Monthly Archives: February 2012

NYC: Valentine’s Day Dinner at The National

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I had a very unromantic Valentine’s Day dinner with Debs and her work friend in New York. We had the Valentine’s prix fixe at The National, the restaurant in our hotel building. The red velvet cheesecake was a little strange, otherwise the food was good. We couldn’t even finish half the porterhouse steak though. It was huge!

cauliflower soup with caviar and lemon cream

porterhouse for two with arugula, creamy spinach & heirloom potatoes

chocolate tart with ginger caramel & cinnamon gelato

red velvet cheesecake with pecans & white chocolate sorbet

yoghurt panna cotta with pomegranate & grapefruit sorbet

 

The National
557 Lexington Ave (at 50th St)
New York, NY 10022 

NYC: FAO Schwarz

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I emerged from Central Park, found myself on 5th Ave and headed for FAO Schwarz, the legendary toy company. It was pretty amazing.

books being sold outdoors

what's the word on the street?

Apple: open 24/7 every day

gigantic stuffed animals in FAO Schwarz

schweetz for my sweet!

plush nerds

make your own muppet

in case you didn't get to see the real thing

morbid Barbie foosball

the Big piano

 

NYC: Central Park

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After the Guggenheim, I walked through Central Park for hours. I started at 89th St and made my way down to the exit at 59th. Central Park is so big and it’s so beautiful even in winter when most of the trees have no leaves.

the Reservoir

the Obelisk

Greywacke Arch

King Jagiello

Belvedere Castle

a bench

Strawberry Fields

Bow Bridge

Angel of Waters

Bethesda Terrace

Bandshell

bubble man

Jim Henson's bench

Shakespeare

Valentine's Day in Central Park

The Dairy

Wollman Rink

Gapstow Bridge

NYC: The Guggenheim

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The Guggenheim was in the midst of an installation when I visited and only the first 2 floors were open to visitors. So instead of using my CityPASS for that, I decided to buy a ticket (price reduced to $6 due to the installation) and save the pass for the Top of the Rock instead. I think the building is pretty cool and I wish I’d been able to walk all the way up on the ramp and back down again!

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street)
New York, NY 10128-0173

NYC: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

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After abandoning my place in (the very long) line the day before, I made it to the first ferry of the day at 9.30am for Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The weather could have been better but at least the queue was relatively short at that time.

Again, this was part of the CityPASS and consists of one ferry ride to and from Battery Park, with stops at Liberty Island and Ellis Island, and admission to Ellis Island Immigration Museum. If you don’t want to go to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, you can choose to do a Circle Line Cruise instead.

The Statue of Liberty is under renovation until October 2012 so there’s no entrance to the statue’s crown, pedestal, or museum. It was still nice to be able to get a close look at the famous Statue of Liberty. I enjoyed the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and I think the building has been restored very meaningfully.

the huddled masses on the ferry

Liberty Island

the Lady

waiting to board the ferry for Ellis Island

Ellis Island

the Great Hall

pictures of the conditions faced by immigrants

the restored Dormitory Room

comparing the past and present Great Hall

NYC: LOVE in New York and the Halal Guys

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I went to take a picture with the LOVE sculpture in NY to add to my collection of LOVE pictures. It’s located at 55th and 6th. After that, I went by the Halal Guys food stand at 53rd and 6th to pack lamb platters for dinner. Very yummy!

LOVE in New York

I ♥ NY!

Halal Guys

yummy lamb platter

 

NYC: MoMA

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The Museum of Modern Art is one of the attractions on the CityPASS as well and I went there to gawk at my favourite painting: Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

I have to confess that I’m not capable of appreciating certain types of modern art so some of the pieces left me very puzzled indeed.

MoMA

staring at Starry Night

Jackson Pollack - One: Number 31

Kichka's Breakfast 1

LBJ

fluorescent lights and metal fixtures = art?

36" by 36" removal from the wall = art?

special exhibition

Architecture and Design

participating in "Untitled" (Placebo)

group of figures in the Sculpture Garden

MoMA
11 West 53 St 
New York, NY 10019