Sept 26-27, 2008
To tell the truth, I was dreading driving to NYC. Not so much being in the city as much as the driving part. Melissa and I tried pretty hard to find information about park and ride programs but found it wasn't good for overnight. So at 9am I'm there circling around the blocks. Spots are opening up and it always seemed to go perfectly to the car just in front of us. But after about 45 minutes, I finally found a spot right by Central Park and only two blocks north of the hotel. We couldn't check in for several hours, so we went exploring. I had been pretty excited about seeing Central Park envisioning beautiful paths with a backdrop of skyscrapers. I was pretty close except that it was pouring down rain all afternoon and the buildings were all in the clouds. It was evidently much more windy than usual judging by the litter of broken
umbrellas. Seriously, there were hundreds. Coming out of central park we continued south on Broadway to Times Square. It was a lot like we thought it would be, huge tvs of ads and really random stores. What's the point of a three story m&m store? We got to see the famous naked cowboy performing at one of the intersections, and took pictures for all those wanting to experience this spectacle. After grabbing some pizza we started looking for tickets to Wicked on Broadway. That turned out to be a little difficult because everywhere we went it was sold out. It all ended up working out when we went to the Majestic theatre and bought tickets to The Phantom of the Opera instead. Our seats were great and the performance was absolutely amazing. I've been to tons of plays and other live performances but have definitely never seen anything near this caliber. I was mesmerized the entire show. Afterward, looking for something close, we grabbed some food at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was actually an old theater converted to the restaurant with much better rock memorabilia than any other one I have been to. It was Beatles crazed (in fact that theater is where they were introduced to Bob Dylan). After the overpriced burgers and beer, we headed back to the hotel for the night. That brings us to the hotel...one word...tiny. On the bright side it was less than a block from Central Park. Of course I got sucked into a late night movie on the tv and didn't get much sleep. The continental breakfast served us well as another rainy day began. I insisted on seeing the rest of Central Park so for hours we walked. T
he lakes, boulders, giant trees, and beautiful flowers were all wonderful, but the weather just sucked. We decided to do some more touristy stuff and searched for a museum to head to. I decided on simplicity so we walked down to the Metropolitan Museum of Art right there in Central Park. Just like the Phantom show, what I found thoroughly exceeded my expectations. We spent hours going through just the first exhibit on Ancient Egypt. After taking a little rest we crossed to the other side of the massive building to start on Ancient Greek and Roman art. I spent pretty much the whole time in disbelief of how old everything was. Most of it looked brand new. Of course the more than two thousand year old Greek statues of goddess Aphrodite were my favorite. After I couldn't take anymore Roman copies of art I saw from Greece centuries before, I strolled over to Modern Art. This section was pretty lame in my opinion so I continued on after only 30min. I spent another half hour on Medieval Art but was bored. Crossing into Medieval Weapons and Armor, I quickly found myself in a whole other world. There was every single piece you could imagine. There were several items that I could still be standing admiring now. One particular set of armor belonging to a French king had every square inch covered with beautifully engraved designs. I'm willing to bet that the entire suit took at least one man's entire lifetime to make. There were entire cases full of jeweled swords and sabers. The jousting helms were ridiculous; imaging wearing a 30lb hat. In the center stood full knights atop armored steeds ready for battle or joust. Continuing on I found an exhibit of weaponry and armor with a level of artistic beauty and practicality that Europe couldn't come close to matching. This was of course the section on the Samurais. Not only were the blades themselves beautifully crafted, but the hilt and scabbard were designed to be absolutely stunning. After this area, I went upstairs to the musical instruments. It was amazing to see both the variety of instruments worldwide and the progression of European and American instruments through time. I then quickly went through the Asian art exhibit before I found myself utterly exhausted. I had been studying through the museum for 8 hours at that point and hadn't even come close to seeing everything. Melissa and I resigned and headed out to find a bar to relax in and catch up on a day full of college football. We found a really nice place close-by with an interesting mix of New York culture. As with most of the places I travel, everyone has a story and these people loved to tell them. The drive out of town was a death wish on a Saturday night. NY drivers have absolutely no sense of respect for the dashed lines in the road. In fact, several stretches of avenues didn't even have lines. The cabs would stop wherever to pick up a passenger, it didn't matter if they were somehow triple parking people on what should have been a three lane road. It now turns into an utter mess as all the drivers continue at 30mph merging four lanes of traffic into one on at moments notice. My heart was racing the whole time. Somehow, I survived and never even got honked at. I can't wait to head back for another vacation in NYC, but next time I will bring much more money and a nice pair of slacks.
On the drive back we hit up Gettysburg and my Aunt Ann's house (would be so much cooler is they actually lived in this little place.)
Sept 26-27, 2008
To tell the truth, I was dreading driving to NYC. Not so much being in the city as much as the driving part. Melissa and I tried pretty hard to find information about park and ride programs but found it wasn't good for overnight. So at 9am I'm there circling around the blocks. Spots are opening up and it always seemed to go perfectly to the car just in front of us. But after about 45 minutes, I finally found a spot right by Central Park and only two blocks north of the hotel. We couldn't check in for several hours, so we went exploring. I had been pretty excited about seeing Central Park envisioning beautiful paths with a backdrop of skyscrapers. I was pretty close except that it was pouring down rain all afternoon and the buildings were all in the clouds. It was evidently much more windy than usual judging by the litter of broken
umbrellas. Seriously, there were hundreds. Coming out of central park we continued south on Broadway to Times Square. It was a lot like we thought it would be, huge tvs of ads and really random stores. What's the point of a three story m&m store? We got to see the famous naked cowboy performing at one of the intersections, and took pictures for all those wanting to experience this spectacle. After grabbing some pizza we started looking for tickets to Wicked on Broadway. That turned out to be a little difficult because everywhere we went it was sold out. It all ended up working out when we went to the Majestic theatre and bought tickets to The Phantom of the Opera instead. Our seats were great and the performance was absolutely amazing. I've been to tons of plays and other live performances but have definitely never seen anything near this caliber. I was mesmerized the entire show. Afterward, looking for something close, we grabbed some food at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was actually an old theater converted to the restaurant with much better rock memorabilia than any other one I have been to. It was Beatles crazed (in fact that theater is where they were introduced to Bob Dylan). After the overpriced burgers and beer, we headed back to the hotel for the night. That brings us to the hotel...one word...tiny. On the bright side it was less than a block from Central Park. Of course I got sucked into a late night movie on the tv and didn't get much sleep. The continental breakfast served us well as another rainy day began. I insisted on seeing the rest of Central Park so for hours we walked. T
he lakes, boulders, giant trees, and beautiful flowers were all wonderful, but the weather just sucked. We decided to do some more touristy stuff and searched for a museum to head to. I decided on simplicity so we walked down to the Metropolitan Museum of Art right there in Central Park. Just like the Phantom show, what I found thoroughly exceeded my expectations. We spent hours going through just the first exhibit on Ancient Egypt. After taking a little rest we crossed to the other side of the massive building to start on Ancient Greek and Roman art. I spent pretty much the whole time in disbelief of how old everything was. Most of it looked brand new. Of course the more than two thousand year old Greek statues of goddess Aphrodite were my favorite. After I couldn't take anymore Roman copies of art I saw from Greece centuries before, I strolled over to Modern Art. This section was pretty lame in my opinion so I continued on after only 30min. I spent another half hour on Medieval Art but was bored. Crossing into Medieval Weapons and Armor, I quickly found myself in a whole other world. There was every single piece you could imagine. There were several items that I could still be standing admiring now. One particular set of armor belonging to a French king had every square inch covered with beautifully engraved designs. I'm willing to bet that the entire suit took at least one man's entire lifetime to make. There were entire cases full of jeweled swords and sabers. The jousting helms were ridiculous; imaging wearing a 30lb hat. In the center stood full knights atop armored steeds ready for battle or joust. Continuing on I found an exhibit of weaponry and armor with a level of artistic beauty and practicality that Europe couldn't come close to matching. This was of course the section on the Samurais. Not only were the blades themselves beautifully crafted, but the hilt and scabbard were designed to be absolutely stunning. After this area, I went upstairs to the musical instruments. It was amazing to see both the variety of instruments worldwide and the progression of European and American instruments through time. I then quickly went through the Asian art exhibit before I found myself utterly exhausted. I had been studying through the museum for 8 hours at that point and hadn't even come close to seeing everything. Melissa and I resigned and headed out to find a bar to relax in and catch up on a day full of college football. We found a really nice place close-by with an interesting mix of New York culture. As with most of the places I travel, everyone has a story and these people loved to tell them. The drive out of town was a death wish on a Saturday night. NY drivers have absolutely no sense of respect for the dashed lines in the road. In fact, several stretches of avenues didn't even have lines. The cabs would stop wherever to pick up a passenger, it didn't matter if they were somehow triple parking people on what should have been a three lane road. It now turns into an utter mess as all the drivers continue at 30mph merging four lanes of traffic into one on at moments notice. My heart was racing the whole time. Somehow, I survived and never even got honked at. I can't wait to head back for another vacation in NYC, but next time I will bring much more money and a nice pair of slacks.
On the drive back we hit up Gettysburg and my Aunt Ann's house (would be so much cooler is they actually lived in this little place.)
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