NYC Day 3: Downtown, Chinatown and the East Village

Our third day in NYC was Mitra's wedding day, but not until later in the evening, so we hopped on the train and took it to the end of the line into Downtown and walked back to our hotel in the East Village via Chinatown.

The last time I was in Chinatown, I think Mitra just took me for a skim through the top of the neighborhood. I had no idea New York's Chinatown was so massive. We walked and walked and walked and thought we would never come to the end of it. But so many great sights in the way.

All crazy cute except that final red-eyed crazed piglet. Why the red eyes?

This picture is for Dan, who loved that we saw "Mr. T" on our travels.

If you know my Dan, this is what he does to make me laugh. I can't explain why I think it's so funny. But he finds the cutest thing he can find and then poses next to it as apathetically as possible. Ridiculous.

So, I feel like I found two dream apartments/homes right next to each other in the East Village. One is on the left--the modern house plunked down on the top of a four flat. The other is on the right and looks French to me--the 4 huge windows running the length of the apartment. I'm hoping inside, it's a loft space filled with mirrors and reflected light.

My handsome husband in the cafe where we took a break from walking to warm up. And before we split up--him to haunt record shops, me to hang out with the bride while she got ready for the big event.

NYC Day 2 Part 3

Friday in New York was a big day. We covered a lot of ground. The last third of the day was spent in Times Square, a quick stop at Magnolia Bakery, Rockefeller Center, eating dinner at a great Japanese Noodle Shop just off of 5th Ave., and then a final walk up 5th to the train at the edge of Central Park that carried us back to the hotel where we ate our Magnolia desserts and then drifted off to a much needed sleep.

This is what we saw on the way.

The Chrysler Building lit up, peaking between buildings in the distance.

This is the first thing I saw at the south end of Times Square. It's a Target ad, but this Red Yeti is super cute and about 25 feet tall.

And then, you know, everyone knows what Times Square is. We've all seen pictures. It's Broadway. It's a million lights. It's hustle and bustle. But nothing can really prepare you for the actual place. Pictures don't do it justice. It's overwhelmingly lit up. It's somehow simultaneously beautiful, deeply American, shocking and kind of appalling. It's a strange and marvelous place.

A steakhouse just off the Square. We didn't eat there. I just really liked their sign.

No flash needed to capture the happy travellers. It was like daylight there in the square.

The 30 Rock Statue was wearing a snow hat!

Thank you, Mitra, for suggesting this place. On 55th between 5th and 6th. Really good food. And if you're exhausted and cold and your feet are wet from walking through snow all day, nothing is more comforting than this place. I've been thinking about it ever since.

Detailed mosaic on 5th Avenue churchfront. They're sermon topic for Sunday: "Can My Avatar Take Communion?" So, curious about where that talk would be headed.

Crazy beautiful shop window.

Dan's NYC Heaven. Such a pretty Apple store. It's all below ground beneath this lit glass box. . . which promted me to say, "It's just like the Louvre." Ridiculous.

The train back to the hotel--clearly we were in the station closest to the zoo. There were little mosaic animals everywhere.

NYC Day 2 Part 2

So back to the hotel after Central Park and the Met to check out the new view from our hotel. Gorgeous.

I'm not sure that there's another building more graceful or soaring in shape and idea than the Chrysler building. It's elegance in concrete and steel. If it wouldn't ruin the specialness of the existing building, then I would argue that every city should have the same tower to remind urban people all around the world what grand, tall architecture can aspire to. (Sorry Sears/Willis Tower. . . despite your height, you still have plenty to learn. . . )

But we shouldn't ignore the shorties or the Modern in New York. I love this color-blocked blue/white/gray building as well. I don't know what it is or what its use is, but the way all of the repeating shapes of the windows play against one another but also multiply the shape of the whole building? It's clever. It doesn't soar, but it's smart. (You might say, "This building has a nice personality.")

After resting at the hotel for a bit, we hopped the subway down to the Staten Island Ferry.

And I swear we didn't plan to go at sunset. There was no reason to even suspect in the overcast day that there would be one, but the following pictures show that we were lucky, so very lucky to have caught the ferry at the most amazing part of the day.

The light was ridiculous.

Ferry, Statue of Liberty and Sunset? Does this happen everyday.

Even the shipping yards looked great in this light.

All of the pilings with their individual round snowcaps just struck me as silly or cute or in this light, an interesting study in negative space, how the snow made seeing the dark shapes beneath them possible in low light.

I hope New Yorkers don't take their city for granted.