I heart NY

So this is the Big Apple, Gotham City, site of 911.

Spent the first day at the Met... was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of art. After 2 hours we were ready to drop but we'd only covered half the museum! So we lunched at like 4pm and persevered til 7pm... whereupon we staggered back to the hotel. Felt so great to be seeing all those famous pieces up close… can’t say I understood the meanings behind many of the paintings, but I feel my concept of art, or rather what art is, has been seriously altered or expanded.

We got off to a slow start the second day (having slept, or lazed, in bed til like 9) and then explored the Greenwich Village/ Tribeca region. It's very small and cool of quirky shops (we decided there were 3 kinds - tourist shops, liquor shops and sex shops!)... only problem was the miserable rain which refused to stop for most of the time we were out.

You could SO tell when we hit Chinatown cos we started seeing a whole lot more Asian faces! After bashing through the crowds, we ate at Nonya, a restaurant serving M'sian cuisine... food was good but service wasn't. And the waitress had the nerve to ask us for more tips!!! But yeah I am officially boycotting that place.

Also Dolly's brother brought us around East Village and SoHo, where we windowshopped some, and then we walked around all the way back to the hotel... I've walked a lot today! hooray.

Landmarks:
Coyote Ugly - bar/ pub from the movie. quite dismal and nondescript really.
Strand Bookstore - 18 miles of books! whee

All in all, quite an interesting couple of days. I'm relaxing and soaking in the urban atmosphere, getting to know my friends better, and we're finally getting the hang of the NY subway... the original MRT!! This city is not as unsafely or unfriendly as I expected. Still, I'm finding NY a bit too... metropolitan. As I told sh, I've sold my heart to Chicago :) I miss Hyde Park, the less imposing Michigan Ave sidewalks and buildings, the Reggers (tho not the Reg!) and all my KA Sporean friends...

But you know what? I still miss home the most.