Since by this point we had decided to only spend two nights in New York before heading home, there was quite a lot to try to cram into a single full day, and we got up fairly early to try to accomplish it all. Our first stop was the American Museum of Natural History on the west side of Central Park. Since we were in Brooklyn, this gave us our first opportunity to try out the fabled New York subway system. Thankfully Robyn was taking a similar route, so she showed us the ropes a bit on our way to the museum. We got off the crowded subway car a couple stops after Robyn, and waded into the sea of people rushing up the stairs into the blinding sunlight. As Robyn had warned, it was a little disorienting popping up out of the sidewalk in the midst of New York's frantic streets and towering skyscrapers, but after a short pause we got our bearings and headed over to Central Park from the East.
As huge and overwhelming as New York can be, by some unknown trickery Central Park seems to wash that away when you wander around its forested paths. Immediately when we passed the first line of trees the noise of the city became muffled and distant, and soon it became easy to forget that we were in New York at all. We wound our way through the paths of the park passing peaceful courtyards overlooking small lakes, and stopped a few times to watch performers play music or form giant bubbles-- all the while making our way in a generally western direction. It's hard to overstate the sheer size of the park. Even when walking at a decent pace, it took us a little less than an hour to walk along its smaller dimension until we finally reached West Central Park and the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History.
The atrium of the museum housed a massive display of dinosaur bones that soared above us to the top of the several-story ceiling, and the entrance of the museum proper was no less grand. After walking through the ticket check we came to the hall of African animals where a herd of elephants was frozen in a stampede at the center of a ring beautifully arranged displays of lions, gazelles, and other denizens of the African plains. As we wandered through the halls, moving from Africa to North America, and travelling back in time to the Big Bang, then jumping to the time of the dinosaurs, it became apparent to me that although the subjects of the displays were neat, I found the construction of the displays themselves far more interesting. The incredible attention to detail in the backdrops for the animals, and the life-like way they were arranged-- a pack of wolves stopped midair as they bounded across a snowy wood, or a pair of moose locked in a raging battle, eyes wide with fear and intensity-- made displays exciting when they could have easily been very dull. Even the other displays that didn't show as much life, like the ones housing dinosaur fossils or human-made items, still revealed a mastery of arranging information and artifacts that made the displays accessible and captivating.
Geries and I spent a few hours browsing the museum, passing through just about every exhibit (except the ones we had to pay extra for) before we were joined by our friend Kyle from Georgia Tech who just happened to be in the city at the same time. Once we met up we spent a little more time walking around and catching up with Kyle before we headed back underground to catch the subway on our way to meet up with Robyn for lunch. Since it was on the way, we made a quick stop at Grand Central Station to check out the bustling main terminal, and then headed outside where we met Robyn outside her building.
After a little debate we finally settled on trying some sushi, which proved difficult, since the first couple of places we walked to were inexplicably closed. Eventually we came to a small place where no one seemed to be speaking English, which we took as an indication that we had found a good spot. The food was good, but the service not so much. In any case after a while of eating and talking we said bye to Robyn and headed off with Kyle to explore Manhattan.
We took the subway almost all the way to the lower east side where Kyle hoped to see Obscura, an antique shop specializing in weird stuff that's featured on a TV show. Having seen the show before, I had an idea of what to expect, but they definitely had some items that caught me off guard, like a drawer full of human teeth. Although we didn't say hi, we had our brush with minor celebrity as we saw the owners of the shop ducking in and out of the back room while we browsed.
Once we were done checking out the shop we just went outside and walked around the streets without anywhere in particular to go, although Kyle and I started to get a craving for some pastries so we kept and eye out for a bakery in our wanderings. The neighborhood seemed to be another of the hipster hangouts that are apparently mandated for every major population center, and it was fun to people watch and window shop at all of the strange little shops and dives. Eventually we did come across a bakery where a laconic Russian man served us some passable, but not great, chocolate filled pastries (I should have gone with the apple strudel). By then it was already getting late into the afternoon, and Kyle headed off, leaving Geries and I to head over to our next stop.
Even though we were already down to about 10th Street, it was a deceptively long walk down to the southern tip of Manhattan to catch the Staten Island ferry. With my feet already starting to get sore we made our way through Little Italy and Chinatown and past the new World Trade Center on our way to the ferry. After what seemed like miles in the heat we finally made it to Battery Park and the ferry center where we took a load off waiting for the boat to come in. Once the ferry arrived we filed on with a few hundred other people and seated ourselves along the side so we could get a good view of the Statue of Liberty on the way past. The ride ended up being very refreshing with the cool breeze battling the heat of quickly retreating day. From the ferry we got an incredible view of the Manhattan skyline with the Empire State Building and (my favorite) the Chrysler building all in full view with the new World Trade Center towering over everything despite its lack of completion. We also got a good view of the distant Statue of Liberty just in front of the sinking sun. Before long we arrived at our destination, where we promptly left the boat and immediately reboarded to head back to Manhattan.
After being treated to a second helping of the excellent view from the ferry, we hopped back off the boat onto Manhattan which was quickly being blanketed in the gathering night. We took another subway ride, and when we emerged in Times Square the sky was already almost completely dark, although the square didn't seem to notice. Every wall around us was absolutely covered in huge flashing signs that lit Times Square as if it was day. Everything was a blur of motion and exploding colors that lingered even after closing my eyes. The crowds were tremendous, with thousands of people slowly floating through the dozens of hot dog stands and costumed street performers.
We walked to the far end of the square and then back before coming to The Counter where we sat down to get some dinner. The premise of the restaurant was pretty cool. It's a burger joint where you get a checklist instead of a menu, and you choose everything you want to go on your burger from the bread to the toppings, and even the type of meat. The burgers turned out to be excellent, and after stuffing ourselves we managed to make our way to the subway and back to Robyn's place in Brooklyn.
Robyn hadn't gotten back to her apartment yet by the time we got there, so we ended up spending a good amount of time just relaxing on the stoop watching cars pass and kids playing at the fire hydrant spraying water across the street. I was tempted to go over a couple of times myself since it was a hot night, but before long some of Robyn's neighbors came out to join us, and we chatted with them for a bit before Robyn made it back and we went up to the apartment and almost straight to bed.
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