Sunday, November 20, 2011

City No. 4: Brooklyn, New York, or, "Though we're not going to consider this city (cause it's huge and expensive), we might as well stop by since we're already here...and of course I have to write a review"

Our Honeymoon, or, How We Got to the Midwest One Interview at a Time:  The Northeast Cities According to Me, the One Who Wanders the Cities While Peter Completes the Interviews

Disclaimer: This should by no means be used as a real resource to the northwestern cities.  While I am an observant person, I have no background in city development, nor do I have expertise on the cultural or historical background on these cities.  For the most part, I am reviewing these cities based on my personal preferences, as we will be moving to one of these cities in the spring.  And, if you are hoping for a lot of artwork (as this is my art blog), sorry to say, but you will be sadly disappointed if you continue to read this blog in the upcoming two months.  Apart from my photographs of the cities, I doubt I’ll get to very many art and craft projects. 
   


This city has many things to offer, one of them being our good friend Hala and her boyfriend Sam—friends from North Carolina that relocated to New York this year.  Our trip there was short but sweet, and had a bit of a hiccup in the middle (more to follow), but we got to experience a delicious vegan Asian fusion restaurant, found the most amazing coffee shop—so good we went there 4 times (no joke!  It was that good!), visit an awesome independent bookstore, and toured the largest antique shop that I’ve ever seen (4 floors!).  All in all, it was a good couple of days, though far from the kind of “New York experience” that we could have had.  You’ll see what I mean in a second. 
           
First, the hiccup in the middle:  We had rolled in to Brooklyn with enough to walk around a bit, find the amazing coffee shop, and then eat dinner with Hala at the vegan restaurant.  Then, being exhausted from the trip, went to bed.  There was not enough time for Peter to workout at the YMCA.  So, he woke up at 7 am, and headed over.  When I woke up at around 8:30, he had still not come back.  I thought it was a bit strange, but didn’t think much about it.  When he finally showed up, he looked a little disheveled, and in hindsight—maybe a bit pale. 

“How was your workout?”  Hala and I asked from the kitchen table, sipping our morning coffee.
 
“Well,” Peter said as he sat down, “not good.  I passed out.” 

And he proceeded to tell his morning adventure.  Apparently, he worked out really hard (without eating breakfast first!) and when he got back to the locker room, he started feeling really dizzy.  Then he realized he was having a hard time seeing—his vision had become dark and tunneled—and he was also beginning to have difficulty forming thought.  “I’m having an emergency,” he finally decided as his world went black...  When he woke up, he was on the floor, and the previously full room was completely empty with the exception of one person—coincidentally, a person he had been working out next to earlier in the morning.  He tried getting up, and with difficulty and weakness he staggered to the person. 

“I think I’m having an emergency, please help me,” he said (though he’s unsure if he actually formed real words, and it wasn’t a bunch of gibberish), and then his world went black again. 

When he woke up again, he was thankful that he was both caught by the person, as well as placed gently on the floor.  A trainer and a few other people surrounded him and they fed him Altoids, a granola bar, water, and made sure he was ok before they sent him on his way home.  Never was an emergency vehicle sent for (which I thought was odd), as the trainer diagnosed him immediately.  No breakfast.  “People pass out all the time in the morning because of that,” the trainer said to Peter.  “Next time, be sure to eat breakfast.”

Peter felt strange all day, suffered from a migraine later on, and all-around didn’t feel like doing anything strenuous (understandably), so we took it easy and watched movies on Hala’s netflix account, Peter napped a bit while I wrote this post, and we literally didn’t do anything all day but eat at a Thai restaurant down the street.  It was the only full day that we had in the city, and we spent most of it in an apartment, but it was a very relaxing day in that way.  It was a much needed resting period after the “go-go-go” that we’ve been enduring for the past two weeks!  But maybe we didn’t make good use of our time in New York, but we’ve already seen so much on our trip, I can’t believe that we missed that much.  Here, I’ll give you the list of things that we DID see, and then things that we didn’t, and you can decide for yourself.     

We ate at Wild Ginger, the vegan Asian fusion restaurant where we had sweet and sour mock chicken, veggie potstickers, and summer rolls.  Delicious.  Building on Bond was the coffee shop that we returned to multiple times.  Their almond scones and apple turnovers were to die for, and their design (using old chemistry lab stools, equipment, drawers, etc.) was AMAZING.  Like nothing I’ve seen before.  The great independent bookstore (damn, I can’t remember the name of it!) has famous people, like Miranda July, do readings and lectures there. 

Here’s what we missed:  Miranda July was scheduled to speak and do readings from her book THAT FIRST NIGHT that we got into town.  The night that we ate the amazing sweet and sour mock chicken.  Philip Glass’s opera Satyagraha was scheduled to play at the Met, or the next night Rene Flemming was performing in an opera by Handel.  We did not ride the subway, and, according to Hala, an amazing exhibit showcasing “Sesame Street”, at a museum in town.  We did not join the protests for Occupy Wallstreet, and we did not see any art at any art museums…

Maybe we did miss out…but poor Peter needed to rest up.  Sorry, New York, we used you as a resting stop.  Maybe we’ll get to see more of you next time, eh?  You’ll always be there…

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