NYC trip: Uptown, downtown

I finally got into NYC late Friday night after a lengthy delay. I took the NJTransit train from Newark airport to NY Penn Station and walked two blocks to my hotel on 32nd St. Since it was past midnight already, I just called it a night after letting my mom and my Manhattanite friends know that I had finally arrived safely.

On Saturday I spent most of the day roaming around midtown Manhattan, doing some shopping (mostly of the window variety :-)). I was hoping to meet up with Brian in the early evening, but he had to run some errands with his girlfriend so we didn't meet up till about 11pm. However, the wait was worth it as we hit up a Korean bbq spot on the same block as my hotel. We had a good meal (bulgogi, mmm) and caught up on lots of stuff. We've kept in touch via e-mail but I hadn't actually seen Brian since he left Chicagoland for law school in Philly four years ago.

Sunday morning I took my first NY subway ride up to the Rockefeller Center area to attend mass at St. Patrick's cathedral. Afterwards I phoned Melissa V. and set up a brunch meeting in Union Square. We caught up and lamented our single status over a nice meal at a coffee shop next to Union Square Park. :-) We then rode the subway back uptown to meet Brian at MoMA.


St. Patrick's Cathedral 

At the museum we wandered around aimlessly for a bit until we got the brilliant idea to pick up a museum map, heh. There was some neat and famous artwork on display but I must confess that I don't really "get" most modern art. Anyway, we wrapped up our MoMA visit by checking out the sculpture garden and chatting over some gelato.


OOF? Or GOOF? :-) (Brian at MoMA)  


Melissa and me 

I parted ways with B and M and headed back to midtown to do a bit of souvenir shopping and to recharge for a little while at the hotel before heading down to Chelsea to meet up with Greg. He and his partner Mitch took me to dinner at a neat little Italian place called Tello's (I had penne con meat balls, very tasty). We walked off the meal by trekking through Chelsea to the waterfront, stopping to rest at Christopher St. Pier, and continuing on through Greenwich Village. After a stop at Rafaella Café for some dessert, we walked back to Greg & Mitch's neighborhood where I caught a cab back to the hotel.


Greg and me 

While the weekend got off to a frustrating and slow start, it has turned out to be a lot of fun. It was great hanging out with my friends and seeing more of the city. Here's hoping my flight back home tomorrow goes more smoothly than Friday's ordeal!