Monday, July 20, 2009

NYC Volume 3: The Entertainment




We have had a lot of fun these past few days going to different events around the city. The first was last Wednesday when we went to Brooklyn for the Philharmonic in the Park! I particularly enjoyed it because when we went into the park, it felt like we had completely left the city. You couldn't see any buildings, just trees and fields and it was really pretty. Actually, Mark and I both agreed that it reminded us of Barton Springs in Austin, a park we've gone to a few times together. It was refreshing to sort of get away from the city, especially for me because I do a lot of walking around Manhattan while Mark is at work. We got to the concert pretty early to get a good spot, set our blanket out on the grass and started to get our picnic out, when we saw some people we knew! Remember, there were thousands of people already there and Mark and I know about 6 people in the entire city, so this was quite a coincidence. It was a couple from our small group, so we went to say hi and ended up sitting with them and a big group they were with. Mark signed us up for a small group through the church we're going to here, Redeemer Presbyterian, before we got married and we really love it. We have met some wonderful people and it has been such a blessing to us! The Philharmonic was incredible, it was such beautiful music and it was a perfect night outside.

One of the downsides to these free concerts and stuff we've been going to is that they always seem to have a major shortage of bathrooms, and at intermission, I really had to go. So, Mark came with me to find about 50 people waiting in line for 3 bathrooms. Yikes! After seriously contemplating going in the woods, we decided to stick it out and wait in the line. We ended up standing behind these three women that Mark so perfectly described as "Marge Simpson's sisters." They had thick New York accents and deep, raspy voices and were pretty hilarious to listen to. It definitely made waiting in line a little easier. At the end of the concert, there were fireworks which were awesome and made a great ending to a fun evening!
The next night, we saw a band that was the complete opposite of the Philharmonic. The band was called "Man Man" and the description we came up with for the concert was a "Rock Circus." Mark said it was like they were playing 5 different songs at the same time. I don't think I've been to a concert that made me laugh like that. It was chaos, but a planned chaos where they all stopped and started at the same time. They were yelling and jumping and throwing feathers and I really don't know how to put it all into words. The picture above really doesn't do it justice. It was something fun and out of the ordinary for us, and Mark said a lot of people in his field listen to that type of thing, so it was fun for him to get to know it a little better.

On Friday, we met a friend from our church for dinner at a delicious sushi place and then went to the Morgan Museum which was free that night. The museum is made up of JP Morgan's collection of famous art and other amazing things like Beethoven and Mozart manuscripts and an original Gutenberg Bible. It was pretty crazy how much stuff Morgan had acquired over his lifetime, he had the biggest personal library I've ever seen! It reminded me of Beauty and the Beast, complete with different levels of books that you'd have to use a ladder to get to. Plus, the security guy told us that one of the shelves was a secret passageway, which completed the whole "Batcave" effect. It was a pretty fascinating sight.

On Saturday, Mark and I walked through Morningside Park, a beautiful park just north of Central Park to "Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too," one of the best soulfood places I've ever been. Then, we went down to lower Manhattan and walked around the Fulton Fish Market which felt more like Seattle than New York. We visited the TKTS booth, which is where you get discount tickets for shows in the city and got tickets to "Stomp" for that night. It was such an amazing show! They went for almost 2 hours straight, playing everything from toilet plungers to matchbooks and inner-tubes. They swung from the ceilings and beat on trashcan lids and pots, and even just made rhythms with their hands and feet. We liked it a lot!

By Sunday, we were pretty exhausted, so we just walked around the city after church for a while and ate at a fun diner on the East Side. We did make a stop into the Apple Store though, which is constantly packed with people. That's all for now!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers