Then we went to East Village, I think, to go to weird, secret, no-name bar. Weird, secret, no-name bar had three people dancing crazy when we entered (they may have been assisted by some "things") and they told us they would open at a 11pm. So we grabbed some drinks elsewhere and then came back to weird, secret, no-name bar. The DJ was awesome and they were playing bizarre art films (cat on LSD anyone?) and no one was there. I guess that's what happens if you're too secret (or maybe it was still too early for that place?).
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
B-List day & Sam drinks all day
Saturday was my B-list conference which was pretty amazing. And the gift bag well, ridiculous. Sam meanwhile met with our old neighbor, Ben, and from what I understand spent the whole day drinking and wandering around the west village. After I was done with the conference I met them at the hotel so I could drop off said gift bags (yes plural) and change. Then we went to John's pizza which was AMAZING.
Then we went to East Village, I think, to go to weird, secret, no-name bar. Weird, secret, no-name bar had three people dancing crazy when we entered (they may have been assisted by some "things") and they told us they would open at a 11pm. So we grabbed some drinks elsewhere and then came back to weird, secret, no-name bar. The DJ was awesome and they were playing bizarre art films (cat on LSD anyone?) and no one was there. I guess that's what happens if you're too secret (or maybe it was still too early for that place?).
Then we went to East Village, I think, to go to weird, secret, no-name bar. Weird, secret, no-name bar had three people dancing crazy when we entered (they may have been assisted by some "things") and they told us they would open at a 11pm. So we grabbed some drinks elsewhere and then came back to weird, secret, no-name bar. The DJ was awesome and they were playing bizarre art films (cat on LSD anyone?) and no one was there. I guess that's what happens if you're too secret (or maybe it was still too early for that place?).
MOMA + Room Service
The following day I met up another event planner in Rockfeller plaza and then met Sam & Ryan at the Moma. We went to this random burger joint that was hidden inside a fancy hotel. Seriously, picture a weird dive bar down a curtain lined hallway inside the Ritz and that's pretty close to what it was like. Anyway, the burger (#3 for the week) was the best yet. Then we went to central park and watched people for a while.
We went to the Moma at 4pm (it's free!) and I managed to get one photo of the Tangled Alphabets exhibition before I got rolled on.
The other side of the exhibit, by Leon Ferrari was amazing. Typography, hilarious commentary on religion and an awesome installation of fish line it was one of the best exhibitions I've ever seen. After that we went back to the hotel.
And got room service, bitches.
We went to the Moma at 4pm (it's free!) and I managed to get one photo of the Tangled Alphabets exhibition before I got rolled on.
The other side of the exhibit, by Leon Ferrari was amazing. Typography, hilarious commentary on religion and an awesome installation of fish line it was one of the best exhibitions I've ever seen. After that we went back to the hotel.
And got room service, bitches.
Botanical Gardens Part Deux
These are magnolia trees at the Botanical Gardens. How come we don't have these kind of magnolia trees here?!
Purrty sky.
By the way, this is the botanical gardens in the Bronx (weird I know).
And just to prove that this is indeed a real place:
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Thursday, we decided to go way uptown to check out The Cloisters and the botanical gardens in The Bronx. Kelly knows a lot more about the Cloisters because they basically house a bunch of medieval art. Here's a crap rhyme for you:
Kelly was cold:
The subway was dirty:
The cloisters looked old:
The flowers were purrrty:
I hope that wasn't too painful. I had some fun with the streamers at the children's garden:
Aren't we cute?
Kelly was cold:
The subway was dirty:
The cloisters looked old:
The flowers were purrrty:
I hope that wasn't too painful. I had some fun with the streamers at the children's garden:
Aren't we cute?
Day 6
We woke up at 1pm because we danced too hard (yeah, that's why). Sorry, there are no pictures of that. Trust me, it's better that way. Pianos is a really cool place; downstairs there's a cheap show with about 5 bands a night in a soundproofed room, and a separate bar. Upstairs there's a smaller space with another bar, a DJ, and some more interesting acts. We saw one set with just an accordion and electric bass.
Anyway, on Wednesday we decided to check out museums to make up for our failure on Tuesday. We stopped quickly at a kebab cart, and we were on our way. It's nice to see that you don't have to parallel park:
Our first stop was the museum of fashion photography. It basically sucked and was not worth the price of admission. Second, we went to a permanent exhibition at FIT, which was free and much more interesting, but very small. Here's the thing: the photography exhibit had one gallery of cutting edge images (mostly mounted magazine clippings) and one gallery that was mostly from the 30's-50's and collected from the work of a single photographer. Though the Fashion Institute had much less material, they covered a broad range, showed an interesting progression, and provided some decent narrative.
We decided to mix it up a little and do something even more touristy than shopping: we went to the empire state building. Pictures:
Yes, it was cloudy, but not crowded. After shuffling through the labyrinth they created for the sole purpose of pushing cheap crap in your face, we needed a beer. We went to a place called Resto, which specializes in Belgian food (to me, that means beer, waffles, pommes frites, and chocolate). It was great. I got some crazy dessert: a waffle ice cream sandwich with bacon-banana ice cream and a caramel dip.
Anyway, on Wednesday we decided to check out museums to make up for our failure on Tuesday. We stopped quickly at a kebab cart, and we were on our way. It's nice to see that you don't have to parallel park:
Our first stop was the museum of fashion photography. It basically sucked and was not worth the price of admission. Second, we went to a permanent exhibition at FIT, which was free and much more interesting, but very small. Here's the thing: the photography exhibit had one gallery of cutting edge images (mostly mounted magazine clippings) and one gallery that was mostly from the 30's-50's and collected from the work of a single photographer. Though the Fashion Institute had much less material, they covered a broad range, showed an interesting progression, and provided some decent narrative.
We decided to mix it up a little and do something even more touristy than shopping: we went to the empire state building. Pictures:
Yes, it was cloudy, but not crowded. After shuffling through the labyrinth they created for the sole purpose of pushing cheap crap in your face, we needed a beer. We went to a place called Resto, which specializes in Belgian food (to me, that means beer, waffles, pommes frites, and chocolate). It was great. I got some crazy dessert: a waffle ice cream sandwich with bacon-banana ice cream and a caramel dip.
Day 5 (I think)
Tuesday, we decided to go to Moma, forgetting it was in fact Tuesday and therefore all museums would be closed. Truly brazilliant.So instead we went shopping in Rockefeller center.
They have a huge Anthro (about 3 times the size of Weho and STILL not enough shoes) and a JCrew across the street (smart city planning).
We also checked out St Patrick's cathedral. Which is sandwiched right in the middle of the city.
After that I got a dress at H & M (this is the view from our hotel).
Later we went to a "dance party" at Pianos in LES. Its been a long time since I've heard a DJ set with A Tribe Called Quest, En Vogue, and Ace of Base. It was truly an early 90's festival. Sam even danced with me!
Day 4
We went to go to the fabric district. I checked out Mood looking for paisley for one of my brides and walked away empty handed. I did however find an awesome ribbon store. After that we went back to the hotel since it was raining buckets. We ate at Shang (the hotel restaurant) and it was surprisingly tasty. That's about it.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Day 3
We started the day really late and decided to get some pizza. Kelly looked up some places and found that Leonardi's was within walking distance of the hotel (and was supposed to be really good). When we got there, the hostess walked in a zig-zag line through tiny dining areas, passing through the kitchen where a whir of bodies were throwing together pizzas.
The pizza was crazy good. Kelly couldn't get me to stop eating it, so here's the photo we nabbed:
We walked around the fused Chinatown/Little Italy area (it was interesting to watch people smoke cigarettes while simultaneously playing wallball in the park), then headed uptown to check out some Jazz. To summarize:
Verbose subway signage. Good luck figuring that out, tourist.
Mosaic tiles on subway station walls.
Some nice Swedes took a picture of us. I would also have liked to get a picture of the dog cruising down Park Ave. with his paw on the sideview mirror of a white hummer limo, but I wasn't quick enough.
The inside of the Jazz Standard... Though both the food and music (Fred Hersch) were great for what they were, nothing really moved us.
The pizza was crazy good. Kelly couldn't get me to stop eating it, so here's the photo we nabbed:
We walked around the fused Chinatown/Little Italy area (it was interesting to watch people smoke cigarettes while simultaneously playing wallball in the park), then headed uptown to check out some Jazz. To summarize:
Verbose subway signage. Good luck figuring that out, tourist.
Mosaic tiles on subway station walls.
Some nice Swedes took a picture of us. I would also have liked to get a picture of the dog cruising down Park Ave. with his paw on the sideview mirror of a white hummer limo, but I wasn't quick enough.
The inside of the Jazz Standard... Though both the food and music (Fred Hersch) were great for what they were, nothing really moved us.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Day 2 (addendum)
One of the coolest exhibits was a collection of instruments. Here, for example, is what I like to call "Cello for beginners". At least it's easy to tune:
Also interesting was this violin/guitar hybrid... slightly cooler than the guitarmadillo which I'm not posting today:
And, of course, Dory's next birthday present... the most elaborate harpsichord I have ever seen:
These instruments were precariously close to the arms and armor section of the museum. For some reason, this guy stood out. It was as if he caught you wandering through the museum and was about to ask you what you were doing shuffling about making fun of the mustaches on the samurai masks:
Oh yeah... there were some famous pieces of pop art here, too. Like this coffee logo:
After taking a look at the arms and armor, we strolled around Central Park, where people were totally psyched about the warm weather.
Also interesting was this violin/guitar hybrid... slightly cooler than the guitarmadillo which I'm not posting today:
And, of course, Dory's next birthday present... the most elaborate harpsichord I have ever seen:
These instruments were precariously close to the arms and armor section of the museum. For some reason, this guy stood out. It was as if he caught you wandering through the museum and was about to ask you what you were doing shuffling about making fun of the mustaches on the samurai masks:
Oh yeah... there were some famous pieces of pop art here, too. Like this coffee logo:
After taking a look at the arms and armor, we strolled around Central Park, where people were totally psyched about the warm weather.
Day 2
Day 2 we went to the Met. Sam was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of silver.
Apparently John likes Jesus a lot.
This guy is also excited to see Jesus.
These guys were really, REALLY, excited for Jesus.
Day 1
First day we explored (aka went shopping) in Soho. This a store that should be in china town but wasn't. I wanted all the lanterns. I found $10 on the floor and bought a couple of cool tissue paper pom poms with it.
Mosaic flowers. This place was awesome, but busted me after taking a few photos. The whole place was entirely mosaic from the floor to these cool floating panels. And they had the tiled mannequins that scared me when I lived on Robertson (finally I found the source of those creepy flesh colored mosaic people).I also took Sam to Topshop which is similar to the one in the UK. He found a jacket. I was happy to get out of there without hitting anyone. After this we went to Anthro which was amazing (it's about 1.5 times the size of the Weho one, Megan, STILL not enough shoes though).
We are here now
"Kelly and I decided to write a mini-blog about our trip to New York."
When she saw me write this first line, she told me, "You need to loosen up your writing style." I'm a technical writer... this is like a circus monkey being released into the wild: to impress the other monkeys, he tries juggling twigs. No food for him.
Stay posted.
When she saw me write this first line, she told me, "You need to loosen up your writing style." I'm a technical writer... this is like a circus monkey being released into the wild: to impress the other monkeys, he tries juggling twigs. No food for him.
Stay posted.
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