New York Trip Day 2 (July 30th, 2011): Hot Dogs, Rocks, and Wine
There is of course only one first time, and I am so blessed to be able to say that my first time seeing NY out of the corner of the window in the airplane was sitting next to Jenn and marveling at the city we have seen so many times in movies, television, photographs, but for the first time seeing for ourselves.
We made it into the Laguardia airport without any hassles. My bag was checked so we had to go pick it up and made our way to the taxi line to hitch a ride to The Surrey hotel where we will be staying for the entire trip. The Surrey is located on 76th street near Madison and Central Park in the upper east side. It's not your typical 30-40 story high rise hotel but actually is a modern small boutique hotel. We got to the hotel in twenty minutes, paid the taxi and proceeded to check in. We got to the hotel at 11am far before their designated check in time (3pm) but were lucky enough to upgrade our room and get our room right away. Jenn and I took an hour or two to lie around, rest up, and then get out on the road and take in New York!
Jenn in the Taxi From the Airport to Our Hotel
Jenn made us an absolutely beautiful and comprehensive itinerary and for the first time followed it down to the very last detail.
We walked from our hotel down to the Guggenheim Museum about a fifteen minute walk from where we are staying. For both of us the museum is memorable from the movie The International and the epic shootout that happens in that movie in the museum. However before we got to the museum we stopped at one of the many hot dog stands got a Hot Dog and a drink and kept going. The guys in the Hot Dog stand were the prototypical New Yorker a bit rude and short with words however the hot dogs were delicious.
The Front of the Guggenheim Museum
Beautiful View Inside the Guggenheim Museum
Sitting on the Steps of The Met Eating Hot Dogs
We got to the museum and were taken away by the beautiful of the circular architecture of the building. Jenn and I have visited many art museums in the past and so we are accustomed to the very abstract nature that comes along with them. One of the exhibitions going on at this current point is one that involved these massive rocks/boulders and their dimensions with paintings. It was sort of a weird exhibition and often times I would look at Jenn and ask well what's the point with all of these rocks. Another thing about the Guggenheim is that since it is all circular you can get a bit dizzy from walking around the infinite loop to the top. We spent a little over an hour walking around the many different levels and taking it all in. Throughout the whole experience Jenn was constantly poking me saying can you believe that is a so and so. She really has an appreciation for the arts that I wish I had. The museum did have some pretty big names though like Matisse, Monet, Van Gogh, and Picasso.
From the Guggenheim we made our way to The Met which was incredible. We had the City Pass so got to skip all of the lines and literally walked in, got our pin to show we had tickets and were into this massive museum. Although Jenn and I have traveled all throughout Europe it was still incredible to take it all in one big building. We walked through the Ancient Rome and Greece rooms, made our way through the Asia & Pacific room, the US, European, and even Egyptian room as well. The Met was quite the experience and I could totally see how people just get totally lost in there. There is a ton to see and do at The Met and you couldn't ask for a more stunning way to take it all in. The building itself is intimidating to say the least with its massive rooms and structures and literally never ending maze of art, sculptures, and artifacts.
The Beautiful Met Museum
Jenn Checking Out the Egyptian Room Inside The Met
The Day Is Beginning To Catch Up With Us and we are Hungry
As we neared the end of the road in The Met you could tell right away that Jenn and I were ready to throw in the towel. I hoped on my iPhone and looked up Yelp reviews of near buy Italian Restaurants and found the Caffe Grazie a small eatery on 84th street a few blocks away from where we are staying. We had a fantastic time at the restaurant. I had a glass of wine (they were out of Pinot Grigio so I went with their recommendation) and Jenn had water. Jenn had pasta bolognase for dinner and I had lobster ravioli. We split a capachino ice cream dish for desert. It was a very small and intimate setting but we really enjoyed our meal.
Jenn Sitting at the Restaraunt for Dinner
Enjoying a Great Glass of Wine
Lobster Ravioli
Jenn's Spaghetti Bolognase
Jenn Chowing Down on Some Ice Cream
The Outside of Caffe Grazie
From Caffe Grazie we ended up hitting up a Starbucks getting me my goto Grande Mocha and picking us up some breakfast for the next morning. We walked back to our hotel at around 6PM and by this point we are nearing exhaustion and literally have no clue what each other are even talking about. We got back by 6:30pm and by two episodes of Seinfeld later we were gone for the night.
Enjoying Some Late Night Starbucks
After a red eye and a full day of touring what more could you ask for then a great meal and an extremely comfortable bed to come home to sleep to. It was a great way to start off the trip.
