Dear Diary, NYC Part 3: Sightseeing

·      American Museum of Natural History - “It was like the first Valentine’s Day after the war.” That’s how my best friend described it, and she was pretty accurate – it was couple central. But the museum itself was really cool, I loved all the life size animals sprinkled throughout like the dinosaurs in the entrance, the tiger in the rainforest, and the giant whale suspended from the ceiling in the aquatic area. I’m not sure if it’s a permenant feature, but there was an entire section with rocks that was really neat. The museum as a whole was oddly dark which was a bit annoying but we had a great time.

·      Brooklyn Bridge – It was too cold to walk there from Ground Zero, but on a nice day we easily could have. Instead, we did opted for the quicker lazy option by hailing a cab and having him take us to the Brooklyn side of the bridge. We hopped out, snapped some pics of the iconic landmark and scurried back to the semi-warmth of the city. After consulting our friend who goes to school in New York, we jumped in another cab and headed for Williamsburg for lunch- there’s not much to eat around the foot of the bridge.

·      Central park – My favorite place in NYC, the day we went there was snow on the ground everywhere but it was pleasant enough to walk through. Some of the trails were icy and the sailboat pond (where Jenny facilitated a drug deal in season 3 of Gossip Girl) was frozen solid. A gang of squirrels tried to attack us and it was touch-and-go there for a while but somehow we escaped. It was really beautiful to walk through – I’d never seen it snow covered! It was just fabulous.

·      Fifth Avenue – See my post on shopping here.

·      FIT Museum – Only one museum exhibit was open but it was really interesting little interactive display. “Trendology” (the study of fashion trends) was the subject and is apparently a new thing you can study at FIT. Where was I when this was happening and is it too late to transfer?

·      Ground Zero – It was raining when we got here and so windy that it was coming down horizontally. We took the subway straight down the island from Times Square to the World Trade Center memorial, got off and were lost for the next 25 minuets because of the construction and lack of information. Even our phones weren’t much help. We eventually figure out where the entrance was to the memorial and luckily they were offering free tickets to the people walking up cause we had not done the online pre-reservation. The memorial itself was nice, sad and slightly anticlimactic. It could have been so cool if we could have learned something new from the experience but the memorial didn’t tell me anything that any American born after 1995 (and pretty much everyone else on Earth) could tell you. The information pamphlets were worded as if this was a little known event that needed to be spelled out for a child, which I guess is fine for someone from another country who maybe doesn’t know much about world history, but it seemed overly simplified and not informative whatsoever to me or my friends. There was no explanation behind the design or significance of the memorial or anything of that nature. The only tour option was one given by a family member who passed away in the event which was way too personal and none of us wanted to cry that morning. The most significant thing about my entire experience there had nothing to do with what they built but with a woman’s personal reaction to the memories connected to that event and this location. All in all it was a very awkward experience.

·      Rockefeller Center – Chilly but fun, they still had their Christmas decorations up and we got to interact with the crowds craning to see the skaters below. The Free People across the street is fab and so is the J. Crew, Longchamp store and Anthropologie around the square. The NBC store is also on the corner next to the 30 Rock building; we went in last year but skipped it this time.

·      The Met – Who doesn’t love the Met? There’s something for everyone and we got to spend a few hours looking around at all the art, catching on to random tours and pointing out famous works of art. Also we spent some time sitting down, resting and warming up because the hour long walk we took from our hotel nearly froze us solid. If you go soon don’t miss this cool exhibit going on right now featuring jaw-dropping jewelry by JAR.

·      Times Square – What can only be the origin of the phrase “bright lights, big city”, Times Square is a wild, loud, overwhelming experience and yet never changes. We got discount tickets for Cinderella when we went under the red stairs. It was too cold while we were there for the mounted NYPD officers to walk around which is pretty much the only thing I like about the square other than the Sephora, which is amazing.