Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Anniversary VI An excellent weekend was had for Lynn and my's 6th anniversary. I think it might have topped our last year's celebration in Hershey but it's still a close call. We tried to conquer lower Manhattan, but it was tough. Here's the rundown, just to give some of you some ideas if you're looking for things to do in Manhattan: Friday--We came in and got to our hotel. It was the Millennium Hilton and it was bordering Ground Zero. I was told it was close but I didn't expect that we would get a window view of the entire area. It was breathtaking and haunting at the same time. Later that night we headed to South St. Seaport and it was a ghost town. Tried to hit up a bar (Heartland Brewery) but the kitchen was closed at 10PM and then the bartender tells us last call at 10:30, haha. Now I know why it was a ghost town. Good microbrew selection, though. Saturday--After breakfast, went back again to South St. Seaport to check out the Bodies in Motion Exhibition. I remember this getting some press a while back because the exhibit uses actual human bodies/remains as learning tools. Those into forensics or pathology out there would probably have an orgasm walking around this show, but even regular joes like me will probably have their mouths open as they look at everything. It was simply amazing. I highly suggest this one, even if you only plan to visit one museum this year. Unfortunately, we didn't have much more time because we had to make it over to Tribeca to go to the trapeze school (http://newyork.trapezeschool.com/about/index.php). This place was impossible to find because it was wedged in between some construction site and it had a small white tent covering it. A far cry from the Sex and the City episode that Lynn showed me afterwards. So after many mins of looking like idiots, we peeked in the tent and there it was. A huge safety net and two bars suspended about 30 feet up. After we took care of the formalities we were ready to go and we were quickly briefed. Lynn was the first to go and I was the last. Now, I'm afraid of heights and the big thing for me was just climbing the ladder to get to the platform. So that was enough of a scare, but once I got onto the platform, I actually wasn't afraid of the height much. They then tell you how to stand and someone holds onto your harness from the back while you lean forward and slightly off the platform. Then on their signal, you jump upwards, at which point they let go and you're in the air. It was nutty, I felt like Spider-Man for a few seconds. You kind of get disoriented but once you've done it the first time, it gets easier and you really start to focus on fine-tuning the little mistakes. There were passers-by looking at us through the windows, so I think we'll get a much bigger high when the tent comes off in the nicer weather. We do plan to do it again so if anyone wants to sign up with us we might be able to get a class to ourselves. Let me know. This is where my camera broke so the rest of the weekend went like this: -Shot over to St. Mark's Pl. to get the best hot dogs at Crif Dogs, and Australian ice cream two stores over. -Returned to the outpost, passed out, woke up and watched Walk the Line while we lost an hour. I liked the movie, but I was more interested by the relationship between Cash, Lewis and Presley more so than Cash and Carter. They must've had crazier times than the movie showed. -Sunday we had good Mexican food at Mama Mexico, bought cupcakes and guarded it like gold bullion while we walked around the Museum of Modern Art. We got loaded up on Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh before heading up to the Munch exhibition. I was excited that I was going to finally see the Scream in its original form, only to find out from a security guard that it was stolen in Norway a few years ago. I totally forgot this news story and got bummed until I discovered his "The Kiss" painting. It's even more beautiful than The Scream. So the silver lining was that I discovered his lesser-known works which I probably would not have paid attention to otherwise. Well, that's all folks. Check this link out if you don't believe me: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2107681957 Ta ta, have a good week!