New York 2008: Day 2: Manhattan and Brooklyn
Some important sights and tastes in New York that had only been partially covered in previous visits were the priority on day #2.
This meant a bagel for breakfast, the quite a bit of time at The Met. Last year we were hopelessly distracted by the Arms and Armor section, this year a more balanced approach was the goal. The ancient Etruscian as well as the Greek section were both extensive, the chariot was preserved in great detail, and much of the rest was great, as expected from one of the world's better art museums. Modern European paintings (1800s for me) are always fun too, although I suppose unlike some people who appreciate the broad spectrum of them, my tastes are a little more limited.
The architecture of the Met, while not as striking as The Getty, is also rather nice... once you take the time to look at it. It emphasizes the exhibits within (including hanging from the ceiling) rather than being an exhibit in itself, unlike the Getty. Seeing an entire temple from Egypt may be somewhat underwhelming until you realize just how big the damned thing is.
We then made it down to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked across, because I hadn't done that yet and heck, everyone should do it at least once. Joel almost convinced me to take the subway instead as neither one of us is a fan of heat and humidity, but hey... why not. Saw some of the waterfalls that had been temporarily erected around New York City as we crossed, although I didn't get a very good view of the one under the Brooklyn Bridge, since, well, the deck of the bridge was in the way. *grins*
Hit the famous Grimaldi's for dinner. Seriously good. I happen to love New York style pizza. Grimaldi's is damned good. Lombardi's and some other places are supposedly of the same caliber but I have yet to go to them (I'm sure they're just as good). Compared to everything I've had in California, nothing's even close. This is not an exaggeration. About the only hiccups at Grimaldi's were that we arrived right as they were stoking the fire in the oven, so we had a bit of a wait for our pizza, our antipasti never arrived (they apologied), and as we left it was a bit tricky finding the subway station, even though we knew it was only a few blocks away.
Did some other wandering, but nothing really notable. Hit Target and saw Tropic Thunder. (worried your theater will sell out? Not this AMC!) Beer isn't exactly worth mentioning on these trips anymore, it's a given although the opportunity to try new things is always welcome. FWIW, Brooklyn Beer is only okay... sadly we didn't have time to hit 51st Fighter Group or some of the other better known places.
