Thursday- I headed in a day early to catch up with college friends Amanda, Liz, and Beth. We met up at Amanda's apartment in the financial district, then went out for food and drinks on South St. Here we are looking very happy:
Friday- Convened with Yuki, Kim, and Tejal, and we checked into our hotel and went for a walk around Central Park. After that, we saw Bodies...the Exhibition, an exhibit on human anatomy using preserved cadavers and organs. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who isn't an M.D. or particularity squeamish. Our afternoon took a turn for the worse when we got trapped in a rainstorm, couldn't catch a cab, and ended up stuck on a boiling hot subway car due to a medical emergency in the train ahead of us. I'll never complain about the MBTA again...for all its glitches, it runs much more smoothly (and coolly)than the NYC metro. When we finally got out of the station, we were so exasperated that we sat down to eat in the first restaurant we came upon, a really crappy Mexican place in the Village. Back at the hotel, we lounged around watching T.V. and chatting. We tried to extract government secrets from Yuki (she designs nuclear weapons), but she stonewalled us, even denying offers like "If Kim tells you the name of her baby, will you tell us a government secret?" I wasn't feeling well and took a Nyquil, which somehow caused me to make a weird squeaking noise while I was sleeping.
Me, after suddenly jerking awake: Was I just making a weird squeaking noise?
Everyone: Yes.
Saturday- We ate breakfast at Popover Cafe, then shopped for a little while in the Village. On Friday, we had purchased discount tickets to the Saturday matinee of The Producers, so we went to see that. I liked it, and had the catchy "Springtime for Hitler" stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Although it was funny, it wasn't as good as I had expected, considering that it won 12 Tony awards. Some parts seemed too cliche- the horny old ladies, the gorgeous Swede, etc... After the show, we walked around in another rainstorm and had dinner at a Greek tapas restaurant. We met up with my friend Jonny and had drinks at a couple of places on 9th Ave.
Sunday- We awoke to discover a giant street fair right in front of our hotel. Oh joy, oh rapture! Blocks and blocks of cheap jewelry, purses, scarves, and other goodies! I bought a bunch of $2 necklaces and a pair of shoes.
We then headed to Chinatown for Dim Sum, which I had incorrectly believed involved a boiling pot of broth that you dip raw meat and vegetables into it. What I was imagining is called Hot Pot, and it's Japanese, whereas Dim Sum is Chinese and involves people pushing carts of food around the room and when you point at things, they put them on your table. Luckily we had Kim with us to identify the items, because the ladies pushing the food around were difficult to understand. I liked the pork buns and the sticky rice the best. After chowing down for a while, we left, and I caught the Chinatown bus back to Boston. Overall, it was a great weekend catching up with friends and enjoying New York.
3 comments:
Sounds like you had a great time. I saw the Bodies... the Exhibition in Atlanta with my mom. We spent over 3 hours looking at everything. I get woosey easily but none of the stuff bothered me. I plan on going to the one at the Museum of Science here in Boston which is similiar but unrelated to the Atlanta and NYC exhibits.
Eileen, hot pot is indeed Chinese and is fairly popular in Hong Kong. Shabu shabu is the Japanese term for a similar thing. Hot pot and shabu shabu are more popular in the winter time. If you come visit us in London we know the best dim sum place and the best shabu shabu place (Japanese). We're still on the lookout for a good Chinese hot pot place though.
Aha! I knew I wasn't making it up. I will visit again one of these days. Maybe a London marathon....
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