, superb, amazing food? >D >D This is probably the best part of the trip, since I'm obsessed with food. ^_^ The best meal was definitely Nobu Next Door, which we decided to check out since like every guide lists it as one of the top restaurants in NY. It's Japanese/Latino fusion food by the famed chef Nobu Matsuhita www.nobumatsuhisa.com/flash/ho…. I'm still dreaming about the Rock Shrimp Tempura and the Miso cod which just melts in your mouth.
We also had high tea at the wonderfully quaint Lady Mendl's
www.LadyMendls.com, New York style pizza at Lombardi's in Little Italy, as well as the neighborhood 24-hour French café French Roast and the delicious Sammy's Noodle House. Oh, and Argentinean steak at this fantastic place introduced by a Columbia University friend. How I fear everything will taste bland now compared to the giant feast that was last week…
Okay wow, I just wrote like an essay. ^_^ Ah, the memories~
Anyway, school starts tomorrow (my final undergrad quarter!) and I am ready to close my eyes and fall onto the pillow.Any spring break stories from you guys? Tell me what you did!
C u r r e n t * M o o d - experimental pastel coloring and also cel-style. Definitely Painter. ^__^ Also getting some anatomy practice in the sketchbook.
C u r r e n t P r o g r e s s
--Recent--
Lightning Bug Bottle Girl - 95%
Bishy Rune - 91%
Smoking guy with windmills - 87%
Rune White Series II: rain - 85%
Chibi FFVII Vincent - 70%
Long Distance Love - 33%
FFVII Reno - 20%
Pond lilies - 13%
FFVII eyes - 10%
--from way back when, never got around to it, maybe never will?--
AC Sephy and Cloud - 60%
Color me something beautiful - 60%
L o v e s - My favorite da artists and why
P r i n t s - my account
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