A weekend in NYC

This weekend I spent some time in New York City, to not only see great things, but eat great things.  In short, it was a success, but keep reading for more details.  The long version.

Laduree 

New York city never stops rushing around and moving.  I found myself overwhelmed quite a few times, luckily escaping the bustle south of Central Park towards Laduree.  This was the first essential stop coming off of the bus, of course, en route to the Guggenheim.  Normally my favorite flavor of fine treats tend to be citron or lemon, but raspberry(pink one) won me over.

The Guggenheim was amazing!  The building itself is the reason I wanted to go, but wow, the exhibit was entrancing.  Maurizio Cattelan's (more here) work felt to me like some eerie yet intriguing incident I couldn't take my eyes off of.  Reminiscent of his past, " early experiences instilled in him an abiding mistrust of authority and a disdain for the drudgery of labor that haunts much of his early production,"  I could see the darkness in each piece, but each piece crafted with infinite detail.  That's a real taxidermied horse, people!

Inside the Guggenheim

The weather was an unimaginable 62 degrees, crazy!  I snaked through Central Park  (eventually)  and made my way to the Upper West Side Momofuku.  On the way we met some people who suggested the pork roll! I was actually going to get a cookie, but was too hungry and curious to pass up pork!

Momofuku Pork Roll (My first one!)

I took a ton of pictures, currently sitting in a canister at the bottom of my still packed bag.  Hopefully I'm not too lazy about getting them developed.  After Momofuku I seriously needed a coffee!  By the time I made it to the hotel, then Brooklyn, then Blue Bottle, it was closed.  Major effffff!  Any way, dinner time was near and we ended up at Fiore. 

Fiore was delightful, especially since I rarely go out for Italian food.  I actually never consider it.  I think it was good for me, realizing another type of food for dinner besides a fatty burger.  However, I still want to go back for this at Burnside, one of the many places I had too little time to go to.
After a night of playing skee-ball at Full Circle Bar, having cheese puffs and playing Big Buck Hunter and Erotic search/find, we made our way back to Manhattan...at an apparently early 2:30am.  Early as in "the night is still young."  Pfft, I am still recovering.

Next morning, tired and hungry.  We needed coffee and everywhere friends suggested were pretty far from our hotel.  We decided to head to Brooklyn and go to Blue Bottle.  This was one of the MANY places on our list to go to.  We also missed out on Cafe Grumpy, Ports and a few others.

Cappuccino and a ginger molasses cookie-Blue Bottle 

This was just to tide me over until the brunch scheduled at 12:30.  I was so hungry!  Next we made our way north of McCrossen Park to Manhattan Inn.  The restaurant was wedged between other little shops.  It was very cute, charming and not very crowded.  There was a piano player just a few feet from my table, where I ended up sitting for two hours.  For some reason our service was terrible.  Really, it was bad.  The food was really good, but overshadowed by the service.  Is that bitchy of me to say?  Whatever!

Manhattan Inn

Overall the weekend went well and the weather was amazing.  I missed a lot of things on my to-do list, but it was a very long list.  Call me ambitious.  Next time I want to spend hours at the MET and go to the New Museum hopefully not getting an ear infection--don't go in that salt bath people.

I'm done with city trips for awhile and I say that sitting at my desk in Philadelphia.  Really though, I want wild wilderness and mountain biking.  Hiking, running and fresh air.  I think NYC made me like Philadelphia a lot more, because some of you know, it can bring you down now and then.  Philadelphia is much slower.  I need slower these days.

Film is coming...