Wednesday, March 3rd BLOG

{Note: The bar in Alphabet City that Sara and I went to Tuesday night is called, Lakeside Lounge.)

I was getting ready to blog about my day last night but fell asleep. I blame it on Sara’s cocoon-like bed, my Blackberry (which was loading something at the time), canned beer, and half a sandwich of delectable pastrami on rye.

I woke up just in time Wednesday morning to catch Sara getting ready to go to work, we had talked the night before about going into the subway together so she could point me in the direction of where I wanted to go.

We walked together to the E. 14 Street-Union Square subway entrance (about a 10 min. or less walk), all the while getting attacked by mini snowflakes that had somewhere to be- typical NY. It was exciting to experience that, being a California girl, the only thing that pelts you and comes from above is bird crap or boring rain.

By the time Sara and I got to the subway station we were sporting bedazzled-by-snowflakes fashion. I bought a 7-Day Unlimited (subway and local bus rides) Ride MetroCard and we sardined into a “6″ Express headed uptown. I got to re-live my Paris Metro days and even got to subway surf (when you ride the car without holding on to anything). Sara got off at her stop and I took it to E 86 Street and Lexington Ave in the luxe Upper East Side.

From there I walked 3 blocks west towards the ultra posh Fifth Avenue and the east side of snow covered Central Park and turned left to continue about 4 blocks south on Fifth Ave towards The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Fifth Avenue is exactly like how it is portrayed on TV- umbrella awnings in front of building entrances with nice, doormen in uniforms, black limos and town cars with tinted windows and chauffeurs on stand-by… It seems that most, if not all, of the buildings on Fifth, as well as the smaller town house-like buildings that occupy the streets perpendicular to it for about a block, are residential.
I didn’t have to walk far down Fifth Avenue to see The Metropolitan; the tan building with its signature columns and steps is nestled in Central Park and Fifth Avenue. It was founded in 1870 by a group of artists and philanthropists and has the most comprehensive collection (coming from all continents) in the Western world with works dating from prehistoric times to the present.

I arrived at the museum early and had to wait around 30-45 minutes until they opened, which wasn’t too bad. I just people-watched, eavesdropped on some speaking in a different language (which isn’t really eavesdropping) and observed surroundings, the usual waiting-by-yourself things to do to pass the time. Lol.

I bought a CityPASS before leaving for NY and printed out an e-ticket. A CityPASS is a mini coupon-like booklet that holds tickets for major attractions, basically you pay for the booklet which gives you super discounted skip-the-line tickets, instead of having to wait in long lines and pay full price.

I went to the CityPASS counter at the museum lobby and exchanged my e-ticket for the booklet and was on my way. {Extra Info: The booklets can also be bought at the CityPASS locations within the city you’re visiting.}

Sara and Becca told me to start at the right of the museum to first check out a cool temple, so the first exhibit I went to was Egyptian Art. I got to see a burial tomb, mummies (people and animals), sarcophagus’ (sp?), pottery, jewelry, statues, tools, weapons…you name it, it’s there.

I didn’t have a plan of attack when I got to the museum; I figured I’d spend a minute or less looking at each thing and walk through all the galleries by the time they closed (5:15)- which is impossible!

After 2/2.5 hours, I noticed that I was still in Egyptian Art (and not even close to seeing half of the collection in that gallery), I decided to move upstairs and work my way down to the 1st floor.

I made my way towards the Great Hall staircase and around the GH balcony looking at the Central Asian Art and Asian Art galleries before heading to European Paintings. EP has a big collection; I spent 2.5/3 hours in there. I started off looking at each painting and reading the information cards next to them. As the hours went by, I had to skip reading some of the information cards and just look at the paintings. To name some of the artists in that collection: Vigee Le Brun’s “Madame Grand”, Greuze’s “A Young Peasant Boy”, David’s “The Death of Socrates”, Memling, Christus, van Eyck, Isenbrant, Patinir, van Wassenhove, Reni, van Ruysdeal, Rembrandt’s “Self Portrait”, Vermeer’s “Study of a Young Woman” similar to “Girl with the Pearl Earrings”, Bellini’s “Madonna and Child”…

After seeing how much time had passed and how much there is within one gallery, not to mention walking through the confusing gallery layouts, I was overwhelmed. The thought of not being able to see everything in the museum hit me. I had 3.5/4 hours until closing, so I decided to devote the next few hours to the stuff I couldn’t leave the Metropolitan without seeing.

I strolled through the Drawing, Prints, and Photographs gallery and saw works by Matisse, Warhol, and Lange. From there I went to 19th and Early 20th Century European Paintings and Sculpture. There I saw works by Van Gogh, Seurat, Matisse, Picasso, Klimt, Boldini, Sargent, Mucha, Renoir, Cezanne, Monet, Degas, Manet…This was the most confusing gallery layout, especially in a time crunch, so I had to go around a lot to make sure I saw everything. I’ve never seen so much artwork from celebrated artists; I was awe struck.

After that, I headed to the Modern Art gallery where I saw a huge shark in a formaldehyde tank, artwork by Pollock, Warhol, and Rothko, to name a few.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is HUGE and they have a COLOSSAL collection of works and artifacts. It’s definitely a must-see in visiting NY. Walking around, in between galleries, I got to pop in and see parts of other galleries (and also got lost a couple of times; it is a maze in there). Sadly, I never got to see the temple that S and B recommended, but I did get to see all the art work I didn’t want to miss seeing. Overall it was a lot of standing in awe, face inches close to great works of art. Random thought: It was interesting to see the tourguides so ecstatic about the art. I loved that!

At exactly 5:15 PM, all the guards and security hustled us out of the museum. They were strict about closing time; they definitely gave us the bum’s rush- roped off all the galleries and closed the gift shops, yelling, “The museum has now closed. Please proceed to the Great Hall!” There were workers standing in the galleries, hallways, corners, closets making sure they herded you out the doors.

After I left the museum (and took pictures in front of it), I decided to go to the 77 Street and Lexington subway station and take the 6 local back downtown to Union Square. I’m totally getting the hang of it. From there I meandered back to the apartment (our proposed meeting spot before dinner). Becca was already home with Godiva, yum! I didn’t eat the whole day (didn’t want it to cut into my seeing the collections at the museum), so I drank a glass of OJ and had some donut holes for a little bit of energy.

We met up with Sara on our way down the stairs and walked to Katz’s Delicatessen (passed by Coyote Ugly which was not at all how I expected it to look like, Sara said it smells like beer and vomit inside…or was it sweat(?)…well, whatever it is, that’s a nasty combination…) which I learned about through watching “When Harry Met Sally” [when Sally (Meg Ryan) was doing fake orgasms to Harry (Billy Crystal)] when they were eating pastrami on rye and through Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” website. There are pictures on his site and Yelp that are mouth watering, check it out.

The deli has been a fixture in the Lower East Side for over 100 years. It’s diner-like; the food preparation is on one side of the wall behind a counter and the tables are in the middle and the other side of the room. Their menu is on the wall behind the counter and you can order your food to eat there or to go. It was fairly busy. When we were there, they had three ununiformed lines to give your order to the deli guys. They take/make your order (they gave all the people ordering pastrami some slices to occupy their time while they wait for their food) and also give you complimentary pickles (regular or cucumber). You have to hand them the pink stub you got when you entered and they put down the price of your order. When you leave, you pay it at the register by the door.

While Sara and I ordered our food, Becca saved a table for us. After I got my pastrami on rye with mustard and a plate of cucumber pickles (Sara and Becca got knishes [soft dough shells filled with onion/broccoli(?) mashed potatoes and regular pickles]) we all chowed down.

The Pastrami on Rye was SO GOOD! It’s not at all like the pastrami sandwiches I know of in which the meat is thin and processed. The pastrami there was similar to Ham (Honey Bake) or Corned Beef (not canned) is. Again, the serving portion was huge, so I had leftovers. Sara let me try her knishe(sp?) and it was tasty too. It’s kind of like a big gnocci but with flavor. The sour pickles were good, the cucumber one had no taste.

Towards the end of dinner, Sara noticed a round sign above our heads. It said, “Where Harry Met Sally…Hope You Have What She Had! Enjoy!” and a red arrow pointing down at our table. It was definitely a great surprise and it made my experience at Katz’s even more perfect.

After dinner, we walked back to East Village to Scratcher’s, a chill, dimly lit, underground bar that had good music in East Village. It had tres cool atmosphere. I had Pabst Blue Ribbon beer again (PBR, for short…this time in cans, lol, which is different); they’re only $3! It was a great end to a long, busy day, especially after the museum. I was frazzled, Sara called it, “museum coma”. Anyway, we got back to the apt. and passed out.