Jimmy (my brother), who you may remember is traveling with Cirque Du Soleil's Ovo tour, is living there at the moment. Regardless of the planning, and packing, and re-packing, and moving, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to take advantage of a free place to stay in the Big Apple.
And so began part one of the busiest three weeks ever. Here are a few highlights from the too-brief trip to NY.
Jimmy's Apartment! - is on the 30th floor of an apartment complex on the Upper East Side. I walked in to this view:
Cirque Du Soleil - Ovo!!! - I got to see the circus :) And not only did I get to see the circus but I got to see the circus for free. And not only was it free but I sat in arguably the best seat in the house: front row, a little right of center. Apparently Jimmy has made some friends along the way and when he saw what seat the box office had assigned me, even his jaw hit the floor.
I don't know how to adequately do the show justice in a description of it, but lets just say that it was kind of FANTASTIC. You can check out Ovo's official website here. I've seen Cirque twice now, and I was still floored by the talent and general bendy-ness of the performers. Go see it!
Ovo's one year tour anniversary party!! - Now this was an unexpected treat. Jimmy told me early on that all the Cirque employees, performers included were attending the one year tour anniversary party for the show, so I'd be spending that evening solo, and honestly I was just fine with that. But, him and his housemates came home that night with an invite for me too! It was a 1920's flapper themed party, so I did my best. Borrowed a dress from one of his housemates, and spent the night partying at a rooftop bar in Manhattan (with a ridiculously upclose view of the Empire State Building), with a bunch of Circus performers, enjoying an open bar - ie. never ending champagne, and a crazy 1980's dance troup for entertainment. I went to sleep that night at 4am. Here is a photo of Jimmy and I before the party:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, also known as "my favorite place in New York City"!! - I go to the MET every time that I go to the City. I know where all of my favorite rooms are and where to find all of my favorite pieces. I decided to take pics of all my favorites and, Following is a brief tour of all the things I would show you if I ever took you to the MET.
My favorite vase:
My favorite 18th century Venetian room, and also the thing that I look most forward to seeing when I visit. Strangely enough, I've observed other MET visitors walking right by this room without even giving it a second glance, which leads me to believe two things: one, that I am the only person in the world that thinks this is the most fantastic bedroom ever, and two, that I should have been born in 18th century Italy.
My favorite sitting room from 19th century Europe:
My favorite stained glass window:
My favorite sculpture - Diana:
My favorite chair, and believe me, the MET is full of pretty chairs:
And finally, my favorite pieces of art - Seurat, van Gogh, and Monet (in that order):
Central Park!! - Where I love wandering.
And there you have it. My waaay too brief trip to New York city. I left out photo's of people watching on the steps of the TKTS booth in Time Square, and the trip to Junior's for Cheesecake, but I'm sure you can imagine just how good that was. So good in fact, that I couldn't eat the entire piece, and I enjoyed the remainder of it for breakfast the next day :)
Soon to come, the blog all about the trip to visit Tim's family, because you know, when you're moving across the country who needs to plan or pack? Traveling and putting things off is way more fun :) Stay tuned...but it may take a while to get that one up. They're turning off the internet in the morning, and then the movers are coming, so you may have to wait till we get to San Fran for a description of all the wonders of Small Town Missouri...
