NYC Part 4

Day 4:

Sunday didn't have anything listed for the spreadsheet so we opted to pick a couple of the non day specific activities to knock off. On the docket: the Brooklyn Bridge and Top of The Rockefeller Centre. Obviously the best plans for a windy -12 day but nevermind that, we're Canadians!!

So after much incredulity from Kes' roommates (and plenty of warnings about how cold and windy it is up on the bridge etc.) we headed out to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was indeed cold and windy but it seemed worse for people walking the other way. On the plus side, it meant there weren't all that many people on the bridge!

You get a decent view of downtown from the bridge. 

And then we got ourselves onto the subway to head to the Rockefeller Centre. When I was planning out this trip, I decided I would do a couple of special things that actually cost money. The ballet was one (ha, big surprise! ;)) and this was the other one. It was a toss up between this and the Empire State Building observation deck - they both give really good views of the city, but Kes had already done the Empire State Building so Rockefeller it was! Being a tourist trap, there was a reasonable wait to get up to the top (and they only allow twenty people or something in each elevator), but there was swanky decor!

And then we got whisked up to the top in a super speedy elevator! Ha, and no big surprise, it was WINDY up there!! But the view was pretty great.

Proof it was windy, heh!

Also dark. My camera was not a fan. I have a nice selection of blurry New York from above pictures to remember the excursion!

And because I'm finishing these posts up so late, I can't remember when we did a bit of stuff on our own, but at one point I was out walking around and came across the fanciest Home Depot I have ever seen!

Happy Easter

Love,

Grad school and procrastination

(counting down the days and assignments until this semester is over!!)

NYC Part 3

Day 3:

The spreadsheet had an event on "The Highline" listed for today. The Highline is a chunk of elevated train tracks that are no longer used but have been made into a nice walkway. There was supposed to be an event but it got cancelled due to the weather (it was supposed to snow a bit - them Americans are babies about a bit o' winter!) but we opted to go check it out anyway.
It was nice, but I'm sure it's much nicer (and busier!) in the spring/summer. It's neat being up above the streets though!

There was a wee skating rink (I actually think it was one of those fake ice things, like they have at Heritage Park) down below. That is a little penguin skate aid you see!! I have never seen them in the shape of animals before. How fun!

 Some inexpensive condo offerings nearby. I'm thinking second residence in NYC for sure!

This is the ground. Those darker lines are the tracks. They just built the path around them.

Heh, we tried to get a picture where you could see that we were up high based on what was behind us. Not so much with the success on that front..

We also came across these lovely benches. Perfect for some winter sunbathing!

Next on the list was the Fashion Institute of Technology. It's a school but they have a museum as part of it and it's always free so I was interested in going to take a peer. Kes and I parted ways at this point so she could do Valentinesy Skyping. The FIT museum was interesting. They had an exhibit on counterfeit clothes, bags, and shoes and another one on the career timelines of two designers: Halston and Yves Saint Laurent. A couple of spiffy outfits they had on display:

Kes and I reconvened for food times and to head out for our romantic Valentines evening adventure: the 9/11 memorial. We figured it probably wouldn't be crazy busy! But first we stopped by Wall Street on our way. 

Dorky photographic evidence was necessary: 

But then we found a gilded sign. Much more appropriate!!

We also came across this shop (basically like London Drugs/Shoppers) that was super swanky. And right inside was this super creepy advertisement. That is the back of her but she was this video projection thing that talked and moved. 

 
And on to the memorial! There was some serious road construction going on where we were planning on walking so we went on this epic indoor +15 adventure which at one point spit us out into this giant all white hallway with nobody else in it. We were beginning to think that we were stuck in some kind of U.S. institution as an experiment or something but we finally made it out and to a place that had signs for where we wanted to go!

The reflecting pools are gigantic (thank you, Captain Obvious!) and quite striking all lit up at night. I'm curious how much water goes through them.

Also, sad. The border thing around both of them is engraved with all the names of the people that died. SO many names. And people had stuck white roses in some of them. :(

And the freedom tower from further away (that's the same building in the first image - One World Trade Centre)

On our way home we stopped by a vegan restaurant so I could pick up a slice of cheesecake so we could go back to Kes' apartment and eat cheesecake and watch a movie to cap off the evening. Fun times!

Whew! Cookie for you for making it through all that! (Except not - learning application time: using food as a reward is not ideal, kids!)

NYC Part 2

Onto day 2!

Kes and I did our own things in the morning. So I headed off to Grand Central Station to meet up with a group that does free tours of the station and surrounding buildings. Except I managed to miss them. I stopped into a Starbucks to reevaluate my plans and steal their internet. Turns out there is a really inexpensive self guided tour you can do so I headed back to the station to do that. As I was headed back I ran into what I think may have been the original tour group but I was afraid it was some paid tour and I'd get in trouble for just joining in partway through. Anyhow, got myself set up with a map and tour gadget (and some really cool headphones. I couldn't hear the thing talking to me just through the speaker it had so I went back to the chap at the desk and he gave me some really attractive old school earmuff type headphones. No inconspicuous touristy stuff for me!). It was really neat and I learned a bunch. Heh, that I have since forgotten much of - I should have taken notes or something...

This is the big clock outside. The circle holding the six is actually a window that can be opened (aka, it is waay bigger than it looks. It's super high up!)

Overall it's huge and super swanky looking. And a ton of hallways that branch off the main space which all basically look the same.

The ceiling in the main concourse is painted to be like the sky with all the constellations on it. Apparently they are backwards to what you'd actually see if you were looking up. This was a mistake but when it came to light they made up some story about how it's supposed to be from gods perspective or something. There are also oak leaves built into lots of spots - the oak leaf was really important to the Vanderbilt family, who were highly influential and involved in the building (funding?) of Grand Central Station. 

This clock is in one of the hallways leading to the main concourse. Apparently standard time was invented here and they are very proud of that fact so this is to represent that. I don't remember all the details but something about how all the trains etc. used to come through Grand Central Station and it was developed to have some way to organize all the trains from different places.

Kes and I met up afterward and I insisted we try out one of the cool tidbits I learned about. There is this one hallway called "the whispering room" that has a fancy tiled ceiling and if you and a friend go into diagonal corners, stand face in and talk, you can hear the other person as if they were right beside you. It's SO cool!! And we spent enough time there that I think the security guards (they were everywhere!!) were starting to get suspicious.

The whispering room. 

Then we trekked out to FAO Schwarz to see (and play on, obviously!) their giant floor piano. On our way we realized we were definitely in the swanky part of town.

This picture cracks me up because I went to take it to send to David and it by complete coincidence, the limo passed by as I was taking it. But it's just so fitting!

As we were walking along we spied THE Tiffany's store so we decided we needed to go in and peer. Ha, SO much security. Every door had two security people, there were two elevators each staffed with two security guards. We looked around a bit and then got the genius idea that we should see if we could learn what the single most expensive item in the store was. This involved a lot of assessing employees to find the one that looked the nicest and working up the nerve to ask. I'm stupidly proud of myself for getting the nerve to actually ask. Not sure our employee of choice was terribly impressed but whatever. It's not like I'll ever be an actual customer. He pointed us to a case with a $3 million necklace. No big deal. We snuck a picture of it. I'm not actually convinced photos were prohibited but who knows. Anyway, I sent it off to David and he said that they probably had more expensive stuff on the upper floors but they are viewed by appointment only. Anyway, $3 million is ridiculous enough for me!

And on to FAO Schwarz! It was enormous and crammed full of stuff. But we were on a mission to find this piano. And find it we did!

They let you on to play it in groups. So Kes and I ended up with a couple of kids (though there were actually two men who were in line behind us so we weren't the only ridiculous adults playing on it!). It was lots of fun! No pictures of us - you didn't have to pay to play on it but they did take a picture of you beforehand and tried to peddle it to you afterward. I can' remember how much it was. Maybe twenty or thirty dollars? Nothanks.
We scoped it out a bit more and came across grumpy cat stuffies and these super creepy realistic looking dolls. Also, plenty of insanely expensive things for a toy store.

But we didn't stay too long because there were more things to do! We headed out and on to MoMA! It was free entry Friday night, which was a good thing because we learned that neither of us are particularly big fans of modern art. However we started having fun when we went on a mission to find the most ridiculous pieces of art. Some choice selections:

 I kid you not, this is white canvas on a white wall. 

 Vanna Whiteing for a lovely specimen. I believe this was a wooden beam painted red and stuck on the wall.

And my personal favourite. There was nothing on the wall other than the text. The art was the implication of the pit in the wall.

There was a room of Monet though, which I do like so we'll leave it on that positive note!

NYC Adventures Part 1

Since New York trip is by far the most exciting thing I'll be up to anytime soon, I obviously need to blog about it!

So, day 1 I flew in crazy early in the morning (my flight left at 6:30am - got picked up at 3:45am, blech!). Got in, Kes and I chatted for a bit and the had a good nap. Heh. I may or may not have gotten very little sleep the night before. (+1 adult point for me) But we had tickets to go see the New York City Ballet in the evening so we got up and at em to get ready for that.

The show was also part of this artist collaboration thing they do so there was an art installation in the lobby that you could view either before or after the show. We opted to go early to see it before the ballet and it was so neat to see up close! I had seen a video preview of the work beforehand but there is so much detail you can't really see from photograph or video (which makes me sad - I took a ton of pictures but they don't really do it justice).

But here is the video showing how he made the installations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tVf2IXvsQ4

And a few of the crap ton of pictures I took there. You can't see all the little tiny pictures and paint bits that make up each of the people though. It was SO cool to see all the tiny bits and since you could see them from both the back and the front you could tell that he had put thought in what direction to face the images etc. Kind of boggles my mind.

This is a close up of the front torso bit. So much detail!!

 And here you can see how they looked from the side. You could see how each glass layer contributed to the total front/back view. Really neat!












The actual show was also excellent. It was made up of three pieces by the same choreographer, George Balanchine. Anyway, it was fun to see dancers that I've heard of for years in performance! Er, and see a couple of the girls (several years younger than me..) from when I danced in the states who are now in the company. The building is beautiful too! Ha, though part of a pretty big conglomerate of buildings that is the Lincoln Centre so we had some troubles finding the theatre.

The fancy fountain outside the Lincoln Centre.