Saturday in a nutshell:
- Had a delicious brunch in Sarabeth's, a cafe on the south side of Central Park
- Little dander around Central Park
- The Met
- Walked across and up the park to The Cathedral Church of St John the Divine
- Walked back to our hotel via the American Museum of Natural History
- Walked across the road from our hotel for some pizza because we were too exhausted to walk further
I had the lemon and ricotta pancakes which were ok, Chris had eggs benedict. Pretty tasty food but I made the mistake of ordering English Breakfast Tea. It was unrecognisable as tea and not enjoyable at all. Next time I'll stick to coffee, which the Americans seem to do reasonably well.
As we learned in yesterday's bus tour, there are 9000 benches in central park and we found a couple to perch on.
Apparently there are 24000 trees in there too.
There was a body of water on the east side of the park where people were sailing little boats with electric sails. I'm pretty sure that I've seen this in a movie but cannot remember which one.
Also by this body of water, was a story telling group called 'Hans Christian Anderson Storytelling' or something which apparently happens every Saturday at 11am. There was a fantastic woman telling a story to a group of assembled kids, parents and random bystanders (including us) and we stayed to listen to one which was entitled 'The Story of Maybella the Mouse'.
Once upon a time there was a little mouse called Maybella. Now Maybella lived happily with her mother and father in their mouse home, and her parents strove to make sure that she was happy and safe. Her father was a wise mouse and he taught her the following rules.
1. 'Maybella', he said. 'When you are out and about make sure that you open your EARS and LISTEN.'
2. 'Maybella, when you are out and about make sure that you open your EYES and LOOK AROUND YOU.'
3. 'Maybella, always act fast and think fast.'
And so Maybella grew up
Man, this was amazing. I am a HUGE Van Gogh fan and have been to la musee d'orsay, which has a whole room dedicated to the guy, more times than I can count.
A few pics that stood out:
Van Gogh:
Monet:
Apparently this is the biggest cathedral in the world and, after my visit, I can believe it. It's beautiful - with gorgeous, high stained-glass windows. It was my first time in a non-Catholic cathedral (I think) and it was interesting to compare. They had only one small stand of votive candles and far fewer statues. I think I spotted only one Jesus-on-the-cross up by the alter.
They had some beautiful decorative pieces that had been gifted by various royalty, including two very ornate Japanese vases and two cabinets from the King of Siam which had taken 8 months to produce.
My favourite thing about the cathedral was that they had a special exhibition, in the form of a collection of quotations and photographs, celebrating the 80th birthday of the Dalai Lama. I thought it was wonderfully progressive and a true sign of tolerance and peace that a Christian church would hold that kind of display.
Some of pictures from inside the church:
This rock:
is apparently 4556 billion years old.
Now have some big cats:
Thought for the day: We could really use a selfie stick.
- Had a delicious brunch in Sarabeth's, a cafe on the south side of Central Park
- Little dander around Central Park
- The Met
- Walked across and up the park to The Cathedral Church of St John the Divine
- Walked back to our hotel via the American Museum of Natural History
- Walked across the road from our hotel for some pizza because we were too exhausted to walk further
1. Brunch in Sarabeth's
I had the lemon and ricotta pancakes which were ok, Chris had eggs benedict. Pretty tasty food but I made the mistake of ordering English Breakfast Tea. It was unrecognisable as tea and not enjoyable at all. Next time I'll stick to coffee, which the Americans seem to do reasonably well.
 |
| Fast forward about 20 minutes and this plate was empty! |
2. Walk in Central Park
As we learned in yesterday's bus tour, there are 9000 benches in central park and we found a couple to perch on.
Apparently there are 24000 trees in there too.
 |
| Weird to think that this park is man made, ie someone decided that that rock should go there... |
 |
| Beautiful trees and skyscrapers |
Also by this body of water, was a story telling group called 'Hans Christian Anderson Storytelling' or something which apparently happens every Saturday at 11am. There was a fantastic woman telling a story to a group of assembled kids, parents and random bystanders (including us) and we stayed to listen to one which was entitled 'The Story of Maybella the Mouse'.
Once upon a time there was a little mouse called Maybella. Now Maybella lived happily with her mother and father in their mouse home, and her parents strove to make sure that she was happy and safe. Her father was a wise mouse and he taught her the following rules.
1. 'Maybella', he said. 'When you are out and about make sure that you open your EARS and LISTEN.'
2. 'Maybella, when you are out and about make sure that you open your EYES and LOOK AROUND YOU.'
3. 'Maybella, always act fast and think fast.'
And so Maybella grew up
2.2 Cleopatra's Needle
 |
| Cleopatra's needle (it's straight in real life, Chris's panorama set it slightly askew) |
3. The Met
Man, this was amazing. I am a HUGE Van Gogh fan and have been to la musee d'orsay, which has a whole room dedicated to the guy, more times than I can count.
 |
| Chris outside the Met |
A few pics that stood out:
 |
| I think this one was buy a Polish artist. It's ~160 (though fewer in this display) pictures of Nazis in film. The point of it is to show how we can only attempt to understand the horror of what happened when it's presented to us neatly in a fictionalised format. |
Van Gogh:
 |
| Probably my favourite Van Gogh ever |
Monet:
There was this artist who had gone around the world (5 continents, 37 countries) taking pictures of buildings. From these images, he made a gorgeous slideshow displayed on two enormous screens. Chris and I sat in this exhibition for about 15 minutes before some rowdy Americans came in and drove us away. Chris in particular was mesmerised.
Good old Andy Warhol, enriching the world with his art:
 |
| Not exactly to my taste... |
One random one that caught my eye:
 |
| It's the kind of thing you can imagine people mocking and saying 'pfft so easy, they call this art' etc, but I think this is pretty clever. The shades are gorgeous and I like that it loops back to yellow. That said, I'm sure that I wouldn't pay whatever it was sold for... |
4. The Cathedral Church of St John the Divine
Apparently this is the biggest cathedral in the world and, after my visit, I can believe it. It's beautiful - with gorgeous, high stained-glass windows. It was my first time in a non-Catholic cathedral (I think) and it was interesting to compare. They had only one small stand of votive candles and far fewer statues. I think I spotted only one Jesus-on-the-cross up by the alter.
They had some beautiful decorative pieces that had been gifted by various royalty, including two very ornate Japanese vases and two cabinets from the King of Siam which had taken 8 months to produce.
My favourite thing about the cathedral was that they had a special exhibition, in the form of a collection of quotations and photographs, celebrating the 80th birthday of the Dalai Lama. I thought it was wonderfully progressive and a true sign of tolerance and peace that a Christian church would hold that kind of display.
Some of pictures from inside the church:
 |
 |
| Amen. |
5. American Museum of Natural History
This rock:
is apparently 4556 billion years old.
 |
| Yeowza |
Now have some big cats:
 |
| Meow. |
6. Quick drink and pizza
We crashed shortly after this.
Summary
Distance walked: 18.0 km, wore through a pair of socksThought for the day: We could really use a selfie stick.
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