New York: Day 5

My last day in this wonderful city.

As per usual, Mara and I got going late morning.  We were surprised with this view upon exiting her dorm - apparently, it had snowed overnight.

Everything was covered in this light layer of snow - so, as a California girl whose only winter in New York three years ago was a relatively mild one, I was gawking and snapping photos everywhere we went.  Everything looked so enchanted and magical.  It was, obviously, quite cold, but I didn't care because everything was so beautiful.

We went to Pie for lunch, crossing off the last food-related item on my to-do-in-New-York list.  Pie is a thin-crust pay-by-the-pound pizza place on 4th Avenue, just south of Union Square, and during freshman year we came for lunch every Friday.  We got to know the owner quite well, and he came in and saw us and recognized me and Mara!  I couldn't believe he remembered me - he noticed I'd chopped off my hair, remembered meeting my parents, and came in with a, "hey, it's just like old times, the gang is back!" (It was just me, Mara, and Joel who were able to come, but back then it had been our entire floor).  His name is Jeff, and he used to tell us many stories, such as being a small child living in Miles Davis's building and seeing him on the elevator.  It was the first time I'd gotten to see Joel, and he wound up being the only one of the three guys from our friends I ever got the chance to see while I was out there this trip.  Mara's boyfriend Zach was there too but Jeff didn't know him.

Pizza selections at Pie

My lunch

L-R Me, Joel, Mara, Zach

After Pie, Joel left, and Mara, Zach and I went up to the Met, where I'd planned to spend a lot of time with the things I'm learning in my ancient art history class this semester.  However, like I mentioned in the previous entry, the Met is large, intimidating, and crowded with tourists, and I got overwhelmed with the extensiveness of the exhibits - just the Egypt wings alone would have taken an entire weekend.  I only managed to find a couple things my professor had told me to find.  What I was most excited about - the Ancient Near East - was completely closed off, and so most of my artifact scavenger-hunt missions were foiled.   We went through some of the paintings and admired some Monet and Van Gogh, then found this chinese garden that's apparently difficult to locate, so at least I saw something new before I wanted to leave.  That museum is way to big to enjoy casually.  Fortunately, it is pay-as-you-wish, so I had again only given $2 entry and didn't feel like it was a big waste of money.

A view inside the Temple of Dendur, housed inside the Met

One of many, many rooms of Greek vases

Roman mosaic from Lod, Israel - Mara, who just spent a semester in Tel Aviv, has stood in the spot this was taken from.

All I could see of the Ancient Near East exhibit, which was closed off.

Haystacks - Monet

Mara and I in the Met's Chinese Garden

Upon leaving the Met, there was a cupcake cart parked strategically outside the front steps, and we fell to temptation and bought some.  I got a "whooziwhatsit" which had caramel and other deliciousness in it, and also a mocha coffee.

Brilliantly located cupcake cart

Cupcake and a mocha on a cold winter's day - brilliant.

We decided to walk through Central Park for a bit, since I was so enchanted with the snow covering everything.  I'll let the pictures do the talking for that.

Bridge, snow, and an Egyptian obelisk outside the Met (just to the right out of the shot).

Mara and I in Central Park.

Mara and Zach walking through the park.

The Conservatory Water, with Alice in Wonderland at the far end of the frozen pond.

Hans Christian Anderson statue by the Conservatory Water

Snow.

After a nice walk through the park, we got on the subway, and said goodbye to Zach (he had a different stop) before getting back to Mara's.  I finished getting things together, and she walked me to the subway I needed to take the airport, and we said goodbye.

A note about transportation to/from JFK: I always take the subway/airtrain combo.  The Airtrain connects all the terminals to the Sutphin Blvd. subway station, which services the J and E trains.  Each Airtrain ride is $5, and from there you figure out your subway fare (single fare is $2.25 now, but there are unlimited cards for set amounts of time as well).  This is far and away the best way in and out of Manhattan, provided you don't have too much luggage (getting on/off subways and through turnstyles being the major consideration).  Taxis run up to $80, with tax and tip and everything included, so if you are a single traveller it's obvious which is the better option.

So, I got on the subway and took the long ride on the J train to JFK airport.  The terminal was closed and I had to go around a sketchy back way to a different terminal, and my bag was enormously heavy (after getting inside I put all my coats in my bag since I was no longer going to be in New York weather), and my gate was a great distance away, so I was pretty miserable by the time I got to the gate, but I made my flight with plenty of time.

I was so sad to leave, but I had such a wonderful visit.  I'm going to be looking into the faculty and various music schools over the next while, because I'd forgotten how much I missed living in the city until this trip, and that seems like the most likely way I'll get to go back for at least 2 years (a potential Master's program).

Anyway, thank you all for reading.  If I don't update on a random Los Angeles adventure before, I will be back to this March 31, when my school's wind ensemble goes on a trip up the California coast.

P.S.  I took far more photos than I've been posting on this blog.  To see all photos from this New York trip, visit my Flickr album.