new york

Before my official first day at work today, I decided to take a short "weekend" trip to New York City. It's not the true weekend for most people, but it's the only two consecutive days off I have for the next few months. As tranquil and quiet as Cape Cod is in its early season, I was very excited to be going to the city. I have a list of all the places I want to visit there, and was able to check off several from the past two days, most of which are museums. I'm saving all the others for the warmer months. A friend of mine who lives there was kind enough to take me around to each of the places I wanted to see, which made the trip seamless, and much less stressful than it would have been had I been navigating on my own.

I drove to New York since it was the most convenient. Staying in Brooklyn, parallel parking overnight in the street is free, and all I had to do was move my car to the other side or another block when the time came for the street cleaners. Not so bad.

First stop was the Rubin Museum of Art, all Himalayan art. The Rubins were obviously big collectors. Since my trusty guide is Tibetan, he was able to tell me much more than I could read from a museum label, a definite plus.

Then we took the subway up to 42nd Street to walk around, then to Central Park and walked through-- this was my favorite because people were scarce, and it was very pretty, even though spring hasn't shown up yet.

We walked all the way up to the American Museum of Natural History, another museum that I have always wanted to visit. It's huge! One could easily spend a whole day there. We ended up rushing through the last few areas before they closed, but I'd love to go back another day. Then dinner was at a great Japanese restaurant where they were having some special sake event, so we got to sample some. Finally, we made it back to Times Square so I would be able to see all the lights at night. Everyone was there it seemed! It was a lot of fun.

The next day I had planned to visit the Tenement Museum, another museum recommended to me, so we walked a mile through Chinatown in the wind and rain, only to find out the most immediate tours were sold out and going on a tour was the only way in. Next time then, and again to Central Park, this time to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, another enormous one. Too large to see in one go, but I got through what I wanted to see most.

What a wonderful time!