Crak had asked me ages ago if I wanted to become a tourist in the city & buy the citypass that offers you a huge savings to see major atractions. For 1/2 the price, you get to see the Guggenheim, the MOMA, the Museum of Natural History, the Intrepid, the Empire State Building, & take a 2-hour cruise on the CircleLine. The catch? It must be used within a 9-day period. That doesn't sound bad, but with conflicting schedules & time-restraints, it isn't easy either.
We agreed to start our adventure yesterday. We met at 10:30 in Penn & had planned on the Guggenheim, the Intrepid, and the Museum of Natural History. What we didn't really plan on was the 110-degree temps we were to battle for the day. I had eaten breakfast but it didn't feel that way to my stomach & I announced my arrival to her with the usual "I'm already hungry" which would plague me all day. We hopped a subway & headed up to 46th st. & then had to come back above ground to walk from 8th Ave to 12th & 48th. UGH~~~the heat! It was inescapable. The minute we walked out of Penn & into the subway area it hit. And was going to get worse. We walked (rather quickly) to the Intrepid & were pretty sticky already & it was barely 11:00.
It wasn't very crowded there & we did everything there was to see. We started with the Growler, a submarine used during WWII. We took the 15-minute tour & climbed through those small porthole doorways, almost cracking our heads on the top. We saw the missiles that were fired from this sub. We giggled all the way through it as well. What made me laugh the most was Crak exclaiming "We were underwater?!" We then headed back to sea-level & over to the exhibit that had the Concorde. I was in awe of this plane & so happy to be able to walk through it. What amazed me the most was how tiny this plane is in person. It was cool to walk up the stairs & be able to walk down the center aisle of the aircraft & see how the "other half" lived for a time.
Oh so hot! We were dripping by this point. Way too hot. And I am not exaggerating. We were soaked. And we were now on our way onto the actual Intrepid Aircraft Carrier. Very cool. We began at the lowest level--the galley. Leave it to us to start where there would have been food. We proceeded up to the midship level & looked at all of the exhibits there & head the history of various planes & military personnel. By the way~~did you know it was George Washington who began the traditional honoring of the Purple Heart? He had it made from a silk-like material & presented the first one in 1781. I was impressed that such a time-honored tradition is so old.
We even made our way up to the flight deck. There we saw the A-6 & one of the retired F-14s. However, this one was painted white with red & blue stripes. The ones I am used to are gray. And it's impressive to say that I saw the last flight (with my brother assisting the aircraft) just over a month ago. And here one is for people to see. So awesome.
EW! SO HOT! We walked out of the exhibit & back towards 50th & 8th. We had to stop along the way for lunch....remember me? Still hungry. We found some little lunch spot called Seattle ...something......and I had a very yummy california wrap & salad on the side. What made me oh so happy was that both had avocado in them. HEAVENLY! We sat & refreshed & breathed in the cool air-conditioned air until it was absolutely pushing the limits of time.
Back out into the scorcher & over to another HOT subway station & work our way to the Guggenheim. That's on 5th & 89th. ???????? Yeah. A completely different section of the city. Needless to say, we were still soaked when we entered but at least it was nice & cool in there. I have never been in this museum before & was so happy to finally see it. However, I am so shocked at how small it really is. I guess when you can get lost in so many of the others in Europe (that Crak & I have gotten lost in) this seemed too easy. We saw that new exhibit for Zada Hadid & I liked a couple of her images and was most impressed with the car she designed.
I was also happy to see the Jackson Pollock exhibit but it baffles me how one man can paint random colored lines & drippings on a page & then have multiple "untitled" ones hanging in a museum. I have a ton of things like that from art classes over the years & they aren't even hanging on my mother's refridgerator.
It was already 2:00 & I had to be home before 5 to meet my family for dinner. We were going out to celebrate my cousin's birthday. Another sweaty & disgusting ride on the subway got us back to Penn at 3:40. This is where Crak & I parted ways. She was headed to the CUNY grad center (so jealous) & I was headed to the nearest Starbucks before I got on my 3:55 train. I had to wait 10 minutes to get a greentea lemonade (worth it though) & then race over to the board & down the stairs with the other lemmings to fight for a seat on the train. I did get one (thankfully) and had a 45 minute ride home. I was so disgusting that I didn't want to sit in my car for fear of ruining the interior with the sweat that was going on. It was beyond gross. And I know this is all very tacky to share & so unlike me, but I am blaming it on the heatstroke I may have suffered.
I had a good time with Crak but we only finihsed two of the three exhibits we wanted to complete. This is a bit of a set-back. However, the woman who sold us the citypasses didn't record the date on the cover so we may be able to break out of that nine-day restriction rule. Good for us! We are hoping to go back in on Friday but with the threat of rain looming in the forcast, we shall see.
I love being a tourist in my own backyard.
