11 steps

Listen to: Chicago - Sufjan Stevens

It's a strange thing, that on arriving in Des Moines after six days in New York, it almost feels like arriving home. Stranger still, I'm leaving this place in two weeks.

Here's the breakdown of interesting bits of New York - not many pictures not available, because a) I'm lazy, and b) I don't take good pictures.

i.

Chinatown while it's snowing feels like Malaysia - you get the roadside stalls selling veggies and souvenirs and snacks - and the shops selling seafood on ice with the smell and everything...and of course, the wet sidewalk and road splashing mud on your nice clean shoes. Good food though. Especially the egg tarts at Tai Pan Bakery. And Horlicks.

ii.

At the top of the Empire State Building at night, taking pictures while your fingers threaten to freeze in the cold wind. Looking over the pictures now, there are a few blurry ones. Pity.

iii.

The Statue of Liberty on the first day, and the obligatory pictures by the dozens. She's green, and she's huge, and yes there's nothing much else to see.

iv.

We found Jack Dawson in the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. He didn't die, people - he became a German and came to America. Hahahhaa.

v.

I found a knitted bicycle along Wall Street. Part of the guerilla knitting movement, haha.

vi.

Standing in front of Mark Rothko's paintings at the Museum of Modern Art, I was overwhelmed by a lack of awe. No, seriously. Modern art makes me laugh. Jackson Pollock wasn't too bad though - one of his paintings (forget the name) had thick splattered paint, rocky texture, and there were stuff embedded in the paint: coin, paint tube cover, nut, bolt, key, etc.

MoMA had some Monet paintings, some Gauguin, some Matisse...but on the whole, the Impressionist section wasn't as good as Chicago's Art Institute. It did have Picasso's Girl in the Mirror and van Gogh's Starry Night though.

vii.

Barbie is selling Edward Cullen dolls and the end of the world is next year in 2012.

viii.

Madame Tussaud's was pretty cool - Johnny Depp!!! Daniel Craig!!1!!!!!11! - and they put Jennifer Aniston in the same room as Brangelina. As in, across the room looking at the couple, with Jenny in the corner and Brangelina in a small little alcove of their own. Somebody doesn't like Jennifer.

ix.

Times Square: crowded, bright lights, shopping, people, cold.

x.

At the top of the Rockefeller Center, seeing the hotel that Serena van der Woodsen lives at in the Gossip Girl series. Central Park. The Metropolitan Museum of Art we couldn't get in because we forgot to check that it's closed on Mondays. NBC Studio at 30 Rockefeller.

xi.

I found this on the floor of MoMA. Do click to embiggen.