Vacation
This weekend Kid Flash and I decided that we were on vacation. We both agreed no email, no phones (cell for me, land for him, can you believe he doesn't have a cell?), no outside world. I was coming off a three week tear of constant work (and I do mean constant, there were several 24 hour days), and he's about to start a new semester of school, so we both feel like we need a break.
After a week of debate and perusing last minute travel packages we both decided that neither of us wanted to make a decision. It basically came down to that, sad to say. So we chose to stay in the NYC and be tourists in our own city. This included checking online before every meal to see how the restaurant was rated and reviewed, and visiting stores that we normally wouldn't. In some cases it worked out fantastically (go to Sarabeth's and get the pumpkin waffles, yum!) and in other cases not so much (what is the attraction to FAO Schwartz?). We visited the Museum of Natural History so that I could see the Planetarium, which I had never been to, saw Pan's Labyrinth had some great sushi and Korean food, and visited Toy Tokyo and the 80th street flea market.
Monday was a highlight though. We hopped on a Metro North train and headed upstate to visit Dia: Beacon. Dia is a collection of modern art, comprised mainly of over sized sculptures and installations from the last 4 years of art. The highlights included Richard Serra's "Torqued Ellipse" series which includes 4 gigantic steel ellipses that fill the room they occupy. Each giant steel wall can be walked around, and in some cases through and between and being in close proximity to them is the only available way to experience them. This often means passing between the sculpture and the walls of the room in only 3 or 4 feet of space. The shapes of the walls and the twisted (torqued) cylinders can only be experienced from within the sculptures themselves. It's really quite amazing. Like most modern art some of the other galleries are hit or miss, but I'd definitely recommend a visit if you have a day or so. The trip up is about an hour and the galleries took about 4 hours to properly visit.
It was great weekend of not being pressured by the real world, and experiencing New York as a tourist (sort of... we avoided Times Square and several other annoyingly tourist congested areas). Now, back to the work.
After a week of debate and perusing last minute travel packages we both decided that neither of us wanted to make a decision. It basically came down to that, sad to say. So we chose to stay in the NYC and be tourists in our own city. This included checking online before every meal to see how the restaurant was rated and reviewed, and visiting stores that we normally wouldn't. In some cases it worked out fantastically (go to Sarabeth's and get the pumpkin waffles, yum!) and in other cases not so much (what is the attraction to FAO Schwartz?). We visited the Museum of Natural History so that I could see the Planetarium, which I had never been to, saw Pan's Labyrinth had some great sushi and Korean food, and visited Toy Tokyo and the 80th street flea market.
Monday was a highlight though. We hopped on a Metro North train and headed upstate to visit Dia: Beacon. Dia is a collection of modern art, comprised mainly of over sized sculptures and installations from the last 4 years of art. The highlights included Richard Serra's "Torqued Ellipse" series which includes 4 gigantic steel ellipses that fill the room they occupy. Each giant steel wall can be walked around, and in some cases through and between and being in close proximity to them is the only available way to experience them. This often means passing between the sculpture and the walls of the room in only 3 or 4 feet of space. The shapes of the walls and the twisted (torqued) cylinders can only be experienced from within the sculptures themselves. It's really quite amazing. Like most modern art some of the other galleries are hit or miss, but I'd definitely recommend a visit if you have a day or so. The trip up is about an hour and the galleries took about 4 hours to properly visit.
It was great weekend of not being pressured by the real world, and experiencing New York as a tourist (sort of... we avoided Times Square and several other annoyingly tourist congested areas). Now, back to the work.
Hey, glad to hear that the Cully-time was a success. I've been wanting to 'tourist up' the Apple for some time. Thanks for the pointers.
Maybe I'll look at making the trip, and we'll find some appropriately cool/empty pub for a sports racer hullabaloo. I don't live there, so it's no big deal to me if I get banned from someplace.
=P Cheers.
You live in the greatest city in the world. You can vaction without going out of town! That rocks. And what a great way to spend time with someone.
I am envious!
What a terrific idea!