Vacation Day 2 - NYC!!

Friday morning we drove from Philly into Manhattan. I've ridden in cabs before in NYC, but didn't really freak out because I figured they were pretty experienced in dealing with NYC traffic. However, by the time Ben's sister had gotten us to our hotel I had ripped out a few chunks from the backseat...traffic was INSANE!!! Not just the traffic, but the way people maneuver around the traffic with not much regard to any other drivers or any traffic rules in general. After much honking and breath holding on my part...we made it!!

Ben's dad is the General Manager of the Sherry Netherland hotel...a very chi-chi boutique hotel right next to Central Park...and generously comped us a couple of rooms for Friday night. We woulod never have been able to afford to stay there otherwise, so this was a real treat! We had out own sitting room with a fireplace and turn down service that came with actual chocolate mints on the pillow. This pic is a view just outside the hotel down 5th Avenue. As you can see...it's just blanketed with people. As several people remarked to us...the tourists came out in droves *cough, cough* Silly tourists.






Our first stop was a light lunch at Grey's Papaya. Since we are actually in a recession, the only sensible thing to do was get the Recession Special which included 2 dogs and a delicious papaya drink. There are no tables or chairs inside Grey's Papaya, so we just stood at the metal counter and watched the people go by.
From there we walked down to a little shop in the Village called Myer's of Keswick (pronounced KEZ-ick) which sells all sorts of British goodies. On the way, we walked through a flurry of activity and at first couldn't really figure out what was going on. Then we noticed a familiar face sitting in a chair on the sidewalk and realized...this was a set for Law & Order Criminal Intent! Celebrity sighting #1...check.

Now fully stocked with pork pies, Cornish pasties, fruit pastilles, treacle pudding and other crazy British treats, we headed back uptown. Here's Ben and his sister Victoria waiting on the subway platform..
On the subway, we were treated to the familiar sounds of a mariachi band! But don't make eye contact...if you do you have to tip.
After dropping our bags at the hotel, we headed to The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). We were in luck because admission to the museum is FREE every Friday from 4-8pm. Whee! Here are a few of the highlights:

A view of an Architecture and Design exhibit from the 2nd floor of the museum. Not sure on the details of the exhibit, but it had something to do with Kafka. Will update with more info if I can find it.

Piet Mondrian "Broadway Boogie Woogie" (sorry for the quality, no flashes allowed)


Picasso

By this time we were so incredibly exhausted, we didn't get through as much of the museum as we would have liked. There's always next time!

Finally, we ended our day with dinner at a great little place in Greenwich Village called Nomad which served French/Algerian/North African food. The food was really good and the atmosphere was super cozy. We asked out waitress to take a picture of the whole family, and then proceeded to take $1 from her tip because we all look so horrible in it.
Just kidding about the tip. But we did ask her to take another picture which turned out even worse than this one. Sigh. Oh well.

All in all...a great day! The weather was sunny and wonderful and we did everything that we had wanted to.

Day 3 pics and stories coming soon! A day which includes Celebrity Sighting #2 and I try something for the first time that's a little bit dangerous....