Category: Food

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today Bay and I visited a couple amazing places, but before I get into that, I have to mention breakfast. 😀 We went to a cozy little restaurant down the block called Jack’s Wife Freda. Bay had the chicken sandwich with fries, and I got the Green Shakshuka. They were both yummy! A great start to the day.

Next, it was time to hop on the subway, but first we had to charge up our MetroCards. Our 7-day unlimited passes expired so now we have to be a little more thoughtful about our subway travels. At $2.75 per ride, it’s still a great deal since you just pay once and can get off on any stop.

The first major highlight of the day was the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA. We immediately headed up to the 5th floor and were greeted with Brancusi’s amazing sculptures. I love Bird in Space and it was so neat to see two versions of it in the same room.

Soon after that, we were blown away by the collection of paintings from Picasso, Cézanne, de Chirico, Leger, etc. And while most of the people were enamored with Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, I was staring at one of my favorite paintings, I and the Village by Marc Chagall. I’ve loved that painting ever since high school so I was floored to see it in person.

The Monets also were amazing, especially Water Lillies. I could stare at those for hours.

I also enjoyed the Matisse paintings. Fantastic! Every time I saw one of the paintings that I studied about in Art History classes, it was like seeing a celebrity in person. Really fun!

And of course, the Van Gogh paintings were amazing. The Starry Night is wonderful, but I love Olive Trees even more. The brushwork is incredible!

I truly love many of the paintings in the MoMA collection, but then there are ones that I just don’t care for. Take this one, for instance:

One thing that really bothered me was that I saw people touching paintings, not once, but twice! I love looking at paintings close up to see the detail without a glass barrier, but they really need to guard those paintings that aren’t behind glass a little more closely. It sucks that people poke the paintings with their oily fingers. 😡

After MoMA, we headed uptown to Columbia to catch the campus information session and tour. The campus is impressive and because it’s in the city, it’s very attractive. I think it would be a dream school for many students… living and studying in Manhattan.

I’ve talked to a few parents whose kids are in college and they all said that campus visits are very important. One school might look perfect on paper (and from the brochure/website) but once you visit, you might realize it’s not for you. I’m thinking that this is kind of what Cornell is for Bay. But since it’s the #1 Architecture school in the country, that will have some sway. On the other hand, Bay loves the city, so Columbia is probably his favorite so far.

After the campus visit, we grabbed a quick dinner, then went to Times Square to buy a couple souvenir t-shirts (buy them from the street vendors, not inside the store) before heading back to our Airbnb in SoHo. It was getting late but we went for coffee at the nearby Starbucks and while Bay read his book, I worked on the blog. And I love this motto on the wall:

When we left the coffee shop we got to see the fire department in action. Not sure what was going on, but those sirens are LOUD!

Another long day, but again, a fun one! Our NYC trip is coming to a close soon, which is good because I am starting to miss home!

またね～

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