New York Observations

Just some general observations:

• Gumboots are very popular, and not just pretty patterned gumboots, but regular green farmer style gumboots. You can wear them with anything, jeans, summer dresses, shorts 
• Flannel is everywhere, not just for hipsters 
• A lot of signs are multilingual (Spanish), especially on the subway 
• EVERYTHING is unlawful. There are signs for everything warning people of dangerous and unlawful things. Like having too many people in a lift, or in a gallery at MoMA. It's like by posting the sign the organisation is no longer responsible if something goes wrong - customers you have been warned! Take action to ensure numbers are not exceeded (esp at MoMA, I'm sure there was a sign saying no more than 499 people) 
• Where ever construction is underway there is a sign: Excuse our appearance 
• Heaps of people had fluro pink toe nail polish 
• Homeless people poo/wipe their bums in the street - need more public toilets!! 
• There are signs in most restaurants showing you how to help a choking person 
• Everyone everywhere is casual, there are no fabulous people 
• Shops are all over staffed. There is a greeter/welcomer, a security person, someone to check for stock, multiple people in the changing rooms, someone to process sales 
• Lots of green energy and green behaviour promotion 
• Lots of French speaking people 
• No info at stations about when next train is - kinda annoying, except trains are pretty regular 
• Shit my dads says is going to be tv show with William Shatner - WTF! 
• You can go on a payment plan for cosmetic procedures - chemical peel etc 
• EVERYONE walks on the right - you'll never bump into anyone 
• There doesn't appear to be an evening rush hour - never awake early enough to know about the morning peak. Maybe everyone is on summer holidays? 
• Pedestrians always cross at the intersection - no jay walking in the middle of the block 
• Little league baseball is broadcast on the telly

Odd photos

After the Met we walked up to the Guggenheim - only went into the foyer, not into the exhibition space









Apple Store on Fifth Avenue


Outside Rockefeller Plaza on Fifth Avenue


St Patricks Cathedral


Hello Kitty?


Brunch at the Diner on 14th (this was the morning after our dinner at Daniel - a bit of a step down!)


We had lunch at the Burger Joint - it's on the ground floor of the La Meridian Hotel. Great Burger, although the line is about an hour long!

Grand Central

We stopped by Grand Central Terminal to go the the Grand Central Oyster Bar and the Camberwell Apartment - both I had read about in several places and seemed to be considered New York institutions. I'm not sure we felt the vibe - both places were a bit drab and the staff at the oyster bar really didn't want to be there!

Some pics from Grand Central







A photo shoot

Top of the Rock

Instead of going to the top of the Empire State Building we decided to go to the Top of the Rock. I had read it was a great place to get views of Manhattan, and it included a view of the Empire State Building - unfortunately the Empire State Building is so big it blocks of most of the view of downtown!!

We went up at night and the rain stopped and the weather cleared perfectly for some great views!

Cathedral Church of St John the Divine

It rained on the last days of the holiday and we started to run out of indoor activities so we visited Cathedral Church of St John the Divine. It's a pretty big cathedral but a bit plain on the inside.

American Museum of Natural History

On a rainy Sunday morning we went to the American Museum of Natural History (setting for the movie A Night at the Museum).

They have a brilliant guide to the museum iPhone app. There are wireless access points all around the museum that determine your location and you can use the app to take a highlights tour, find out more about popular exhibits, or just navigate the museum with the map.

Most exhibits at the museum are reproductions, I guess so kids can touch and play, but that does make it a bit less interesting.

A few pics:

Baseball

We went to Yankee Stadium to watch a game of baseball, the Yankees v the Seattle Mariners - the Yankees won quite convincingly.

I'm not very familiar with baseball, so like the basketball the game itself wasn't that entertaining, but all the crowd interaction and the action between the pitches were the highlights!

We picked up tickets via StubHub an online marketplace for ticket holders to sell their unwanted tickets - it's like coordinated scalping! StubHub is owned by ebay so we figured it should be ok!

Daniel

The highlight of the trip was dinner at Daniel. Daniel has three Michelin Hats, four stars from the New York Times, and ranked number 8 in the 2010 S.Pellegrino worlds 50 best restaurants.

The entire experience was amazing!! From the street there is little sign of what's inside, but once you enter through the revolving door you are transported into another world!

We started with cocktails in the bar. I had the New York Sling - served in a martini glass with an ice ball with a rose petal frozen in the center. The rest of the drink was delivered in a mini carafe. Reid had the Revolutionary, also with large ice ball and a dash of Absinthe!

Then we moved through into the most elegant dining room. The staff were fantastic, so friendly and helpful, and the service was perfect.

We had the three course prix fix

I had the Gorgonzola Fedelino and Mesclun Tortelloni, followed by the Elysian Fields Farm Lamb Loin
Reid had the Trio of Mackerel (including caviar) and the Duo of Beef

The food was spectacular! I have never had anything like it!

The wine list was massive - with over 1600 selections the list is actually a huge book!

We also had the a little tasting dish at the beginning and finished with a chocolate!

Before dinner:


Sneaky iPhone pic at our table - I wish we had asked the waiter to take a proper photo, but it just seemed a bit tacky

Metropolitan Museum of Art

We spent a morning blitzing around the Met. I mostly wanted to go to get one of their carry bags, but in the end I thought they were too expensive and didn't buy one!

This type of museum is interesting enough, but since they don't really specialise in anything they don't necessarily have the coolest stuff.

They had a photographic exhibition by Leon Levinstein - Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players, known for his "candid and unsentimental" shots of New Yorkers. To me they all seemed a bit storker-ish and grim. The subjects in most photos didn't seem to know they were being photographed.

The really old Egyptian stuff always pretty amazing, although I'm sure some of the necklaces are from the $2 shop!

The highlight was by far the rooftop garden, we sat up there and had lunch and admired the view of midtown.







Fancy armour


Armour for a fat bloke (Henry VIII)


Guns by Tiffany (really just the handles)


Reid amongst the Doug + Mike Starn on the Roof: Big Bambú exhibit on the rooftop




Views from the rooftop