Nowhere To Be: Chapter 32: Hot Child in the City

I was too excited to be in Manhattan that there are just no words! As we left Penn Station I rode East on 34th, passing the Empire State Building, and up Park Ave. where Aunt Kathy was waiting for us in her Upper East Side Apartment. My hands were shaking from the adrenaline of biking through the city with swerving taxis, honking, jack hammers, and millions of people on the streets. Needless to say, I pulled it off like a pro so much so that I could live there.

Our first night in the city Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathy took us to Lex, the most beautiful Italian restaurant properly named for its location at 90th and Lexington Ave. Their friend Francesca, visiting from Lebanon, joined us and we enjoyed wine, seafood, and discovered amaro averna, an all natural, herbal after dinner drink that is to die. And in pure New York City fashion we "enjoyed" the incredibly noisy chatter of 11 businessmen at the table behind us (between them and the wine we could barely hear our own thoughts, but I loved every minute of it). I don't think our welcome to NYC could have been more fabulous!

The next day I felt as though I could not possibly be in Manhattan with my awful mop of an unfashionable hair cut. So I went to see Dominique who hooked it up with an adorable, easy to take care of pixie. I know, I know, I was trying so hard and for so long to grow it out but I caved with the pressure of looking good for New York (Shallow, this I also know, but I am a helpless slave to fashion).

And what does a slave (who has no money) do in the name of fashion?... Thrift in the East Village. Which is exactly how I spent my afternoon with my short hair.

Colleen met me after work at East Village Thrift Shoppe and we jetted up to the Upper East Side so I could ditch my crocks for more appropriate footwear before heading back to the East Village to eat dinner (God Bless NY and its Subways; if I could only figure out which one goes where and which direction points North upon exiting). We met Zack and his friends at Bianca, an equally beautiful Italian restaurant, for another evening of bountiful wine and pasta.

Going anywhere in NY, there's just no room, in a nutshell (and pun intended). For example, this is the Subway interpretation to a NYC foreigner, what I would imagine it's like being born, if I could remember, going something like this: You're stuck in this dark bubble with something/someone on all sides of you, then shuttled by sheer force through a tight corridor, moving quickly toward a hint of light, and finally emerging out into the brightness where there's a whole mess of crazy sights and sounds to absorb on top of not having the faintest idea of which direction points where and thus.... enter: baby hysterically crying. The only difference is that while being born you're moving down and coming out of the Subway you're moving up. It's all the same to me.

On Saturday morning Uncle Mike got me out of my New York City Subway funk with a nice bike ride to Jersey and a tour around the city. The kind of bike with a motor. And it's not a bike... it's a Harley. It was a great ride and quite delicious to marvel at such an incredible city from a distance! NYC from afar is a wonderful perspective. You would never know it, but being outside of it, made me feel upon returning to it, like being nestled inside barrels of waves in the shape of buildings in this ocean of a city (Holy mouth-full of prepositions). Later in the afternoon, I cruised around Union Square by foot and watched the sunset from the Chelsea Highline, an old rail, turned park, winding above and through Chelsea. I finished my day with a slice of Pizza.

Sunday, April and Richard took me to Spice Market in the uber trendy Meat Packing District for a phenomenal tapas style Asian Fusion brunch. I unfortunately had to leave early because I had a date with Alvin Ailey.

It was nice to get my body moving again through dance, although that Horton class left me sore in places I forgot existed. The best was being in a studio of windows looking out into the city, a part of dance I had always wanted to experience!

Monday at the MOMA, truly indescribable! I went to see Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans and almost died when I stumbled upon Jackson Pollock's Number 1A. I also saw amazing works by Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Edvard Munch, and Mario Merz.

It was a very art filled Monday. When I returned to the apartment, Aunt Kathy had received discount tickets to the Phantom of the Opera and wanted to give them to us. So I rushed to REI to exchange a sleeping pad (thanks to Zack), quickly met him and his cousin for a Thai dinner, and then we were off to see New York Broadway! It the best moment of Manhattan! Their voices almost brought me to tears.

After the show we went on a Hot Dog tour through Times Square while meandering toward uptown. We sampled four hot dogs and decided the Times Square vendor had definitely won the NY Hot Dog Competition. So, fyi, the next time you're in NY make sure to get a hot dog from Times Square. We stopped by a 24 hour Apple store and when we descended down the glass staircase I felt like I had died and gone to Apple Heaven. It was the biggest Apple store I had ever seen that was even packed full of people at 11pm! Mom, you would have loved it!

Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathy, Thank you so much for such an amazing experience in NYC!!