Day 11: Friday

Day 11: Friday

Today was driving to Cleveland day. It took us about 8-9 hours. I drove the whole way while Michelle rested. She is recovering from her sunburn and a slight cold she picked up in the Big Apple. We will be staying in Cleveland until Tuesday. It was 97 here in Cleveland; I know it was over 100 in Little Rock. Today’s blog is short as it is after 11 PM and I’m tired and still need to shower. No pictures today.

Day 10: Thursday

Day 10:  Thursday

Today we had to check out of our hotel. America’s Got Talent is in town and all rooms were taken. We piled everything in the car leaving it in the parking lot and went into NYC for one last time. We went to Brooklyn and started to walk the Brooklyn Bridge, but turned around after about 200 yards because it was just too hot and because construction blocked some parts so the viewing wasn’t ideal. Who is that silver haired guy walking toward the Brooklyn Bridge towers?

We then bee lined to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and ate some of the most delicious ice cream ever. It was creamy and you could taste the real ingredients! Picture below.

We the rode the metro to Chinatown and bought some souvenirs, ironically from some Indian shop owners! We made it back to our hot car about 3PM and drove about 20 miles to another hotel a little more out of the city. This would make leaving easier as rush hour can extend for about 50 miles from NYC! The hour or so out in the morning sun gave me a slight sunburn. Michelle is peeling from her sunburn last Saturday. We rested at the hotel with Michelle eating a Subway and me some Chinese takeout for supper. Tomorrow we have a long drive of about 8 hours.

Day 9: Wednesday

Day 9:  Wednesday

Today we started by visiting MOMA (Museum of Modern Art). I thought this was going to be a quick visit, but it is jam packed with art, again including all types of media. Now I can’t even draw a stick figure, but I came away from this museum with ideas of creating my own personal type of art! So many of the great European artists that everyone knows about have works in NYC. I think half of all of Picasso’s works are in NYC. Name a great artist and you’ll find at least one piece of work here. Here is an artwork from the famous American artist Jackson Pollock.

On a high from seeing all the great art, we visited one of the largest, if not the largest, camera and supply stores in the world, B&H. This is a place to visit even if you aren’t going to buy anything. 

There must be at least 100 to 200 workers in the store, of which at least 80-90% are Jewish. By the way, the store was founded by a Jewish family and it is a “family” business. We saw more obviously Jewish people working in the store than we did everywhere else combined. This little visit to the camera store set me back about $300 as Michelle got a wide-angle lens that was refurbished, a savings of about $200. We then ventured to the Apple Store famous for its 3-story spiral, glass staircase. The initial staircase was highly controversial because ladies walking up the staircases were totally unaware that all was visible to the people standing below! Now the step portion is frosted. 

Michelle got some new ear buds at the Apple Store. Just down the street is Chelsea Market, home of Food Network. I was really disappointed in this as I was expecting a real marketplace, and instead got a glorified indoor shopping center. Michelle did buy a giant crepe with Nutella and strawberries to munch on. We then went up on the Highline, a mile long walkway built on old raised railroad tracks. 

This was really nice, but it was so hot that we only walked about 200 yards and took some stairs down. At the bottom of the stairs we saw a vertical garage similar to the one I mentioned when we first arrived in Newark. Here is a picture of how the cars are lifted up. That young lady in the lower right hand corner looks familiar.

We then made our way down to the docks where we took an evening cruise around the lower half of Manhattan. This was fun and highly informative. We sailed right over the spot where the airline captain landed the jet plane on the Hudson River. You might remember that story from a few years back. The boat sailed from the pier right next to the USS Intrepid which is a museum now and houses the Concorde airplane and the Discovery Space Shuttle. Couldn’t see the shuttle as it was housed inside a giant inflatable building on the aircraft carrier. You can see the "bubble" on top of the ship to the left. 

The cruise when right by the statue of liberty where I took the following picture. Look closely and you can see that a sailing vessel and an airplane both were passing the Statue of Liberty at the same time.

It was dark as we landed, so off to the Empire State Building we went. Michelle wanted to go to the top of the building at night since she did Top of the Rock during the day. She took lots of night-time pictures from the top.

We eventually made it back to the hotel after midnight.

Day 8: Tuesday

Day 8: Tuesday

Today we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We both loved this museum! We started our visit by visiting the roof sculpture that you could climb in and walk around. It is made of Plexiglas and reflective metal and mesh stairs. Only a few people can be in at any time.  Everyone was talking about how disorienting it was when you were inside. With the reflective metal reflecting the opposite view through the plexiglass or the open parts, you never knew if you were going to step into a room or walk into a wall! It was fun. 

And the view of Central Park from the roof top was the one view that says NYC! The great rectangular park of green bordered by all these huge mason, concrete, and glass buildings! Here is the view from the roof with Michelle in the picture.

The museum had art of all types from all over the world; every continent except Antarctica was represented! It had art from many thousands of years old to recent art. They had photographs, sculptures, musical instruments, fetishes, costumes, carvings, etc. Michelle taught me a lot about American artists such as Jackson Pollock and we both argued over what art was good and which was bad. We both quickly realized that Polynesian art is skewed toward boyhood changing into manhood and we both were a little surprised by how “overly-endowed” the male wood sculptures were. We then went a few blocks north and I went to the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art. I wanted to go there because of the architecture; you often see this museum in movies made in NYC. 

This was another interesting museum both architecturally and content wise. For some reason, no photography at all was allowed except from the bottom floor. We then feasted on some of the best gelato ever made.

 It was so good that we had to go back for seconds! Being mid-afternoon, we decided to hunt down the “LOVE” sculpture in NYC. 

We found it! Look between the V and E and you'll see a fruit stand vendor with lots of fresh fruit, most a lot cheaper and fresher looking than you can buy from Kroger! We then decided to visit the “free” Sony Technology Imagination and Creativity Center. It was cool with lots of emphasis on technology used in movies, robotics, games, etc. Afterwards we stopped by The Halal Guys again for supper. It was just as good as the first time around and only $6 for a meal plus leftovers! We turned in early today getting back before dark.

Day 7: Monday

Day 7: Monday

I was excited to go to the world renowned Natural History and Science Museum, where the movie Night at the Museum was filmed. I wanted to go because of all the science stuff. We were both underwhelmed and really disappointed. We paid extra to see a bioluminescence exhibit that talked about glowing fungi, bugs, and jellyfish. We thought we were going to see live creatures, but it turned out that everything was just models with lights that glowed. That put a real damper on the rest of the visit. The planetarium and astronomy portion was nice, and in reality, it is a great museum with all sorts of great skeletons and cool dioramas. If alone, I could have stayed all day. Here's a picture of me in front of a giant sloth skeleton.

The best part was the biodiversity and diorama section of the museum. Below is a picture of the huge blue whale suspended from the ceiling in the great hall.It is over 60 feet long!

A quick respite at Central Park, and back to Rockefeller Center we went. When we got there another big thunderstorm came by. After it cleared, Michelle was to go to the Top of the Rock (top of the Rockefeller Center). However, lightning had struck the top floor during the storm, so she could only go the floor about 20’ lower, still some 69 stories high. See below.

While up there, another storm came in and they were forced to leave. She snapped the following picture of the approaching storm. You can see the Empire State Building in the middle and the new World Trade Building in the far distance with its unfinished black top in the rain storm.

While she was high in the sky, I went to St Patrick’s Cathedral and got there just as mass was starting, so I stayed for mass and a special service afterwards. Nice old cathedral like the ones you see in Europe; lots of history in that cathedral as well. 

Tired and well humidified by the storms, we headed back to the subways for our long journey back to Newark, NJ.

Day 6: Sunday

Day 6: Sunday

We overslept this morning having been exhausted from yesterday. We made our way to a very small oasis, called Greenacre Park, really close to where Caroline Waters lives. It’s about the size of an average house’s floor plan or about the size of all of the ECS commons area. There we visited with Caroline, went to Ess-a-bagel where we bought bagel sandwiches for lunch; possibly the best meal of all in NYC. There was a line out of the door, but surprisingly, it moved quickly. We returned to the park, ate our meals, and visited for a while. Caroline not only was happy to see us, but she said her highlight of the work week was that she received her very first paycheck! Suddenly we realized that we were running late for our Broadway show at the Ambassador theater, so off we flew with no time for pictures with Caroline. We made it to the theater with minutes to spare. We saw Chicago; the singing was great. There really was no set, as the band took up most of the stage on risers. I was shocked at how small the theater was. The Rep is considerably bigger! We also found that we could have just walked up and got the same tickets for $100 LESS EACH! This pretty much is true of all shows except the newest and most popular. We did have great seats, about eight rows from the stage.

Afterwards we walked to Central Park to catch the end of a SummerStage Concert. An up-&-coming band, called Alabama Shakes, was the third act and we got there just before they started to play. It was in a blocked-off area but we could hear just fine sitting on the park benches. It was kind of crazy, because at the same time nearby was a drumming circle using djembe drums. Mr. Saoud would have been at home there! We later walked to Rockefeller Center and bought NYC Passes containing discounted tickets. The Rockefeller Center is nice; it has an underground shopping center! Outside we found a Halal Truck vendor that sold gyro meat and rice. There was a long line, so we thought it must be good food! It was, and we took half back to the hotel.

Day 5:  Saturday June 23, 2012

It is after midnight so my blog will be short. We visited Governor’s Island today. We took a ferry to get there and had to go through security. One thing we learned is that one goes through security at just about every public place. It is annoying but at the same time serves its purpose. This week, there was an arrest made of someone planning to bomb Jewish synagogues in NYC.  The weather was sunny and clear. We could clearly see the Statue of Liberty about a mile away. The whole island is about 1 mile in perimeter so we walked around it. Poor Michelle got sunburned. We saw some interesting sculptures on the island and some practical inventions like the portable bench shown below. It has handles like a wheelbarrow so it can be easily moved around.

There was a Graphics Design exhibit on the island as well which was really neat. It showed that collaboration among many people in different fields is necessary to produce simple graphics like logos, maps, charts, etc. Also while walking around lower Manhattan, we saw one guy just walking along the street normally, except that sitting on top of his head was his pet cat! In a town where nothing seems to attract New Yorker’s attention, this guy had everyone’s heads turning. We later learned via the Internet that he and his cat are icons in downtown NYC. On our way uptown we stumbled upon the New York Stock Exchange with the bull outside.

We visited Grand Central Station. It looks so much bigger in the movies, but it is still pretty big. The funny thing is at one end, up the grand staircase, is an Apple Store which takes up about ½ of the total upper floor. 

We then went to nearby Bryant Park to find someplace to sit and relax. On the way, the pep rally for the Gay Pride parade, which is tomorrow, was being held. Once at the park we found ourselves at Tropfest, which is an outdoor short-film and music festival. We chilled for a while listening to music and watching short films (1-2 minutes long). This was really a cool park with about 20-30 people playing chess, others playing table tennis, bocce ball, and they even had an outdoor reading area complete with carts of books and magazines that you could check out and read in that area. Vendors nearby sold all types of food, jewelry, and accessories. We then went to Times Square and while we were there found ourselves being projected on a 3-4 story tall high definition screen. The giant screen is to the left on the picture below.

 Here we are on the big screen! We are in the middle and slightly to the right. Michelle is in dark pants and a white blouse, and I am in shorts with a white shirt.

We saw the “New Year’s Ball” - it looked so small sitting way up there. Finally, hunger got the best of us so we decided to visit the TGIF at Times Square. We got in, sat down, and when the menu came, one look at the prices told us to leave, so we did. A hamburger was $19 and a salad was $18, and those were the two cheapest items on the menu. We walked away from Times Square for a few blocks and stumbled upon a Japanese Restaurant called MonsterSushi, so we went in and ordered two dinner Bento Boxes. The food was of descent quality and the price was reasonable. A visit to the restroom revealed this interesting sign. I love that Linda personally signed the message.

We then tried to find our way to the train station to take us back to the hotel. At nighttime, in Mid-Manhattan, it is easy to get your directions mixed up. Finally we found our station and made it back to our hotel in Newark, NJ about an hour later.

Day 4: Friday, June 22

There were two tired puppies at the end of today. Day breaks early as the morning light woke me up before 5:00 AM, though we didn't get up until 6:30. After a quick, but light breakfast, we took the train into Manhattan. We had no trouble and even managed a free transfer flawlessly. We were in rush hour so we had to stand for the 30 minute wobbly ride. We had tired arms from holding on to railings so we didn't fall and knock someone over, and the day hadn't even started. Popping out onto the surface, NYC hit us hard. It is really just like in the movies, stinky, busy, lots of construction, and taxis outnumbering all other vehicles! Even the beggar's are quite creative. One made a cardboard sign that said, "I am too ugly for prostitution, so give me money anyway!" There are people walking dogs everywhere, and some were so cute. I was suprised by the number of blind people navigating the streets of New York as if they really could see. It made you just want to sit and people watch. We made our way to Union Square (Greenwich Village area) and stopped at the farmer's market there. It was really nice and the produce was so beautiful. I wanted to buy some just to take home and cook, but they wouldn't last the two more weeks. Below is a picture of the farmer's market which stretched around another corner.

Michelle and I indulged in a chocolate croissant that was comparable to Panera's. We then went to buy our subway passes, but they only took cash, and we were two dollars short. A visit to the nearby Bank of America was like playing slots, the first two machines were out of order, the third had no cash, and the last, well it yielded cash, so we loaded up so as to not have to gamble with trying to get money often. Alas back to the metro to buy subway tickets and off we went to Chinatown. It was pretty warm and humid by this time and we walked about 8 blocks to get some dumplings at a place that was cheap and supposedly good. Well we got 5 pork & chive dumplings, 8 vegetable dumplings, one sesame pork sandwich, and two bottled waters for a total of $6.75 - I did say cheap. While the dumplings were so-so, I loved the sesame beef sandwich. We couldn't eat all that we had! We then walked to Little Italy and the sky open up with a torrential downpour. We hopped into an Italian dessert shop and found out that this was the dessert shop of the Cannoli King. I saw him on Rachel Ray show not too long ago. We didn't buy cannoli's, not our favorites, but we did indulge in some gelato. We both agreed Zaza's gelato was better! It was fun sitting in a dry shop and watching all the different people in the streets scramble for cover! back to the subways to head downtown, but Michelle went into the wrong subway, so she had to come out and wait 18 minutes before reusing her card, so we walked around some more. The fruits and veggies in Chinatown are really exotic and everything is cheap. We saw 3 lbs of Rainer Cherries being sold for $5:00! Alas our 20 minutes was up and we headed downtown. We had tickets for visiting 9/11 memorial at 7 PM so had several hours to kill. We walked around the 9/11 site and financial district. Here is a picture of the new WTC. It has another 40 stories to be added to the top and should be finished next year.

Having more time we to burn, we walked down to the ferry area and watched the ferries fly across the water. The Statue of Liberty could be seen in the distance, but it was hazy. While we were there, we got our daily surprise. A Disney cruise ship passed by and you could see all the people on the top deck. Note the Mickey Mouses on the smoke stacks! The clincher was that when the ship blew its horn, it played the first part of the Disney song, "If you wish upon a star!"

We left the waterfront and headed back toward the WTC. As we approached, the smell of impending rain tickled our noses, and Michelle said "let's dive into another shop and eat while the storm passes," so we did. We went inside a little Sushi-to-go place with sushi boxes like you get at Kroger, but made on site. Here is a picture of some of Michelle's sushi and the rain falling outside.

New York City really is a place to study people. In the middle of this rainstorm, we see an elderly Asian man and woman (maybe in their 60's) with raincoats on, carrying huge trash bags of cans and bottles hanging from a stick draped over their shoulders. They stopped at the public trashcan at the corner to where we were eating our sushi, and pulled out the trashcan bag, They then proceeded to pull out all the cans and bottles, placed them into their bags, then carefully retied the bag and left it for the garbage pickup. Mind you that this was in a thunderstorm with driving rain! We couldn't decide if they were extremely environmentally conscious or that this was how they were supplementing their income or saving for retirement. It was funny and sad all at the same time. Here is a picture Michelle took through the window of them at the sushi place.

  Finally the rain cleared with about 10 minutes for us to reach the memorial entrance, which we did. Security is super tight, airport security is nothing. Not only did I have to empty everything in my pockets, I had to remove my belt as well. Luckily my love handles kept up my pants or who knows what jail or prison I'd be in right now! Getting in to the WTC memorial was a maze, but once you entered the memorial, you immediately knew you were on sacred ground. I wish I could show you pictures that Michelle took, but they are on a camera that I can't access today. Maybe tomorrow. One of the first things that you realize is how small a footprint the South Tower had. The North Tower's footprint is definitely larger, but still relatively small. The memorial waterfalls are beautiful, but what sends the tragedy home is watching the water at the bottom of the pool flow over the edges and into the abyss. Since you cannot see the bottom, you get that feeling of falling and not knowing into what or where it will land. This so much reminded me of the people who without hope jumped from the towers. That made my eyes tear up. A lone flag stuck in a person name on the memorial wall and seeing a couple hug each other in consolation really touched me. There are those who visit today who still are grieving. Seeing all the names, and especially those that said the name of a woman followed by the words "and her unborn child" makes you realize the preciousness of life. Finally we went to the "survivor tree." This tree was the only tree that survived the devastation, but all that was left was a 6 foot tall trunk with some bare branches that has been broken. Since the roots were still viable, they nursed the tree back to health and then replanted it in the memorial. It now is about 20 feet tall with lots of leaves and branches, all of which are new. There was a huge wreath in front of the tree. The guide told us that some Albanians placed the wreath there this morning. It took them all this time to raise enough money to come to the US and pay their respects to two Albanians who were cleaning the windows of the towers when the planes hit. We had plans of taking the metro to Times Square afterwards, but it only seemed right to end the day with this solemn occasion. We returned to the hotel and rested. . . two tired and exhausted puppies, a bionerd with aching feet and an artist with blisters the size of quarters. Tomorrow we are sleeping in - until seven! Goodnight and pray for all those 9/11 heroes and the family and friends they left behind.