Haggis Takes Manhattan, Part 2

Welcome to Day 2 of my first trip to New York City. Yesterday’s article included a few sightseeing stops (including Times Square at night), my first Hot Dog, and a good reason to skip Cuban Chinese food. Heh.

Saturday was much more eventful as far as what I wanted to accomplish. The original goal was to take Central Park across and hit the Museum Mile, which included The Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and later on the NBC Studios Tour in Rockefeller Center, however plans changed a little bit.

Woke up around 9 or 10am, with luckily nothing more than a minor headache from the massive amount of drinking I did the night before. I woke up much earlier in the night (I think around 4am) to use the bathroom, but before I went back to sleep I went over to the window and just looked outside for a few minutes. In that half-awake half-asleep state, the view was certainly surreal. I had to remind myself that I actually WASN’T dreaming.

I’m not much of a breakfast eater, so I passed on the heavy egg and bacon croissant from the little deli across the street instead grabbing orange juice and a banana nut muffin. I waited patiently for my sister to get ready so we could actually leave the hotel room. In the meantime I amused myself with Celebrities Uncensored on E!, quite possibly the worst show (and biggest guilty pleasure) ever made.

It was time to set off to the park, and let me tell you the weather couldn’t have possibly been any more beautiful. It was a crisp 78-80 degrees, with NO humidity and a really nice brisk breeze. The view of the city through the trees of Central Park West was amazing, and it was curious to see how in a city full of glass and concrete how this wonderful tribute to nature can thrive.

Walked passed Strawberry Fields, which is a tribute to John Lennon that had flowers and other gifts from people laid on the concrete design in the middle of the sidewalk. I thought about taking a picture of it, but that’s not really something worth remembering. To me, Lennon’s words and music will far outlive the man’s mortal life, and celebrating his death wasn’t worth anything to me.

We continued through the park, enjoying the day and the sights of tourists and locals alike doing the same. Saw a couple musicians performing for tips, a young violinist (about 17-18 years old) and this guy, who was actually a pretty good saxaphone player.

Central Park traffic is closed on the weekends to allow for pretty much free roaming of the park. There were several people practicing for an upcoming marathon run and even more locals just getting their exercise, others sitting on the grass enjoying their lunch and quite a few tourists.

The fountain was a sight to see. The architechture combined with the river surrounded by trees running behind it almost made me forget I was in New York at all.

There was a stage set up at one point after the fountain and where are the marathon runners were laying about. A couple on roller skates was practicing their dance routine, which was neat to watch.

A little further south of the park I started noticing these huge rocks, and we ended up walking past the one below with an awesome view. I look so insignificant next to those massive buildings behind me.

We finally came out the bottom of Central Park right near Fifth Avenue. There was a hotel directly across the street with several foreign flags which signify international dignitaries staying there. There was another fountain located here outside the hotel, but the park’s fountain had better aesthetics.

Because we took the scenic route through the park, we had to trek about 30 blocks back uptown to the Upper East Side, where the museums are located. Our feet were so wore out by the time we made it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art that I had already decided to nix the Guggenheim, since the Met would involve a lot of standing and walking as well.

The museum has that 19th century look to it on the outside, but it is completely redesigned from the inside to a very nice modern appeal. Admission was $12 and there wasn’t a huge number of people inside (I think there were more loitering outside on the steps) so we felt comfortable to move at our own pace. The first part of the museum was interesting artwork and artifacts from the sixth to first century Roman and Greek history. There was a large African exhibit which featured headdresses, totems, ceremonial garbs and wood carvings.

I was getting anxious to see the paintings, as I much more appreciate the emotion that goes into a brush stroke. I was greeted with a beautiful painting of a woman sitting outside a beach, which used bright pinks and oranges, but suprisingly still looked sad. I saw “Blind Man’s Meal”, “Self Portrait”, and several others by Pablo Picasso, as well as several genius works of art by so many others.

We went upstairs to the roof garden and snapped a few pictures, including the goofy one at the top with me and the “pointing statue.”

We admired the view and a few art pieces they had to display up there for a few minutes until our feet and hunger could not take it anymore. It was time for my first slice of authentic New York style pizza pie.

The place was Vinnie’s Pizza. The slice was Pepperoni, covered in mozzerella cheese and red pepper. The consumer (me) was very happy. I can never eat Domino’s again.

We popped back to the hotel for a little rest before our busy Saturday night began. Richard took me up to the roof of the Hotel so I could get a few photos before we went back downstairs. Some of the architecture of these buildings are over a 100 years old. There were a few places where you’d round a corner and then you were looking at a building just like on The Cosby Show.

I succumbed to Celebrities Uncensored again (I think they ran a marathon or something) while my sister and Richard napped. I think my IQ dropped a few points just by watching that show again.

We ate at Ruth’s Chris Steak House near Times Square. I’ve eaten at the one here in Houston and was much more impressed, but maybe it was just because the service sucked at the NYC location. The guy kept trying to take our bread away, and generally didn’t seem to care much about us. I know we weren’t at a place like The Four Seasons, but this place was a still supposed to be a four star dining establishment. The food was good, I can give them that.

We headed to Greenwich Village to see the show at The Blue Note, a jazz club. We stood in line for about 15 minutes, and when were were the third in line the bouncer comes out and announces the club is full to capacity and closes the doors. Nuts. I found out after that tickets to get in were $35 a pop! We went down half a block instead and found Groove NYC, which had no cover charge and let us in happily. The band there was better anyway. They played some good 70s funk stuff like Gap Band and Michael Jackson. There was some woman wearing a pumpkin mask that took a picture of me kissing her (over the mask). Heh.

By the time we left that place, we were smashed beyond reason. We stumbled out of the club and found the first taxi we could grab back to the hotel. We still had one more drink left in us, and luckily Dallas BBQ was still open. A tall frosty beer later and it was very much time to call it a night, this time at 3:30am. I LOVE NEW YORK!

Come back tomorrow for Day 3, Sunday, where I get the best deli sandwich in the WHOLE DAMN WORLD, try to find Rockafeller Center, and stand in the longest line in the universe. Oh yeah, and Upright Citizen’s Brigade too.

Missed what happened on Day 1? Click here to catch up before tomorrow!