the best that you can do is fall in love

And so we bid adieu to New York City. Our last few days were not the best, but they wrapped up our extended stay there nicely.

Our second to last day was the most touristy of them all. We booked a bus tour of NY movie and TV locations. It was early, so we decided to get breakfast near the pick up site in Times Square. Knowing how much I hate Times Square, my fiance asked several times if this plan was OK with me. I said yes, figuring we didn't really need to eat in actual Times Square. Unfortunately, this was the only day it actually rained. Cold and miserable and without an umbrella, I agreed to eat at the first place we could find that was either close to the subway station or close to where the bus would pick us up. The bus was picking us up outside Ellen's Stardust Diner. Did you know the wait staff sings between serving up pancakes and chicken strips? Somehow I missed the sign out front announcing this fact. The concept is kind of cool, but the volume on the speakers was way too loud, especially for 10am.

Then on to the tour, which mercifully was in a fully inclosed bus. (Despite the rain there were still many people on the open top double decker bus tours. These people truly understand the YOLO motto.)  Our tour guide was funny, and the tour itself was quite good. We passed famous buildings, parks, and monuments featured in television and film, and watched accompanying clips on the bus' TV screens. The highlights: the apartment exterior from Friends, the firehouse from Ghostbusters, and Washington Square Park featured in everything from When Harry Met Sally to I Am Legend. And speaking of When Harry Met Sally, after the tour we did some extended movie site seeing, and ate lunch at Katz's Delicatessen. The fake orgasm jokes have already started on Facebook...

Then came our final day. My fiance is a huge baseball fan, and couldn't leave without seeing a Yankee game. Literally, he couldn't leave. He added an extra day in New York onto the trip because the Yankee's had been on the road the previous week and a half.

I don't particularly like baseball, but visiting Yankee Stadium was actually quite fun. We did the stadium tour, which is surprisingly cheap ($20 per person) and pretty cool. The new stadium has a museum of team memorabilia and a monument garden. Both are open before games, but you have to fight the crowds to get in. Good luck getting decent photos when you do. The tour gives you better access, with a much smaller group. Plus, you get a friendly and knowledgable tour guide to answer all your questions, and lovingly poke fun at other less decorated teams. Then the part you've paid for: sitting in the actual Yankee dugout.

At this point I'd like to apologize to my father. He is a Red Sox fan. He will surely blame my presence at Yankee Stadium for any Sox loses this week. Somehow by entering the House Directly Adjacent to the House That Babe Built, I disrupted the heavens and cursed the Sox. Unless they win, and then I will be strongly advised to attend a home game next year.

And that was New York. We woke this morning to clear skies, but cold temperatures. Getting the rental car out of the city was easier than I anticipated, and I can now check "drive a car in New York city" off my bucket list.

Do I love New York? I think I might. Could I live there? Maybe, but I might be kidding myself. It's fun to imagine myself visiting museums on the weekends, jogging through Central Park, and finding new eateries. But short of winning the lottery, it's just not fiscally possible.

So on to Boston, where I plan on giving the fiance a lesson on the Revolutionary War. Should be interesting.

you can't always get what you want

I feel like parts of our vacation need a do-over.

The Washington Monument is still closed due to the earthquake last year. The Reflecting Pool on the National Mall was drained, and the areas on either side were walled off for construction. The Statue of Liberty was closed for refurbishments. Parts of Ellis Island were  under construction, making it impossible to access some of the walls bearing the names of immigrants. The ramps in the Guggenheim were closed for installation. The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art is completely closed while they install their summer exhibits.

Disappointing, but I have to look on the bright side. We've seen more in just a few weeks than most people see in their lifetime. The forecast has been for rain in every city we've visited thus far, but we've been blessed with clear skies and warm temperatures. My fiance and I have yet to get into a fight, despite my penchant for becoming "hangry" if I don't eat at least every three hours.

And maybe all the construction and closures are a blessing in disguise. We now have very solid reasons for visiting these places in the future. If we had seen everything we set out to on this trip, we might not be so inclined to visit again. I'm not rooting for more closures and construction on this trip, but if they come I'll take them in stride.

You're never going to get a perfect trip, but so far our's has been pretty darn great.

and i'm gonna go wild, spray paint the walls

I love my fiance. He is hilarious and we have a lot of fun when we're together. I try not to take things too seriously, and he does a great job of bringing me back to earth when I do. For the most part, his inappropriate and off color remarks are a welcome distraction.

But God love him, he can really embarrass me in art museums.

Our visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art started off well enough. After our initial shock at how big the place is (we didn't even see half of its massive collection), we picked a route and started walking through. The Egyptian Wing was met with some enthusiasm, though not much. My fiance admitted he didn't know much about that period of history, but thought everything "looked pretty cool." He did enjoy The Temple of Dendur, though I suspect that had a little more to do with a scene from When Harry Met Sally being filmed there than with the temple itself. But hey, I'll take what I can get.

We quickly passed through the American Wing, and on to the Arms and Armor rooms. This was a big hit. Being the resident photographer of our trip, I was instructed to take photos every five seconds. The scrapbook I eventually make will be very gun and sword heavy. Then on the Greek and Roman Art (another quick stroll, having visited The Getty Villa together last year), and on through Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.

Then we hit a wall. A chasm in philosophy, between what is art and what isn't.

"This isn't art," my fiance said, louder than I cared for. "It's not art if I can do it!"
"It is art. The point isn't that you could do it. It's that nobody at that time was doing it."
"No, it's not art. It's just squares."

This isn't the first time we've had this discussion, and I know it won't be the last. I was an illustration major. I took more art history classes than I can count. While I may not like some Modern Art, I understand it in the context of art as a whole. It's another step in mankind's creative evolution.

We continued through the Modern Art, which brought more snarky comments from the fiance, until I finally threw in the towel. Today was not going to be the day he had a breakthrough in thinking. (Though he did love the two Chuck Close portraits on display that day.) I quickly shuttled him to the European Paintings. Van Gogh, Monet, Seurat... those he can enjoy. They're more than abstract shapes. And to be fair, I'd rather have any of them hanging on my wall than a Jackson Pollack.

I'll keep trying though. One of these days he might start to like Mark Rothko. You never know.