New York Baby!

I spent 2 weeks in NYC for a mini Osaka reunion with Lisa and Sam, we all worked at the same school in Japan. (In the top picture, its me, Sam, and Lisa). It was so great to see them again- been a bit over 2 years since I've seen Lisa and a bit over 1 since I've seen Sam. It was like old times! Though I got made fun of because my tolerance has gone down since the Osaka days of going to izakayas and nomihodai kareoke. It was nice having a long time in one place as Sam and I did everything on our lists, though our lists were a bit different. I wanted to see 5 art museums, and Sam wanted to have chinese take out and ride in a yellow taxi :-)

Highlights for me were definitely the MOMA- if pressed I'd have to say that was my favorite museum. And wandering around the city is always fun, Sam and I walked a lot around Manhattan while Lisa was working.

Sometimes we'd forget we weren't in Japan, since thats the last place we saw each other. Lisa would start to give us detailed directions somewhere then remember that we were still in the US and would be able to read all the signs and ask for directions with no worries.

The typical touristy things we did were Central Park, Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy, Greenwhich Village, Times Square, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, took a boat ride and saw the Statue of Liberty, and of course all the museums. I kind of enjoyed the general narkiness of New Yorkers, so different than the trip to LA! A bit more real seeming, no fake smiliness. Even the tour guides were jaded and snippy, hilarious. All 3 of us took a double decker bus tour around Harlem and upper Manhattan, and straight away the guide was berating people for telling him they couldn't hear his mic clearly when they really could. That and his unforgettable 5 minut speech about bedrock and building foundations, priceless!

The pics below are in no particular order, tried to put up some pics of all the different things we did, and we did a lot! Fun times.