After less than 2 hours sleep we stumbled out of bed and threw some clothes on. This was our second and LAST time queuing for tickets to see 'once' on broadway. We weren't taking any chances in missing out on tickets.
We were both feeling incredibly tender and looked like we hadn't slept in weeks. Regardless we went to broadway and sat for just over 2 hours painfully waiting for the box office to open at 10am. The queue was fairly big when we joined it but we were still way head of where we stood last time.
By the time we got to the box office the only tickets we could afford we're for the matinee so we took them regardless of their hefty price tag - still a good $80 less than advertised.
We soon realised that we didn't have that long to eat, wake up, make ourselves look presentable and get back to the theatre! #panic
We hopped on the next train back to queens and went for breakfast at the cute place we found the first day we got here. Their breakfast was just what we needed and after showering and throwing on some makeup we looked a far cry from the tramps we resembled this morning.
The heavens opened just as we left so the queue to get in to the theatre involved some serious umbrella ducking and diving - the queue completely blocked the sidewalk so passers by were bashing into us with their umbrellas every two seconds which we did not appreciate.
The show was beautiful. From the moment we sat down there were members of the cast playing live folk music on stage with members of the audience. The audience then went to their seats and the show began with a song called 'Leave' performed by a man I could only describe as being a gift from the gods. Meow!
The plot was beautiful and was based around a growing friendship between a struggling Irish musician and a Czech immigrant. It was funny, romantic, moving and just... Amazing!! Well worth queuing for, in fact we're sat in central park listening to the soundtrack as I write this !
When we got back from the matinee we were shattered so went to bed at half 6... Awkward.
Saturday, 18 August 2012
Accidental Glee Party!
The plan today was to move into our private room, which was to be our home for the last four nights of the trip. The problem was, we had to check out at 11am but wouldn't be able to check back in until at least 2.30pm. To fill this time, we decided to have a laundromat party, i.e. do some washing as we were running low on clean clothes. This was a fun experience, as everyone who worked there/was in there spoke Spanish. Even all the TVs were in Spanish. Hispanic laundromat party!
Whilst we were waiting for our washing, it started raining, so when everything was done, we headed back to the hostel and chilled out in the kitchen. We also took advantage of this time to concoct a chilli with the mince we had bought the previous day, which was going to feed us for most of the remainder of our time!
Nothing much significant happened for the rest of the day, apart from that we moved into our private room, a luxury after weeks and weeks of staying in large dorms. We took advantage of the space to lay out all our clothes and make it feel homely.
Our evening was to prove quite the contrast to our uneventful day. At 9ish, Elgin, our Austrian friend, arrived at our room as we had planned to go out for a drink. She had bought two bottles of wine to get the party started, one white and one sparkling rose. We were not supposed to be drinking in the hostel but we decided to go wild and break the rules. There was one problem though: the white wine Elgin had bought had a corkscrew and we didn't have one. Predictably, neither did the hostel. Kitty thus took it upon herself to get the cork out using a pair of blunt nail scissors. This was quite the operation, but a successful one!
As we were sat enjoying our wine and talking, there came a knock on the door. We all froze, immediately thinking that the hostel staff must have somehow known we were drinking and had come to throw us out. In the blink of an eye, we managed to hide both bottles and all three cups before I opened the door. Turns out we had nothing to worry about as it was just Marcella and Iris, our Dutch friends from our old dorm; we had completely forgotten we had told them to come and join the party too. They were highly amused that we had thought we were going to get caught, and Iris told us she had played drinking games downstairs in the kitchen before so there was nothing to worry about.
Iris and Marcella couldn't come out with us as they were both under 21, so we all sat in our room for a while. Kitty and I were entertaining the other three with our Bane and Batman voice impressions. Eventually we realised it was nearly midnight and we should probably go out!!
As we got on the subway, we realised we didn't have a clue where we were going! In typical fashion we just decided to wing it. What a wonderful decision this turned out to be...
We got off the subway at 5th Avenue and wondered around for a bit before deciding to get in a taxi and asking them to take us to the nearest bar. The taxi driver told us there weren't going to be many places still open for long as it had gone midnight but drove us to what we later found out was West Village where we jumped out. Everything we walked past seemed to be just about closing. And then... We stumbled across a dingy looking bar which seemed to still be open. It also had a faded sign outside which read 'live blues and jazz'. Why not?
We went inside and down the steps. It was pretty small, relatively dingy, with a couple of tables and chairs, a bar at the end, and a piano surrounded by stools. There was no music playing, even after we had bought a drink and sat down. Quite a few people were milling about, and most of them seemed to know each other. After about fifteen minutes or so, a woman appeared and sat down at the piano. She began to play broadway songs, and as if it was planned, everyone in the bar all joined in singing. We were shocked to say the least. Elgin said it felt like we had just walked onto the set of Glee! At first we didn't know the songs, then we started to be able to sing along when she played 'I'm so Pretty' from West Side Story. It got even better when 'Consider Yourself' and 'Oom-pah-pah' from Oliver! turned up.
By this point we were feeling braver, so ventured over to the piano. I told her that I was appreciating the Oliver! being from London and Kitty asked if she would play some Annie. She was very excited by both of these comments and gladly agreed. We took some empty seats around the piano and had the time of our lives!
Everyone else in the room seemed to be either musical theatre students, drop outs, or wannabes. An excellent combination. After 'Tomorrow', 'Hard Knock Life' and 'Maybe' from Annie, there was some Hairspray, some Wicked, 'Big Spender' etc. The girl playing the piano was hilarious and made some excellent one off remarks as well as
laughing at how hilarious everyone sounded singing together, especially when people didn't know the words. My personal highlight was when she stood up and shouted over everyone 'Hey, I've got a question..' waited for everyone to go quiet, then sang, 'Is this the real life?' It was definitely one of the more interesting versions of Bohemian Rhapsody I have ever had the chance to listen to. Or sing for that matter! Kitty and I were loving life. Elgin didn't know as many of the songs, but was still thoroughly enjoying herself!
It must have been about 3am by the time we left. We found out the bar was called Marie's Ruin, so if you love musical theatre and are ever in New York on a Tuesday night, you know where to go!
It seemed to take forever to get back to the hostel and by the time we got to bed it was about 5 o clock, not a pleasant prospect when we were planning to be up around 7am to go and queue for show tickets.
Whilst we were waiting for our washing, it started raining, so when everything was done, we headed back to the hostel and chilled out in the kitchen. We also took advantage of this time to concoct a chilli with the mince we had bought the previous day, which was going to feed us for most of the remainder of our time!
Nothing much significant happened for the rest of the day, apart from that we moved into our private room, a luxury after weeks and weeks of staying in large dorms. We took advantage of the space to lay out all our clothes and make it feel homely.
Our evening was to prove quite the contrast to our uneventful day. At 9ish, Elgin, our Austrian friend, arrived at our room as we had planned to go out for a drink. She had bought two bottles of wine to get the party started, one white and one sparkling rose. We were not supposed to be drinking in the hostel but we decided to go wild and break the rules. There was one problem though: the white wine Elgin had bought had a corkscrew and we didn't have one. Predictably, neither did the hostel. Kitty thus took it upon herself to get the cork out using a pair of blunt nail scissors. This was quite the operation, but a successful one!
As we were sat enjoying our wine and talking, there came a knock on the door. We all froze, immediately thinking that the hostel staff must have somehow known we were drinking and had come to throw us out. In the blink of an eye, we managed to hide both bottles and all three cups before I opened the door. Turns out we had nothing to worry about as it was just Marcella and Iris, our Dutch friends from our old dorm; we had completely forgotten we had told them to come and join the party too. They were highly amused that we had thought we were going to get caught, and Iris told us she had played drinking games downstairs in the kitchen before so there was nothing to worry about.
Iris and Marcella couldn't come out with us as they were both under 21, so we all sat in our room for a while. Kitty and I were entertaining the other three with our Bane and Batman voice impressions. Eventually we realised it was nearly midnight and we should probably go out!!
As we got on the subway, we realised we didn't have a clue where we were going! In typical fashion we just decided to wing it. What a wonderful decision this turned out to be...
We got off the subway at 5th Avenue and wondered around for a bit before deciding to get in a taxi and asking them to take us to the nearest bar. The taxi driver told us there weren't going to be many places still open for long as it had gone midnight but drove us to what we later found out was West Village where we jumped out. Everything we walked past seemed to be just about closing. And then... We stumbled across a dingy looking bar which seemed to still be open. It also had a faded sign outside which read 'live blues and jazz'. Why not?
We went inside and down the steps. It was pretty small, relatively dingy, with a couple of tables and chairs, a bar at the end, and a piano surrounded by stools. There was no music playing, even after we had bought a drink and sat down. Quite a few people were milling about, and most of them seemed to know each other. After about fifteen minutes or so, a woman appeared and sat down at the piano. She began to play broadway songs, and as if it was planned, everyone in the bar all joined in singing. We were shocked to say the least. Elgin said it felt like we had just walked onto the set of Glee! At first we didn't know the songs, then we started to be able to sing along when she played 'I'm so Pretty' from West Side Story. It got even better when 'Consider Yourself' and 'Oom-pah-pah' from Oliver! turned up.
By this point we were feeling braver, so ventured over to the piano. I told her that I was appreciating the Oliver! being from London and Kitty asked if she would play some Annie. She was very excited by both of these comments and gladly agreed. We took some empty seats around the piano and had the time of our lives!
Everyone else in the room seemed to be either musical theatre students, drop outs, or wannabes. An excellent combination. After 'Tomorrow', 'Hard Knock Life' and 'Maybe' from Annie, there was some Hairspray, some Wicked, 'Big Spender' etc. The girl playing the piano was hilarious and made some excellent one off remarks as well as
laughing at how hilarious everyone sounded singing together, especially when people didn't know the words. My personal highlight was when she stood up and shouted over everyone 'Hey, I've got a question..' waited for everyone to go quiet, then sang, 'Is this the real life?' It was definitely one of the more interesting versions of Bohemian Rhapsody I have ever had the chance to listen to. Or sing for that matter! Kitty and I were loving life. Elgin didn't know as many of the songs, but was still thoroughly enjoying herself!
It must have been about 3am by the time we left. We found out the bar was called Marie's Ruin, so if you love musical theatre and are ever in New York on a Tuesday night, you know where to go!
It seemed to take forever to get back to the hostel and by the time we got to bed it was about 5 o clock, not a pleasant prospect when we were planning to be up around 7am to go and queue for show tickets.
'it would be a rare sighting like a Snow Leopard'
Today we caught the free ferry from manhattan to staten island, the ferry goes straight past Lady Liberty so we and hundreds of other tourists stood ready to snap a photo of her as we went past. The view of the city across from the water is so beautiful and lady liberty was a babe. Amy was surprised by how much smaller she is than how people make her out, then again the boat hardly goes near so we were testing our cameras zoom abilities to get a shot of her up close.
After the thrill of our free ferry we decided to go grab lunch at union square. Union square is a really nice area full of shops and nice places to eat, they also have a 'chopt' there- the best salad bar ever! We last went to it in DC with our fellow 'lad' Liz so felt the need to relive that moment. The salad didn't disappoint and after filling our faces with 'veggiesss' (as they say here) we went in search of m.a.c, Sephora and Strand - a huuuge book store.
Let's just say we both spent a fair amount of money today... Way too much. I'm a sucker for a good lipstick and went completely cray in mac (again).
With our bags bursting full we headed home to unpack our goodies. Tonight was our last night in the shared dorm before we upgraded to our swanky private room ;) so we sat and chatted to our lovely roommates talking about New York and our experiences traveling. It was here that Elgin said the most fantastic quote about how homeless people are everywhere here and much less common in Austria.
'it would be a rare sighting like a Snow Leopard'
Me and sparks were in stitches instantly - definitely our favourite quote so far!! It is so true though, America has so many homeless people and cray crays that we actualy notice when it's been a while since we've been pestered for change! Sort it out Obama!
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Flea Market, Crab and Spice Girls.
This morning we had a leisurely wake up, after our ridiculously early get up the day before which turned out to be for nothing. It was Sunday, and we were planning to head over to Brooklyn, to explore the area and to check out a real Brooklyn flea market.
The subway route we took meant we had to change at Grand Central Station so we took this as an opportunity to go up into the famous station and take some pictures. It really is pretty impressive. The ceiling was our favourite bit, rising up in a huge arch, painted blue, with all the signs of the zodiac drawn across it. Very random but there we go!
After this stop off, we jumped back on the subway and headed off to Brooklyn. We liked it as soon as we stepped up to ground level. The part of Brooklyn we ended up in was Williamsburg; it was really chilled out with cute little houses, cafes and shops. We headed straight down to the river where the flea market was. It was possibly the most excellently located market ever, it was right on the water, so as you approach you can see a beautiful view of Manhattan over the top of the stalls. By fluke, it was a really nice day, so we could even work on our tans whilst browsing the market.
First stop, however, was food (standard). There was a whole section of the market just composed of food and drink stalls so we all went off in search of what we wanted. I had an epic hot dog, with a mustard relish and sweet onions. Kitty had a quesadilla with chicken, cheese, salsa, guacamole, salad, onions etc on. And Lauren had an aubergine bake thing and a fish taco. Happy and full we embarked on a market mission...
This was a proper market. There were clothes, bags, shoes, furniture, jewellery, art, books, records... You name it, it was probably there! I was on a mission to find a large bag I could take home as my hand luggage, thus making my backpack lighter and
enabling the purchase of stuff in New York. Kitty was on this mission also. I found a stall where a tattooed Hispanic woman was selling loads of random stuff and found an excellent tweed carpet bag type thing. Kitty found one exactly the same but red leather. Boy are we going to look cool getting off the plane in London!
Once we had accomplished this task we went in search of more food and drink, partaking in mango and peach ice tea with sweet tapioca balls in it and Mexican chocolate ice cream. Whilst eating our ice creams we were sat on a bench and got talking to a really sweet Indian couple about our travels. They both worked on Wall Street, the guy had gone to uni in Bristol. They also told us where all the best places to go in India were. India, watch out!
Lauren meanwhile was in serious flea market mode, and when we found her again she had purchased at least five Prince Records. Lad. By this time, the market was beginning to close down. I blagged a cheeky black 80s style bag off a guy who was trying to get rid of stuff on his stall because he wanted to go home. Kitty decided she wanted some crab which she had seen earlier. So we went and chilled in the shade whilst she consumed the soft shell crab.
Our original plan was to walk back across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan, but after realising how far away the bridge was, we decided against this plan. The couple we had been talking to in the market for ages had told us that they cycled over the bridge but were going to get the ferry back. We figured we would also take the ferry option. This turned out to be an excellent choice as not only did we get beaut views of Manhattan en route, but we also got dropped off in Long Island City which meant we didn't have to find our way back from Manhattan. Win!
After trekking for what seemed like forever, we finally found a subway station and hopped on for one stop to get back to the hostel. We were back just in time for the Olympic closing ceremony. Knowing that the Spice Girls were performing, we had been excited for this for days! And they certainly didn't disappoint! We enjoyed the whole ceremony. How brave of Gary to go ahead with the Take That performance? Ultimate lad. We were surprised that Coldplay didn't make any kind of appearance, being very British and all. We also liked the fashion bit with all the British models. NBC being their usual annoying selves, decided to put a pilot episode of a new show in before The Who, so we had to wait an hour for that. Ridiculous! They were very good though, obviously. Better than old man McCartney at the end of the opening ceremony! We can't believe the Olympics is over already! From what we saw, London did a grand job, of course. We just wish we could have seen some of the BBC coverage, the American presenters and adverts really were winding us up.
So after a successful day of fleas, crab and spicing up our lives we went to bed ready for more NYC adventures...
The subway route we took meant we had to change at Grand Central Station so we took this as an opportunity to go up into the famous station and take some pictures. It really is pretty impressive. The ceiling was our favourite bit, rising up in a huge arch, painted blue, with all the signs of the zodiac drawn across it. Very random but there we go!
After this stop off, we jumped back on the subway and headed off to Brooklyn. We liked it as soon as we stepped up to ground level. The part of Brooklyn we ended up in was Williamsburg; it was really chilled out with cute little houses, cafes and shops. We headed straight down to the river where the flea market was. It was possibly the most excellently located market ever, it was right on the water, so as you approach you can see a beautiful view of Manhattan over the top of the stalls. By fluke, it was a really nice day, so we could even work on our tans whilst browsing the market.
First stop, however, was food (standard). There was a whole section of the market just composed of food and drink stalls so we all went off in search of what we wanted. I had an epic hot dog, with a mustard relish and sweet onions. Kitty had a quesadilla with chicken, cheese, salsa, guacamole, salad, onions etc on. And Lauren had an aubergine bake thing and a fish taco. Happy and full we embarked on a market mission...
This was a proper market. There were clothes, bags, shoes, furniture, jewellery, art, books, records... You name it, it was probably there! I was on a mission to find a large bag I could take home as my hand luggage, thus making my backpack lighter and
enabling the purchase of stuff in New York. Kitty was on this mission also. I found a stall where a tattooed Hispanic woman was selling loads of random stuff and found an excellent tweed carpet bag type thing. Kitty found one exactly the same but red leather. Boy are we going to look cool getting off the plane in London!
Once we had accomplished this task we went in search of more food and drink, partaking in mango and peach ice tea with sweet tapioca balls in it and Mexican chocolate ice cream. Whilst eating our ice creams we were sat on a bench and got talking to a really sweet Indian couple about our travels. They both worked on Wall Street, the guy had gone to uni in Bristol. They also told us where all the best places to go in India were. India, watch out!
Lauren meanwhile was in serious flea market mode, and when we found her again she had purchased at least five Prince Records. Lad. By this time, the market was beginning to close down. I blagged a cheeky black 80s style bag off a guy who was trying to get rid of stuff on his stall because he wanted to go home. Kitty decided she wanted some crab which she had seen earlier. So we went and chilled in the shade whilst she consumed the soft shell crab.
Our original plan was to walk back across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan, but after realising how far away the bridge was, we decided against this plan. The couple we had been talking to in the market for ages had told us that they cycled over the bridge but were going to get the ferry back. We figured we would also take the ferry option. This turned out to be an excellent choice as not only did we get beaut views of Manhattan en route, but we also got dropped off in Long Island City which meant we didn't have to find our way back from Manhattan. Win!
After trekking for what seemed like forever, we finally found a subway station and hopped on for one stop to get back to the hostel. We were back just in time for the Olympic closing ceremony. Knowing that the Spice Girls were performing, we had been excited for this for days! And they certainly didn't disappoint! We enjoyed the whole ceremony. How brave of Gary to go ahead with the Take That performance? Ultimate lad. We were surprised that Coldplay didn't make any kind of appearance, being very British and all. We also liked the fashion bit with all the British models. NBC being their usual annoying selves, decided to put a pilot episode of a new show in before The Who, so we had to wait an hour for that. Ridiculous! They were very good though, obviously. Better than old man McCartney at the end of the opening ceremony! We can't believe the Olympics is over already! From what we saw, London did a grand job, of course. We just wish we could have seen some of the BBC coverage, the American presenters and adverts really were winding us up.
So after a successful day of fleas, crab and spicing up our lives we went to bed ready for more NYC adventures...
Queues, cake, Lenin and a cheeky ombré
The shows on Broadway are one of the main things we wanted to check out during our visit, so this morning we were up and out early to join the queue for tickets to see 'Once'. Its a new musical that includes an Irish man playing the guitar so we obviously have to go see it!
By the time we got there - an hour before the box office opened - there was a pretty large queue already. Regardless we stood and waited hoping we would get a ticket, unfortunately we were just 4 people short of getting the $30 tickets! #gutted
Next time - we're going earlier!!
After this disappointment we were in need of cake. I took this opportunity to take us to east village to 'lulu's' gluten free bakery that I'd read about prior to our visit.
East Village is very cool and after stocking up on a panini and lots of cakes, coffee and a slice of pizza for Sparks, we headed to the East Village Park to soak up the sun.
The parks here are so nice and have such a friendly atmosphere. They had a dog park which was adorable - lots of people looking like their dogs and lots of yappy dogs herding big dogs which was rather amusing.
We sat people watching and feasting on our cakes, Amy excitedly went to open her box of mini cupcakes only to find they had all melted and turned upside down. Needless to say Lauren and I were in stitches, Sparks was not impressed. (photos included)
East Village is a really cool area full of cute little shops and thrift stores galore, so with Lauren at our side we tried to recreate our thrift store extravaganza we'd had with Clare in Chicago. I got a new bag and amazing vintage skirt for a cheeky $25.
Lauren had also decided to ombré her hair pink/purple so we headed in search of a store selling bright hair dyes. On the way Amy spotted a shop full of Russian trinkets and a gold ornament of Lenin's head - needless to say Amy was inside in seconds.
The shop was more like a room full of stuff the crazy Russian man had hoarded over the years. We could barely move once inside, the guy who owned the shop showed us his favourite pieces (he had a thick Russian accent and was wearing lime green tinted sunglasses, an orange tank top, and looked about 70 #ulitimatelad ). He even had a computer print out of a Romanov family photo in a random frame... We could have stayed in there all day but he seemed too attached to everything that if we bought anything we might cause him serious distress.
Soon after leaving we found the hair store and stocked up on bleach and hair dye, after an hour and a half of bleaching we were ravenous so I made us a dinner of chicken and quinoa with spinach. Yummeh!
With our new found energy we started the colouring process. The ombré was a success although we were a bit stingy on the bleach so it wasn't as light as we'd of hoped but the colour made it a cool pink/purple/red ombré #beaut.
By the time we got there - an hour before the box office opened - there was a pretty large queue already. Regardless we stood and waited hoping we would get a ticket, unfortunately we were just 4 people short of getting the $30 tickets! #gutted
Next time - we're going earlier!!
After this disappointment we were in need of cake. I took this opportunity to take us to east village to 'lulu's' gluten free bakery that I'd read about prior to our visit.
East Village is very cool and after stocking up on a panini and lots of cakes, coffee and a slice of pizza for Sparks, we headed to the East Village Park to soak up the sun.
The parks here are so nice and have such a friendly atmosphere. They had a dog park which was adorable - lots of people looking like their dogs and lots of yappy dogs herding big dogs which was rather amusing.
We sat people watching and feasting on our cakes, Amy excitedly went to open her box of mini cupcakes only to find they had all melted and turned upside down. Needless to say Lauren and I were in stitches, Sparks was not impressed. (photos included)
East Village is a really cool area full of cute little shops and thrift stores galore, so with Lauren at our side we tried to recreate our thrift store extravaganza we'd had with Clare in Chicago. I got a new bag and amazing vintage skirt for a cheeky $25.
Lauren had also decided to ombré her hair pink/purple so we headed in search of a store selling bright hair dyes. On the way Amy spotted a shop full of Russian trinkets and a gold ornament of Lenin's head - needless to say Amy was inside in seconds.
The shop was more like a room full of stuff the crazy Russian man had hoarded over the years. We could barely move once inside, the guy who owned the shop showed us his favourite pieces (he had a thick Russian accent and was wearing lime green tinted sunglasses, an orange tank top, and looked about 70 #ulitimatelad ). He even had a computer print out of a Romanov family photo in a random frame... We could have stayed in there all day but he seemed too attached to everything that if we bought anything we might cause him serious distress.
Soon after leaving we found the hair store and stocked up on bleach and hair dye, after an hour and a half of bleaching we were ravenous so I made us a dinner of chicken and quinoa with spinach. Yummeh!
With our new found energy we started the colouring process. The ombré was a success although we were a bit stingy on the bleach so it wasn't as light as we'd of hoped but the colour made it a cool pink/purple/red ombré #beaut.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
The day we turned into Chinese tourists...
To start off our Friday, we had reserved passes at Ground Zero, to go and see the 9/11 memorial at 11.30. To collect our passes we had to go to a special visitor centre type thing and print them out. We then had to walk a couple of blocks down to the actual memorial, passing the building site of the new World Trade Center. As we were walking, the heavens opened and it began to rain. At first it wasn't too bad, but by the time we got through security it was bordering torrential.
We continued on regardless. It actually made Ground Zero very atmospheric. I'm not sure we looked so atmospheric; Kitty was sensible and had an umbrella but Lauren and I were sporting the Russian immigrant look of jackets over our heads. The memorial was pretty impressive, consisting of two huge pools in the place of what would have been each of the two towers. Water runs down each of the four sides and into a pool in the centre. I suppose this is metaphorical of the collapse of the towers? It's very ominous anyway. The names of the people that died are carved into the edges of each respective fountain. Rain aside, it was a strange experience to be there as its almost too terrible to ever comprehend what really happened.
After that somber start to the day, we wanted to get out of the rain as quickly as possible. This resulted in us finding a seedy diner and having some lunch. Kitty and I had jacket potatoes which we were very excited about, although they weren't quite as good as English ones.
In defeat of the rain, we decided to head back to our hostel for an hour, before hitting up the Museum of Modern Art which is free on Fridays 4-8. We got talking to two girls in our room called Marcella and Iris who are Dutch and were also planning on heading to MoMA. Lauren had made friends with a girl in her room called Paula, who was Mexican and doing a fashion internship who also joined the party. So, with quite the crew, we got the subway into Manhattan and headed to MoMA. By this time it had finally stopped raining and was back to being steamy.
When we arrived, the queue was immense and stretched back all the way around the block. People obviously appreciated some free art! We thought we would have to wait forever, but we only had to queue for about ten minutes! After deciding on a place to meet at 8, we all went off to investigate some serious art.
It's definitely hard to take art seriously when there are so many people. Kitty and I started on the top floor, where there was a cool exhibition about children through the twentieth century. We attempted the next floor down, but soon admitted defeat and decided to head to the cafe for a coffee to wake up. An excellent latte and a piece of cake (gluten free in Kitty's case obvs) later, we were full of energy and whizzed round the rest of the gallery. Our favourite exhibition was a photographic one called A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters, where the artist had photographed bloodlines, i.e. entire extended families. Each one had its own story, for example there was a guy from Kenya who had six wives and dozens of children, and a family affected by the Bosnian genocide so certain family members were represented by a photograph of a tooth or a bone that had been DNA identified as theirs from a mass grave. There was also one that focused in the first female plane hijacker. It was really interesting.
Due to the consumption of coffee, we finally got some energy, and were highly amused by the cheesy poses that Chinese tourists were adopting in front of paintings. Poses consisted of over excited smiles and hand gestures. We thus entertained ourselves for a good hour doing cheesy poses around the museum. We found Marcella and Iris in the garden and they also gladly joined in!
At 8, we all met up and wandered to Times Square as it was beginning to get dark. It really is a sight by night, a very strange one and there are so many people everywhere. Once again we entertained ourselves by me standing still amongst the ever moving crowds of people. Photographic evidence is of course provided!
The six of us all got the subway back to the hostel together and sat around for ages eating and talking. It's nice to be able to chill out with a good group of people.
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