Woke up on this morning at 6:15am. I woke Todd up at 8:00, and we finally left the hotel at 9:15.
Good morning New York
We took the E train at 7th down to the 23rd Street station and walked from there to Doughnut Plant - hooray! We had eaten there in 2011 (photos noted) on our way to the New York International Auto Show, and were excited to go back. I had a peanut butter-and-banana cream donut, and a carrot cake donut.
Good morning New York! (2011)
Wild blueberry, carrot cake, and peanut butter and banana cream wonderfulness
Well, hello there profile pic (2011)
Wall art. Here, let me fix the resolution a little... (2011)
...there, that's much clearer. (2011)
Here's a photo of the bathroom. If this looks kind of confusing, the video below should help. (2011)
After breakfast our next destination was the American Museum of Natural History. For some reason we took the 1 train to 79th, which was not the most direct route. We walked a couple of blocks to the museum then walked around to the front.
Not the front
At the ticket counter we bought New York CityPass booklets, which in the end turned out to be a good deal. We had just enough of the available attractions on our remaining itinerary to make the passes worth the cost, plus they allowed us to skip ticket lines, or use shortened lines at most attractions. Highly recommended.
Inside the museum we saw several of the exhibits and a 3D Shark Imax film, since a film or planetarium show came with the CityPass. When asked at the ticket counter which film/show we wanted to see, we were given a list of choices. Todd looked to me and so I said "Well, definitely not the shark one" then he turned immediately to the ticket agent with an enthusiastic "Sharks!" He actually does this a lot - asks for my opinion on something then completely disregards it:
Him: Should I get the red one or the blue one?
Me: Blue.
Him: I'm getting red. Let's go.
Me: Then why did you ask?
In this case I didn't really care much either way, so we walked through the exhibits and at the appointed time we saw the movie. The film was surprisingly pro-shark and not the lurid exploitation of fear and bloodlust I was expecting. That being said, it was also incredibly boring and a waste of 40 minutes.
When the movie was over we stopped in one of the museum cafes and I ate a fruit cup for some quick energy. We then finished touring the museum.
I'm not sure what's going on in this picture, but I like to imagine that the girl in the background is making piggy noises
The dioramas at the museum are amazing (2011)
The whale. This room is actually pretty dark, but this photo came out much brighter.
The squid and the whale (2011)
Pride of lions (2011)
Mandrill (2011)
75 million years ago it ate nothing but caterpillars (2011)
Newt: My mommy always said there were no monsters - no real ones - but there are.
Ripley: Yes, there are, aren't there?
Newt: Why do they tell little kids that?
Ripley: Most of the time it's true.
(2011)
As we left the museum we stopped at a hot dog cart outside and all got a dog with mustard. So good. Then we headed across the street into Central Park, and walked through the park to Bethesda Fountain.
***News flash*** - as I write this, we just had another small earthquake here at home. The whole house shifted and settled back as if struck by something. Thank you fracking.
Ok, back to New York.
A city oasis
Beautiful trees
Central Park dressed in fall colors
Light and dark
Once we got to the fountain, there were a lot of people there, and many things going on at once. On the near side closest to us were street dancers doing their thing to a really loud hip-hop song. On the far side near the water was a ballerina dancing in black. Since I couldn't hear her music over the hip-hop, it appeared she was doing a production of Sherm Lake. In the center of the terrace a guy was making huge bubbles using a bucket and some rope, and underneath Terrace Drive a couple were taking wedding photos.
Quite a few people
The Angel of the Waters
Great location
From the upper terrace (2011)
Stonework detail (2011)
Looking out from under (2011)
After pausing at the fountain for a bit, we walked down the Central Park Mall, then past the Central Park Zoo, then out of the park, then past the Apple Store and back to the hotel around 4:15pm.
The mall
Spring looks a lot different (2011)
Apple Store
We hung out in the room for a couple of hours, then walked to Rockefeller Center for dinner at Bill's Bar & Burger.
Just chilling in the room
Radio City Music Hall
Inside all the scaffolding, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is being prepared for decoration
Mom chose not to go ice skating
I also chose not to go ice skating
A New York winter tradition...
...looks like this when the rink is dismantled in the spring. (2011)
On the way we stopped at the FDNY store for mom. At the restaurant we split an appetizer of fried pickles and peppers (an amazing combination of alternating sour and heat), and I had a bacon cheddar burger with a campfire shake. Todd also ordered a plate of cheese fries, but they were not good. I don't know what was wrong with the cheese, but it had a strange texture like it used to be powdered, and the flavor tasted like a bad combination of processed cheese slices and Velveeta. For dessert Todd ordered a cupcake for us to split 3 ways, and we all had a good laugh when this dinky, tiny, Betty Crocker like-I-would-make-at-home cupcake came out and couldn't be cut up because the frosting was frozen. Oh well, c'est la vie.
For my brother: the bright, bleeding bird, branch and building beside the bathroom of Bill's Bar & Burger
We found another P!Q store outside 30 Rock, so we popped in just as they were about to close. The staff were very nice and let us finish looking around while they closed up. I spotted the following for Todd which was a must buy, and I forced him to buy a science fiction blind box toy, hoping for Robby the Robot or Alien, but instead it turned out to be...well, see the 2nd picture below.
How could you not buy this?
Thanks for playing
We made our purchase, thanked the employees, and headed back to the hotel.
Good night 30 Rock
Heading back to the hotel
As we came around the corner at 53rd Street and 6th (which was what I think of as the back of the block our hotel was on), we passed a long line of people waiting to buy food from a street cart. The sign and red and yellow umbrellas on the cart said The Halal Guys. There were also a lot of people sitting around eating out of yellow plastic bags. I could understand why, as we had passed this corner several times, and every time we did the most wonderful smell of cooking food would fill the air - it would literally make your mouth water, even when you had just eaten. There was always a long line of people there, especially right after work. We made a pact that we would have that, whatever that was, for dinner the next night.
We continued down 53rd to the side entrance of the hotel, and on the way stopped at the 53rd Street Gourmet Deli where I got a cherry soda and a Tropicana peach mango juice to drink later in the room.
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