The Big Bad Apple

So for those that know the story from the last time I took a quick trip through NYC, this one was 1000x better! Of course it was pouring down rain when I got there, but I marched on uptown through the city. I didn't study the maps nearly as much as a usually do before a trip, so when I accidentally stumbled on Rockefeller Center it was kind of a surprise. Then I wandered through Central Park and you see in the movies. In a city like that, they need a big park to lighten the mood!

This is the other big city center, Time Square. This "Naked Cowboy" was rolling in the dough as people (okay, teenage girls) lined up to have their picture taken with him. Interesting take on something that would be illegal at 2 a.m. on any other street corner...

The whole point of the trip was to attend/work at an event I have been working on with an Academy volunteer. This volunteer is very well connected and our guest list was filled with influential names from NYC. After the event, the volunteer and her family opened up their home to me on the Upper-upper-west-side. That's not a typo there, just a nice way of saying the Riverdale community of the big bad Bronx. Yes, it's true. I stayed the night (and even took the subway from) the Bronx. If I were Pat Benatar I would definately be putting another notch in my lipstick case! Of course, I suppose I forgot to mention the very kind doorman, 180 degree view of the Hudson and George Washington Bridge...

Anyway, that night her family spent an hour making a list of things for me to do the next day before I caught my bus back to DC. At the top of the list was a visit to H&H Bagels. Wow. Yum. I won't be eating Safeway bagels anytime soon!

I also went to the Natural History Museum where I gauked at the African Mammal exhibit (knowing all the names of the ungulates without reading them from the wall) and the basalt Olmec head. I wrote a paper on those my freshman year of college. They are like nine feet tall solid basalt stone heads. I can't imagine how they got it there!