NYC Day Three
Monday, 5:55 PM
One of the first things my sweet husband said to me this morning was, “I wrote the blog Memento-style.” If you’ve seen the movie Memento, you know that the story is actually told backwards.
What he didn’t mention is that the restaurant where we had dinner is called China Grill. It’s owned by the same man who did that series on NBC called The Restaurant a few years ago. He backed Rocco DiSpirito’s restaurant, Rocco’s on 22nd, and then when the whole thing went to pot, the two of them were suing and countersuing like crazy. Anyway, it was pretty good – and certainly the fanciest food I’ve ever eaten – but I don’t feel like I got my money’s worth. Still, now we can say we’ve eaten at China Grill.
Today has been insanely long. We didn’t get to bed until almost 1:00 this morning; I got sucked into an showing of the movie Calendar Girls on BBC America – it didn’t even START until 11:00. Anyway, we were both awake by about 7:30, but whereas Ben got up and ready for the day, I laid around in bed until closer to 9:00.
Our first order of business was to track down a Starbucks. Thankfully, there’s one right next to the back entrance of our hotel. Then, we walked to the subway at 42nd Street and took the #2 express train south to Park Place. It was just a short walk from there to Ground Zero.
The World Trade Center site was a little intense for me. It’s all under construction for the memorial and the new Freedom Tower (which will open as early as 2010 and as late as 2012, depending on whose estimate you take), but construction aside, it’s still two big, empty holes. It’s a somber place, a place where it doesn’t feel appropriate to commemorate your having been there with a photo of yourself in front of it. I took pictures of the site, and I’ll post them as soon as I can.
I was moved by this panel listing the names of those who died in the attack on the World Trade Center. Then I realized it was just the first of four such panels, and my heart sank….
Afterward we walked across the street to St. Paul’s Chapel. The chapel used to be known for the fact that George Washington went there to pray following his inauguration as President of the new United States. Now it’s known as the place the firefighters and rescuers of 9/11 went to rest when they were off-duty.
For nine months, the people of St. Paul’s cooked hot meals for those brave individuals and collected and distributed much-needed supplies like face masks, hand sanitizer, and Chapstick.
Every inch of available space was covered with handmade cards and drawings from children, sent to encourage those who were cleaning up the rubble.
The story is chronicled in the church now, with displays outlining the “well-oiled machine” that the volunteers at St. Paul’s became. Our short visit was incredibly moving, and the folks at St. Paul’s have certainly created a fitting memorial to the days following September 11, 2001.
We left St. Paul’s and headed for the subway again. Up to the West Village we went, to track down the intersection of Bedford and Grove streets. Perhaps a picture will help you figure out why this was important to me.
(If you don’t know, then I’ll tell you: it’s the façade used for Monica’s apartment on the television show, Friends.)
After the Friends apartment, I got a little cranky. We had a small debacle getting back on the subway and a big miscommunication about lunch. We finally got going in the right direction, took the subway back to 42nd Street, and went to the Times Deli, a little deli across the street from our hotel. Ben ordered a sandwich that involved salami, pepperoni, cheese, onion, red pepper, lettuce, tomato, and what looked like vinaigrette. It was DELICIOUS. We also bought some cheese kettle-cooked potato chips, a caffeine-free Diet Coke, and a gigantic M&M cookie. Yum.
Once we’d finished lunch, we headed for the Museum of Modern Art. I knew that there were two paintings at the MoMA that I needed to see, but I didn’t realize how FANTASTIC their art collection is.
We were only there about half an hour, but I got to see Van Gogh’s Starry Night (it was much smaller than I was expecting – which is something I was expecting!) and Olive Trees as well as Monet’s Water Lilies panels. There were tons of Picassos, several Kandinskys, and a bunch of Matisses – GORGEOUS. I’m so glad we went.
Leaving the MoMA, we headed north on 7th Avenue toward Central Park.
We had a nice stroll through the park; we went past Bowling Green and Strawberry Fields and the Imagine memorial to John Lennon before arriving at the American Museum of Natural History.
Yesterday at the Circle Line, we bought this thing called a CityPass. It’s $65 and it gets you admission to the Circle Line (although you have to pay a little extra for the 3-hour tour; the 2-hour tour is included in the price of the CityPass) as well as the Empire State Building, the Guggenheim, the Met, the MoMA, and the Museum of Natural History. Normal admission to the Museum of Natural History – as we found out today – is $30! My, how times have changed. We were glad to have the CityPass.
We were only at the museum about an hour. I still can’t believe we did two museums in one day….
Anyway, we headed straight for the Hall of African Mammals. The elephants are extraordinary! Next it was off to the Hall of North American Mammals – Alaskan brown bears are much bigger and MUCH fluffier than I thought! I wanted to take one home and snuggle with it.
Then we saw the room with the blue whale: the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. I especially liked the polar bear. We were both impressed with the size of the blue whale.
Next, we visited the Ross Hall of Meteorites (space rocks!), the Guggenheim Hall of Minerals (snoozefest…), and the Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems, where they have the Star of India, the world’s largest sapphire.
After that, it was up to the 4th floor to see the dinosaur fossils. I think it would have Ben’s favorite part of the whole museum, except that by the time we got there, we were both completely worn out. Ben actually sat on a bench in front of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
We left the museum and stumbled upon a subway entrance – and it just happened to be the C line. We took it back to 42nd Street and now we’re back at our hotel for a nice rest before dinner.
MONDAY, 11:10 PM
Dinner was TERRIBLE. What a disappointment! We ate at a place one street over called the Heartland Brewery. I’d heard and read good things about it – namely the fact that they brew their own beer, so I thought Ben would be keen to try it – but all the signs pointed to doom from the moment we were seated.
We were at one of those tables where one side is a booth and the other side has chairs. I was on the booth side, in what is possibly the most uncomfortable seat in all of New York City and maybe even the world. It was like they’d taken a two-by-four, set it on its side, and covered it with vinyl. Miserable. Normally, I’m the type to just suck it up and take it because I don’t want to upset anyone or be a hassle, but not this time. We were reseated right away – and I didn’t even feel badly about it, which should really tell you something about how uncomfortable it was.
Dinner itself was equally disastrous. We started with onion rings (bland) with a spicy dipping sauce that was everything but spicy. Then I ordered a $14 hamburger and didn’t even finish half of it. It was a giant wad of unseasoned beef on a bun with limp lettuce and a $1.50 slice of Cheddar cheese. I had to put my own ketchup and mustard on. My fries looked like they were the very last of a batch that had been cooked hours before, sort of grayish brown and limp with grease. The pickle on the side, however, was delicious. Ben had meatloaf and asparagus and the oddest mashed potatoes I’ve ever put in my mouth. Something was off, but I can’t put my finger on what.
After dinner, we took a taxi to the Empire State Building. There is a fierce north wind tonight, and it’s just too cold outside to walk anymore today.
The realities of security in New York City after 9/11 really hit home at the Empire State Building. The last time I was there, back in the summer of 1998, my mom, grandmother, and I walked in the front door, purchased tickets, got on the elevator, and went to the 86th floor without any problems or delays. Now, you have to buy your ticket (thank you again, CityPass) and take an escalator up to the second floor. There, you are herded into lines similar to the security checkpoints at the airport. Your bags, cameras, cell phones, jackets, etc. go through an x-ray machine while you walk through a metal detector. After that, you stand in line to take an elevator to the 80th floor. Once you’ve reached the 80th floor, you exit the elevator and stand in (yet another) snaking line to reach a second elevator that takes you to the 86th floor. We opted for the stairs since it was about a 15 minute wait to take the elevator.
On the observation deck, of course, you’re rewarded with some of the best views of the city.
On the other hand, there’s that north wind again. I think we were up there less than 10 minutes before we had to come back down. Getting down is the same as going up, only in reverse: line, line, line, elevator, line, gift shop, line, line, elevator, line, souvenir picture, line, escalator, past the ticket lines, out the front door. sigh.
We walked over to 6th Avenue and I hailed us a cab (my first time ever!) and the driver dropped us off at 44th and 6th. I came up to the room and Ben went on a mission to find cheesecake. Unfortunately, it was already after 11:00, so there was no cheesecake to be found. That will have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime, he did bring back some roasted nuts from the vendor at the corner of 44th and Broadway. They smell yummy.
I can’t believe we go home tomorrow!
