Admiring "The Gates" in New York City

View of New York City and the Gates in Central Park
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Last February, I was lucky enough to spend a weekend in New York City admiring "The Gates" art installation in Central Park. I flew to Philadelphia from San Francisco, met my family, and took the train to Penn Station.

My parents booked a room at the Pennsylvania Hotel, because it is located across the street from Penn Station. We simply wheeled our suitcases across the street, and there we were, right in the middle of a grand lobby, bustling with tourists from around the world.

Can't wait to go back!

Under the Gates
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As soon as we got to our hotel, my friend Sarah and I decided to go and do some shopping. First we headed to the MAC counter at Macy's for some "New York City" makeovers. Tons of blue eyeshadow and shopping bags later, we were ready to go back to the hotel. It was a very New York City ish adventure, we even stopped at street vendors and bought $4 belts.

We headed back to the hotel to see if my parents were done relaxing and drinking cocktails. But first, we decided to have some drinks ourselves at the hotel bar.

Me and my dad freezing in 18 degree weather. He's even wearing my hat!
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It was crowded for happy hour. We were stiting on the stools at the bar when we noticed a man (drunk) falling asleep on a stool. A few minutes later he passed out onto the floor. Medics came a little while later and brought him out on a stretcher. He seemed to be ok by the time they brought him out though.

We headed back up to the room, motivated everyone to go have dinner (there were 7 of us at that point). We all piled into cabs and headed to Greenwich Village - one of our favorite neighborhoods.

The Gates
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Needless to say, New York City in February is "dunk your head in an ice bucket" cold. But the cold doesn't stop New Yorkers, or us for that matter (although we did complain quite a bit). We walked the streets of Greenwich village, overloaded with choices in dining. We decided to eat at a Mexican place (i forget the name)that was tasty but expensive.

The next morning, Sarah and I decided to run through Central Park. This was our first opportunity to see "The Gates." I've never run through an art installation before, amazing to say the least. It was pretty early in the morning, and cold, but a lot of people were already there taking pictures, walking dogs, running like we were.

Central Park has great paths for running anyway but this was spectacular, bright orange against bare winter trees. I understood why Christo chose winter for this project, especially since it snowed the weekend after we were there.

We ran back to our hotel, past "The Tonight Show, with David Letterman" studio and the famous "Hello Deli." I was hoping Dave would be hanging out outside, but no luck.

For lunch, we went to the famous Artie's Deli where we all ate reuben sandwhiches(they even had vegetarian reubens!). My parents chatted with the waitress quite a bit, and were sad when they went back a month later and she didn't remember them. Needless to say, this is a great deli. Martha Stewart recommends it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon admiring The Gates. The park was very crowded, even though if was so cold,and our camera batteries didn't last long.

The next day, Sarah and I set out on our own, determined to walk most of the city in one day. We walked all the way to Greenwich village for breakfast, hoping to spot celebrities walking their dogs/babies. No such luck, not even near the Magnolia Bakery which is popular with celebrities who have cupcake cravings.

Having successfully walked through as much of the city as we wanted to, we took the Staten Island Ferry (it's free!)to see the Statue of Liberty.

Some other highlights you can't miss:

*street vendors (accessories, pretzels and hot peanuts)

*eating at a great deli staten island ferry

*walking through Central Park and several neighborhoods(soho, greenwich village, china town)

*blues clubs in greenwich village

There's so much we didn't do, (visiting museums, going to shows) but there's always next time.

You missed the "Gates" but you can read about them and see pictures at: http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.html

Of course, New York city is an art installation all by itself and if you visit, you get to be part of it.