Sharing secrets with pal and former president Teddy Roosevelt.
We took a red eye flight from Portland Thursday night, and arrived in NY on Friday morning at 7am. We grabbed a Lyft from JFK and headed to my pal Bradley "Timberlake" Eckerson's apartment in Long Island. No rest for the weary - from then on it was a whirlwind of fun!
Happy people on their way to breakfast sandwiches
The three of us went to Rockefeller center, and because of our really really really ridiculously good looks, got asked to host a mini episode of the Today show!
Ok maybe not an "official" episode.
Notice the snow.
Afterwards we went to the Museum of Natural History, where we proceeded to get our minds blown by ludicrously giant dinosaur skeletons and the absolutely superb yet terrifying Deep Space show at the Hayden Planetarium, narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson. We also took a rest lying down underneath the giant blue whale, which I highly recommend as it is incredibly relaxing.
We then went to Central Park, which was a snowy beautiful wonderland.
At this point Brad left us for something presumably way less fun, and Hannah and I went in search of a bathroom. We were walking by the Museum of Modern Art and decided to go in to see if they had public bathrooms, when lo and behold it happened to be free Friday night at the museum! We wandered around looking at the art, and found two Van Gogh pieces - my favorite artist. There was a crowd around Starry Night and I eventually got to the front and stared at it for awhile. It is such an incredible feeling to be so close, and it made me unexpectedly emotional. I didn't take a photo, instead I spent my time with the painting soaking it in with my eyeballs. In fact the only photo I did take at the MoMA was of a painting that reminded me of my late grandmother, Diana Powloski (aka "OS"). It was appropriately titled "Portrait of My Mother" and was painted in 1925, the year OS was born.
Finally it was dinner time. We got DELICIOUS halal from the Halal Guys (the real one - there are many copycats!), and sat on the steps of the Charles Schwab building to eat it. We poured copious amounts of tasty white sauce on our halal (some kind of creamy garlic sauce), and I made the mistake of also pouring copious amounts of red sauce, which was so spicy it made my head sweat. Overall, A++ dinner.
Once we were full to the brim, we headed off to meet back up with Brad, his girlfriend Natalie, and a few of their friends for an off-Broadway play. Unfortunately my google maps tried to sabotage me and led us to the Yale Club instead, where we most definitely did not belong. Finally we found the correct location - the Electra theater - and even got to catch a glimpse of Times Square on the way. Holy guacamole it was bright and amazing!
We got to the theater with just a few minutes to spare. The play was called "Puffs", and was basically all seven books of the Harry Potter series, told from the Hufflepuff's perspective. It was absolutely hysterical. The acting was wonderful and I could not stop laughing.
And the rest is history - I don't even have any pictures from the end of the night. We went to a bar nearby called Rum Room that had a speakeasy vibe and a live band, and then walked over to another bar called Lillie's where we drank outrageously expensive tequila shots and bourbon cocktails made with - I kid you not - essence of roasted cedar plank.
To sum up: pretty top notch first day in NYC!!
Finally it was dinner time. We got DELICIOUS halal from the Halal Guys (the real one - there are many copycats!), and sat on the steps of the Charles Schwab building to eat it. We poured copious amounts of tasty white sauce on our halal (some kind of creamy garlic sauce), and I made the mistake of also pouring copious amounts of red sauce, which was so spicy it made my head sweat. Overall, A++ dinner.
Two of life's greatest treasures in one photo!
Once we were full to the brim, we headed off to meet back up with Brad, his girlfriend Natalie, and a few of their friends for an off-Broadway play. Unfortunately my google maps tried to sabotage me and led us to the Yale Club instead, where we most definitely did not belong. Finally we found the correct location - the Electra theater - and even got to catch a glimpse of Times Square on the way. Holy guacamole it was bright and amazing!
We got to the theater with just a few minutes to spare. The play was called "Puffs", and was basically all seven books of the Harry Potter series, told from the Hufflepuff's perspective. It was absolutely hysterical. The acting was wonderful and I could not stop laughing.
And the rest is history - I don't even have any pictures from the end of the night. We went to a bar nearby called Rum Room that had a speakeasy vibe and a live band, and then walked over to another bar called Lillie's where we drank outrageously expensive tequila shots and bourbon cocktails made with - I kid you not - essence of roasted cedar plank.
To sum up: pretty top notch first day in NYC!!
That portrait does look like OS! I wonder if she knew of it?
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