Ann & Anne

A couple of weekends ago I received my first official visitor-Ann! (my roommate senior year, for context). She took a chance coming in March, a month that can yield snow one day and beams of sweet sun the next. To our delight, it was sweet SWEET sun, all weekend long! In a city where you can't help but experience the weather as a part of your everyday life, you wouldn't believe how it can affect your mood!

Ann arrived by train at Penn Station Thursday evening in the absolute pinnacle of rush hour. I think the midtown subway traffic may have overwhelmed her a bit. Don't be fooled - seas of people can provoke just as much stress as can seas of cars, and having an oversized, overstuffed (a little overboard on the packing, Ann?) suite case trailing behind you doesn't make it any easier to navigate the non-existant spaces between the sardines packed into the subway trains. Nevertheless, we made it home WITH the luggage, and then hopped back onto a train for our first New York adventure, a trip to the East Village. For dinner we found a quaint Italian place with an edgy twist, meaning the candlelight was unexpectedly accompanied by the tunes of Kings of Leon. Afterward we took a stroll trough the vibrant restaurant, shop, and bar-filled area that landed us at Butter Lane, one of New York's many "cupcakeries" (warning: that's my word - don't try to start saying it thinking you sound like you're in the new york know). They only offer three kinds of cake, but the icing options are plentiful. Mix and match for endless possibilities!

Friday I sent Ann away for a Museum and park-filled day while I unsuccessfully tried to forget how much Vitamin D I was missing, cooped up in my office. Finally I joined her for an adventure to Brooklyn, via the historic Brooklyn Bridge, constructed in 1875.

Finally a shot with people in it!

Another shot with people in it, though I don't think we know them...

All of those cables that hold up the entire weight of the bridge converge to these few points

Looking back at Manhattan

These adorable condos are in Brooklyn Heights, looking back across the East River toward Manhattan - some of the priciest real estate in the city I believe

"The Promenade" in Brooklyn (where the condos above are), again, with a view of the East River and Manhattan

Still Brooklyn Heights, I love this stretch of Montague Street. It's still urban, but smaller and quainter than Manhattan. We enjoyed a caprese salad appetizer at an outdoor table to tide us over until our 9:45 dinner reservations. Ode to sidewalk cafes on sunny days! (I will write that ode someday; for now it's just my heart song)

Can you find the statue??

I've seen a surprising number of sunsets here; the big tall buildings can't stop me!

To get back to Manhattan, we decided to walk across the bridge again instead of taking a subway in order to see the city lights at night. Breathtaking! The photo doesn't show the bright colors of Midtown. I should mention I walked over 6 miles Friday between the time I got off of work and the time we sat down for dinner. Ann had walked over ELEVEN all day. I felt a little guilty, as I was, of course, the activity planner. Sorry Ann!

After walking back into Manhattan, we headed for the "Ninja Restaurant," where Amy (roommate/bff) and Stacy (UT architecture friend) met us. We were guided perilously through a winding and climbing passageway by a ninja, who then took us to our private hut, with multiple scares along the way. There may have been some inadvertent profanities, but we were being attacked by NINJAS after all. The food was spectacular and plentiful, especially my "ninja art dish," a Cesar salad, which had a thin, crispy piece of wafer-like bread covering the bowl that I had to pierce with my chopsticks in my best ninja move in order to access the salad.

Saturday night we saw Mary Poppins!! I realized when I was first disappointed by every changed from the movie that I had probably seen it too many times, but by the second half I was wrapped up in the new characters and story lines. I didn't think anyone could ever compare to Julie Andrews, but I will admit this Mary Poppines gave a pretty convincing performance. Sadly I couldn't say the same about the legs that replaced Mr. Van Dyke's.

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

The most magical theater! So whimsical! If you look carefully, you can see that the balconies are actually bowed up in the middle.

Times Square on a Saturday was NOT my cup of tea. At one point we were actually stalled out on the sidewalk for about a minute because we simply could not move in any direction.

The capstone of our trip (I intentionally use "our" because I was also on vacation): New York Style Cheesecake! Good think they warned us they were big enough for 2-3 people...try 5-6!

Try as we may, in the end we were only two people. Ann examines the remains of our endeavor with full and tired eyes.