Feelin' Groovy

I couldn't have asked for a better day in NYC yesterday! The weather was perfect. I barely needed a coat.

I started my day off at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of the current exhibits is the Vincent Van Gogh drawings. It was interesting to see his drawing style progress up to the style most of us are used to seeing in the Starry Night painting.

I also got to see this interesting exhibit on Photography and the Occult. Today these images seem silly, contrived. But when this pictures were taken, they seemed quite believable. It's funny some of the images referenced "ectoplasm" and here I thought that was a word the Ghostbusters made up!

I did get to see some of the permenant collection including the Egyptian exhibits: I'll give .25 for the first person to tell me what 80's movie was filmed in this room.














More from the permenent collection, I just love this Dali painting.













After my visit at the museum, I took a trip downtown to visit my friend Susan that you all know from the previous blog. I met her at her place in The Village and we headed off for lunch. As always I learned much about some of the buildings in the area particularly Susan's favorite, The Friends Seminary which used to be a Quaker church. There is a small park just across the street where Susan showed me the small tree she had planted in honor of her recent birthday. There were also these funky little sculptures in the park made of credit cards. And, there were plenty of "takers" willing to teach you how to play chess or match wits with you in a chess match...one thing I never learned to play.

As we got closer to where we were going to have lunch Susan showed me a church I've seen many times, St. Marks on the Bowery. I had never been inside the building or within the gates. Little did I know there was a cemetery there that I had never noticed before. All the stones are lying down. And, Peter Stuyvesant is buried there.

We made our way towards 2nd Ave. since our main agenda was to get some food. We were both starvin! We were going to my favorite place, The Telephone. I had the best fish and chips, Susan had a yummy looking plate of shephard's pie. They have a really nice selection of food, the food is good, moderately priced and they have a great beer selection. It was such a nice day, some people were sitting outside. Oh! And I got another Homie! This is a grim reaper Homie, quite appropriate. Thanks Susan!

We then went down by NYU thinking there was some kind of student art show going on but didn't find one. There is a little mews in the area that is just so beautiful. It's where the Institute of French Studies is located. You would never imagine you were in the middle of a huge city.

We also walked in Washington Square park which is always an adventure. And, I think one of the prettiest parks. This is the park that has the giant arch similar to the Arc d'Triomphe in Paris. This is a look underneath the arch.



And some of the sculptures on the arch:








Susan and I ended the day in NYC at the Back Fence with Brigid (see previous blog entry) at the bar. After I left there and was making my way up 6th Ave. I saw a guy wipe out on his bike in the middle of the street. He was a hurtin pup but fortunately, he didn't get hit by a car. People waiting to cross the street ran out to help him.

There seems to be one of two things going on here. One is that New Yorkers get a bad rap. People say they're unfriendly and cold. The second thing is that maybe New Yorkers are changing. Saturday my Metro pass wasn't working. The girl in front of me turned around to see if I needed help and she directed me back to the ticket agents at the window. There was the bike incident and since my new found friendship with Susan and Brigid, I've been introduced to some really nice people...all New Yorkers!

P.S. This day was my big adventure out on my own in the big city. You know, it wasn't any different than being there with a friend.