Monday, February 4, 2013

Birthday and Tourism Overload (Days 2 & 3)


Saturday began with a walking tour of Central Park, or more specifically a foodie walking tour. We met our tour guide, Giovanni (from Better Adventures) just in front of the Museum of Natural History at 10:00 am. Of the 10 people who were supposed to be on this tour, we were the only two who showed up. Possibly because the temperature didn’t make it above 30. So, in addition to a much more personalized tour, more food for us!

Breakfast came first - tasty (and warm!) spinach/cheese and ham/cheese stuffed croissants from Zabar’s on the UWS. All of the food was brought along from Zabar’s and it was all amazingly delicious. I will be making a trip...or twenty. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed breakfast wasn’t the ever-famous New York bagel, but we remedied that the next day.

The walking tour was basically the entire south half of the park, from 81st all the way to the bottom, at 59th. Giovanni shared a wealth of information along the way, including some background as to why Central Park was created in the first place - to put it simply, all of the packed-full tenements of the time were producing crazies. And with the population exploding at the time, people took to hanging out in cemeteries as a way to get away from all the noise in the city. Not ideal. People need nature and open-air spaces in their lives, and so this refuge in the middle of Manhattan was created.

Shakespeare Garden
(all of the plants are mentioned somewhere in a work of Shakespeare)
Sundial / View of the city from Shakespeare Garden


Fun whispering bench
We came upon Belvedere Castle and, because our “group” was so small, got to go all the way to the top. From there, Giovanni pointed out all sorts of interesting things, including the Great Lawn where many a concert are held and the Delacorte Theater where Shakespeare in the Park is performed in the summer. Atop the castle, we dug into the rest of the food. It was Nora’s first experience with Jewish food and, judging on how much we managed to eat (3 of us eating food meant for 10), it won’t be her last. We stuffed ourselves with as many blintzes, knishes and latkes we could. It’s making me hungry just thinking about it, so I’ll move on.


Looking down on Belvedere Castle
Turtle Pond and the Great Lawn



We walked through The Ramble, which Giovanni explained to us is so wooded in the height of spring and summer that you can’t see any buildings through the trees. Obviously, people often get lost. Since we happened to be there in the dead of winter, we weren’t fooled to feeling like we were in the wilderness. Still, birds could be heard chirping incessantly and we even found what Giovanni thought was Pale Male (pronounced by him as Pall Mall), a Red-tailed Hawk that lives near the park. He is one of the first known one of them to have nested in a building rather than a tree and is famous for creating a little population of urban-dwelling Red-tailed Hawks.



Pale Male
Pale Male lives in a nest above the middle window on the top floor
(on 5th Ave, overlooking Central Park)
The landscape architects who designed Central Park originally intended for it to showcase nature with no sculptures and minimal buildings present. But, there did come a part of the tour where we stumbled upon sculpture after sculpture.
 

Alice in Wonderland
Me and the Ugly Duckling! (and Hans Christian Anderson)
Balto!
We also strolled past the Central Park Zoo and took a gander at the Delacorte Musical Clock and the seals. Right near there is the Arsenal, which is a building older than the park itself. It was originally used to store arms and ammunition and was, therefore, fireproof. Because it was fireproof, P.T. Barnham, who had lost several of his circus animals to fire, once used it to store the animals before the zoo became the zoo.

Leaving the zoo brought us to the southeast-most corner of the zoo, which is also one of the busiest entrances. So, we veered right and walked under the Inscope Arch, better known as the arch where Kevin meets the Pigeon Lady and escapes from the bad guys in Home Alone 2. It’s also where Nora and I got a cool picture.

This was all Giovanni's idea
Then we were at The Pond (full of soooo many ducks!) and the famous Wollman Rink, as we made our way to The Mall. The Mall is one of the more iconic areas of Central Park, and under nicer weather conditions, would have been a bit more picturesque. It was intended to be a “literary walk” lined with statues of great writers, but after the fourth statue was made much larger than the three that were already there, the architects got frustrated, put it somewhere else, and called the whole thing off. Those three statues are still there, at the beginning of the wide path.





The Mall, minus all the pretty leaves
At the end of The Mall is Bethesda Terrace and through that Bethesda Fountain, featured in the Disney movie Enchanted, among many others. The terrace has some interesting imagery on the outside, with an opposites theme of sorts. On the right side when you walk in (“in” in this case being towards the fountain from The Mall) is a rooster and a sunrise, signifying day; on the right side, an owl, witch and the moon represent night. Coming out of the terrace, more carvings depict different seasons. The fountain is probably one of the most well-known fountains in the world and is one of the largest in New York. The angel on the top of the fountain’s one arm is outstretched to bless the water. It commemorates when fresh water was first supplied to New York City in the mid-nineteenth century.




(Pardon my finger)
Fountain with the Boathouse in the distance
We headed further west towards the Bow Bridge, walked past a statue of Daniel Webster (the one that was too big for the literary walk that never was), and into Strawberry Fields. This area of the park is a living memorial to John Lennon, as he and his wife Yoko lived just across Central Park West in the Dakota and it was one of their favorite spots in the park. It was named after the Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever” following his assassination. Several countries donated their native plants to grow in the park, but because they weren’t native to New York or the United States, many of them didn’t last. The Italians, however, wisely donated the now famous Imagine mosaic that indicates the center of Strawberry Fields. And, two and a half hours later, that was the end of our Central Park walking tour with our super awesome tour guide Giovanni.

Bow Bridge (The Dakota is the building towards the left with green pointed roofs)
Central Park then (photo, held by Giovanni) and now

Giovanni!
Next on the agenda - the Museum of Art and Design. On the way, though, we stopped and got an oh-so-famous (and sub-par) hot dog from a street vendor. Is there a vendor somewhere that has really great hot dogs? Why are these such a big deal? At least it’s off the to-do list. We also stopped into the Time Warner Center, mainly for a warmth and a bathroom break, but we also ended up poking around Williams & Sonoma and eating a few yummy samples. We took another quick detour at Argo Tea for some warm beverages and then we made it to the museum.

I will admit I was a bit more excited about the museum going into it than I actually ended up being during the visit, but the exhibit that propelled me to want to go in the first place was pretty great. “The Art of Scent” explored twelve different scents from the 1800s to the present and how perfumes are created and how they were originally transformed by the addition of synthetic ingredients. It was more cool in the way it was presented - everyone had to go up to a large head-shaped indent in the wall, and while you hovered, some of the scent sprayed up from the bottom so you could smell it. Each scent was accompanied with a little description of its notes and creation.





We went to a literal hole-in-the-wall on the UWS, Sal & Carmine’s, for dinner. I found it on a list of Best Pizza in NYC on nycgo.com (one of my go-tos for NYC events and bests and whatnot), so I thought why not? Definitely not somewhere to go for the atmosphere, or manners really. The service was gruff and the selection minimal. I’m not sure if you’re able to request additional ingredients or not, but Mr. Grumpy (Sal? Carmine?) wasn’t really encouraging me to ask any questions. The pizza was good, but not even close to the best I’ve ever had. Next time Nora comes we’ll have to get her some better pizza.





My birthday celebration (officially, anyway) kicked off later that night. My roommate Steve, Nora and I headed down to the Financial District for a dueling pianos show at Brick NYC. Due to some unforeseen subway changes (remind me to download the app for that), we didn’t get there as early as we’d planned and sat a few tables back. Maybe that was best in the end because they were calling up anyone with a celebration to be had and, let’s be honest, I’m not one for public humiliation or displays or whatever they happen to be. The pianists were very entertaining and one, Brad, was especially nice. He had come around prior to the show and talked to us for a little while; his birthday was that day. Yay birthdays! By the end of the night, we’d abandoned our table all together and were dancing/jumping around and singing along with everyone else.





Surprise performance by various Broadway actors!

Having had two very full and exhausting days, and having not poured into bed until around 4am, we weren’t exactly chomping at the bit on Sunday morning, so we took the day a bit slower. I may sometimes disagree about New York pizza - I’ve had pizza here both good and bad and have had very good pizza in other parts of the country too - but I am wholeheartedly a fan of the New York bagel. Best in the world. So, naturally, Nora had to try one while she was here. We started the day with a trip to 72nd Street, which is apparently the closest place to my apartment to get a non-Dunkin Donuts bagel. It was worth it - very good bagels. And, bonus, they had black and whites (cookies), so my cousin got to try one of those too.

After some present opening and video chatting and then really rushed getting ready, we ventured back out into the city. We took the A down to 14th St and walked to Marble Lane on 16th St, where the three of us had reservations for lunch (more Restaurant Week). The ceiling decor was nifty, the booths were comfy, the music was totally random, and the portions were generous. It’s one of the few times I’ve been to a Restaurant Week meal in my life and have had leftovers. We all started with a Caesar salad. For the main course, Steve and I got a Kobe Patty Melt with fries (so good!), while Nora played it a little healthier and more elegant with edamame ravioli (also very good). Then, I tried to force myself to eat dessert, which was probably the biggest piece of cheesecake I’ve ever seen. I finished about half. The other two got Rocky Mountain Chocolate Cake which was served with some kind of gelato and had a caramel popcorn garnish.  

Marbles on the ceiling

Edamame Ravioli

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Cake

Huge Slice of (NY Style) Raspberry Cheesecake
As I write this, it seems like the day mainly revolved around food, but that’s okay. When we got back to the apartment after lunch, there wasn’t much time before the Super Bowl began. And, that was pretty much it - the rest of the day was relaxing with movies, TV and somehow even more eating. Not a bad way to wrap up my birthday weekend, I think. :)

It was obviously awesome having my cousin visit, but having someone visit who had never ever been here before was also a great excuse to play tourist to the extreme. Overall, a fabulous weekend and thanks so much to Nora for letting me drag her all over New York.

3 comments:

  1. Sounds like you two had an amazing Sunday and a lot of fun on your birthday too!! Have to agree about the pizza pictures that you posted - not the best. Next time take the train out to the island and visit Joann and Tony; you know that their pizza is awesome and so are the heroes (subs for all those unfamiliar with that term).
    Loved looking at all your pictures, keep 'em coming!! Looking forward to visiting with you soon.

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  2. Awesome weekend, nice company, good food, and a happy birthday. . . what else could you ask for - - - except a good game of Tripoly!!!!
    Great blog!
    thewaltzkid

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  3. Very interesting tour, and I didn't have to get off my seat. You aroused all of my senses, but I had lacked the good sense to join you on your trip. Good company and good surroundings - it just seems as though I was there. Thanks for making the tour come alive. Marvelous journalism skill.

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