Family and Finesse--We Conquer the Subways

No dillee-ing in the morning; we headed straight down to the Grandparent's on 52nd, walking tall without luggage or angst. And then we went on to Mistake #2: We chose the downtown subway entrance, although we knew that we needed the uptown train, with the expectation that the entrance serviced both. But after marching right through the turnstile and spending the last usable $2 on our $5 card (see Mistake #1) we found ourselves stranded on the downtown platform. OK. Back out of the station, across the road and down the uptown side--now we're good.

Our loyal 6 train carried us to 51st St. and we started backtracking to 54th. The whole area was agreeably spacious though not too quiet, and we began to feel good about our ability to tame the city. I followed my nose to 2nd Avenue and we zeroed in on the Bravard. We boarded the elevator to the 21st floor after a few cordial words with the doorman, and were pleasantely suprised to see Shirley pop out of their doorway.

Remember Mistake #2? Read on.

Catching up with Yale and Shirley was as much fun as the bagels were tasty. You simply cannot go wrong with Nova Scotian salmon, rich cream cheese and classic scrambled eggs. Shirley finished the brunch with tea and rugula, and we were absolutely topped off for the day. But before leaving we took a few pictures, looked at some old ones and picked through a box of classic maps.

After our enjoyable brunch we headed straight to MOMA. We were there for the DADA exhibit, though we nearly forgot by spending 15min in the gift-shop. The time allowed us to focus and motivate. It's actually not a bad museum technique: do the gift-shop beforehand in order to get excited about the current exhibits. You'll come out more motivated and directed towards the works you really want to see. It defintely worked for us.

We moved quickly through the galleries and spent time only on the works that really interested us, including what seemed to be an exact replica (or the original inspiration for) the broken obelisk in UW's Red Square. Our main focus was the DADA exhibit on the top floor but we spent some time on each level. Once we reached the top we observed more diligently but were fatigued by the crowds. Nevertheless, we saw everything we wanted to see and resolved to find the museum cafe. MOMA's two cafes had lines down the hallway so were happy to find a simple espresso cart.

To return to the DADA exhibit briefly, it appealled to me much more than cliche masterpieces because the art's message is so modern and controversial. While I feel pressured to enjoy many standard paintings simply for their aesthetics, DADA challenges the observer. The art pushes the observer to reflect on his personal socio-philosophical beliefs--to reconsider the socially created norms which come to seem like objective facts. The accepted line-up of favorite paintings, on the other hand, just seem to pander for greater acceptance by leveraging a host of these social norms (religion most of all). Above and beyond this, DADA captivates me because it was a largely German/Swiss-German movement. But back to our day.

From MOMA we headed straight down 6th Ave. to Rockefeller Center. But just as we were setting up a shot of the square our camera's battery powered-down. Typical batteries could have been replaced but Brittany's camera takes a rechargeable battery and we had forgotten the charger at home. Oh well. We decided to get a disposable and order the prints developed onto a CD; it just means that we won't have anymore pictures for our blog before we return home. In the meantime we ducked into the MET gift-store there at Rockefeller, and then into Dean & DeLuca across the street. We just sat for a few minutes and then boarded the B train up Cental Park West.

The weather was so nice that we decided to get off the B at 72nd St. then walk up to the Central Park entrance at 81st St., and walk across the park back to Simon's. The walk up from 72nd to 81st was just lovely; we walked in the shade of those great buildings along CP West and noted that the brunchtime bagels were still keeping us going. We ducked into the Museum of Natural History but didn't bother to go beyond the foyer because it just didn't hold our interest. So we continued up to 81st and entered the park.

Our map was great on the streets but showed only an abstraction of the paths in the park, so we got a little lost. We found ourselves tracking down CP West instead of moving east across the park. To set things straight Brittany suggested that we stop at one of those classic, bell-ringing, man-driven ice cream carts. We sat down on a shady bench with our obnoxiously large popsicles to consider our route to 5th Ave., the park's east perimeter road.

Somehow or another we tracked down that great big fountain and then made our way to 5th Ave. Still surprised at our vitality, we walzted up 5th Ave. to the MET museum and went inside for one thing: the gift-shop. I think we can all agree that the MET gift-shop is great but don't be misled, it's doesn't have the style of a modern art museum's store. It is just classic and comprehensive. We occupied ourselves in their for a good half-hour and then strolled back out to 5th Ave.

You really couldn't have planned it better. The MET lies right at 5th Ave. and 82nd St. so all we had to do was walk straight out the front doors and down 82nd to get back to Si's. The miles of the day started to be felt in our legs as we crossed Lexington onto Si's block. Hello to the doorman and up to the room.

But we weren't done, we still had Tamarind in the evening! Even before that, we were happy to stumble upon Haley in the apartment, back from the Hampton's and leaving for school the next day. We chatted for a few minutes and then retired to rest up for the evening.

Our standby 6 train took us down the 21st St. and plopped us down literally 20 steps from Tamarind. The restaurant was stylish, private and amazingly delicious--thanks Mum and Dad! We started out with spinach and cheese cakes bursting with flavor, and then moved on to a strong chicken tikka masala accompanied by chickpeas. Tandoori paratha bread capped off this intensly flavorful meal. Finally, we decided to find dessert somewhere else instead of having it there. We hit Park Ave. just as dusk became night.

Despite the miles earlier in the day, we walked up Park from 21st to 42nd St. No outstanding dessert options turned up so we hopped right back on the 6 train. Once back up in the high 80s we continued our dessert-hunt on 3rd Ave. We ended up across the street from Tiramisu, the Italian restaurant where we had eaten with Simon, at a small ice cream stand jutting out from a kosher market. It was a little overpriced but quiet and enjoyable. We returned to Simon's feeling totally fulfilled and accomplished. Bed.

It should now be obvious why I didn't get around to writing this blog last night.