Summer - Part 2: NY

Besides my trip to London, I also had a lot of fun in the United States this summer.

Early in the summer, my friends Tym and Tristan came to visit me. Sam came up from D.C. that same weekend, so we all got to explore the city together. The first evening they were in town, Tym, Tristan and I (since Sam hadn't arrived yet) went downtown and saw the World Trade Center site and the New York Stock Exchange. It was a bit warm, and we all felt like stopping for a drink. Luckily, we happened upon Stone Street, which I'd never heard of or seen before. I felt like I was back in Belgium. The entire street was filled with cafe tables full of people drinking beer, smoking and laughing. Though these were mostly investment bankers instead of the students I was used to in Belgium, it was a nice reminder of the fun times I had not so long ago.
After stopping for a beer, we went down to Battery Park for some beautiful views of the Statue of Liberty. Then we headed back toward the village, stopping in Soho at my favorite Cuban place on the way. Sam got in kind of late, not a surprise since he took the Chinatown bus. We all stayed up late chatting, but tried to get up early the next day anyway.

Still a little bleary eyed, we went to breakfast at Grey Dog before heading uptown to Central Park and the Metropolitan museum of Art. In case you haven't picked it up by now, I'm really an art lover. The Met, along with the Louvre in Paris and the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, is certainly one of the greatest museums in the world. It's really too big to see in one day, but it didn't stop me from trying. Sam can't stomach hours upon hours at a museum, and Tym and Tristan wanted to spend some of their time doing other things, so I got to spend less time there than I would have liked. I had been before and knew I was going later in the summer though, so I didn't worry too much about it.

The museum does have one sculpture by Canova, Perseus with the Head of Medusa. The statue, pictured below, really amazes me. That Canova could get the arm to extend so far out from the support of the body without breaking the marble is incredible. He had to hollow out Medusa's head to make it light enough not to break, and the cape, which looks like it's pulling the arm down, is actually acting as a support for the weight.

My favorite American sculptor also has a lot of work on display. I think the Angel of Death and the Sculptor is the best work of his I have seen. The statue was a commission from another American sculptor in honor of his brother, who died while carving a funeral monument. The contrast between the almost two-dimensional sphinx and the very three-dimensional Death stopping the sculptors hand always seemed very powerful to me, as though the sculptor's work is suddenly part of a different world.

After a quick visit to Grand Central Station and Times Square, we headed back home for a much needed rest. Sam and my mandatory Times Square shot is below.

For dinner, we went to John's Pizzeria, which is allegedly the best in the city. Then we went to a comedy night that a friend of Sam's hosts. Unfortunately, including the four of us, there were only six people in the audience. Two of them bailed out before the show was half over, leaving Sam, Tym, Tristan and I to try and laugh hard enough to not offend the comedians. When the room is that empty, they can tell who's laughing. By the end, the last comedian was asking only half joking, if he could pay us to leave. The sad part was that the comedy was, for the most part, quite good. The lack of an audience wasn't very conducive to big laughs though.

The next morning Tym and Tristan had to head to the airport, and that afternoon Sam took the bus back to Washington, D.C.. It was nice having everyone come visit, though I think I was cleaning the apartment for the next three days. Four people make a lot more messes than me alone.

Unfortunately, I've got to get to bed, so it looks like I'll have to post the next part of the Summer series later. Next time: my trips to Washington D.C.