Sunday: Cloisters, Upper West Side, Thai

These pictures go with this entry.

Sunday was overcast. The whole day was either looking like it might start raining in any second or actually drizzling. No real rain arrived, which was great because I ended up getting a lot of wandering done.

First thing, I headed to the far northern tip of Manhattan to visit the cloisters. They're a kind of medieval monastery-like place that houses medieval artifacts and artwork. Affiliated with the Met. The cloisters are at one of the highest altitude points in Manhattan so there is a great view of both the Hudson and the East river. Sadly, the overcastness made this view hazy (and so therefore I didn't take many pictures of it either).

They weren't as impressive as I'd hoped, but maybe I'm just callous from all the other museums. They have a really impressive series of large canvases of townsfolk hunting a unicorn.

On the way out from Fort Tryon Park (that surrounds the Cloisters) saw some people "playing" capoiera. Providing the music themselves too. I've never before seen capoiera done by random people in the street.

After the cloisters, I grabbed a train down to the upper west side. Nice and generally quite upscale like the upper east side. Had a nice, occasionally drizzly, hike down riverside park. Snapped a nice picture of a squirrel and a few photos that tried to demonstrate the amount of shades of green in the park.

Most of these bullets have pictures -I just couldn't be bothered to linking to them all directly-; you should follow along.

* Saw a building with really really large bricks. If you view the picture, compare the scale to the size of the people!
* Headed by the Lincoln Center complex. Saw the theater itself (with yet more weird statues), the met, the concert hall, and more. There is a remaking of the old tragedy The Frogs and for ambiance they had speakers in the trees making ribbits. I took a short movie (with sound) portraying tracking down these speakers.
* Happened by The College Board (group that runs the ACT) building. I wonder how many people make pilgrimages here?
* Saw a dumpster being raised up the outside of a (tall) building. Pretty funky sight that I've never seen before.
* Saw a number of prestigious apartment buildings. One had two towers; many celebrities want to live there. Infamously, they turned down Madonna. Another (Astoria) used to have a manegrie on the roof.
* Spent three dollars to see the what-turned-out-to-be-tiny American Folk Art Museum (extension). Unthrilling.
* Hiked past the large modern shopping mall and office buildings that make up the Columbus Circle Center. Took a few shots here and took a nice picture of some statues at Columbus Circle. The birds that look like they are part of the statues are not! They're real and just happen to be sitting in mostly appropriate spots! :) Finally, I suppose I should mention a very modern looking trump tower was located here.
* Returned to the Alwyn Court Apartments (in the theater district) to take some pictures of its ornate facade. (When I'd previously visited, my camera batteries were dead.)
* Finally, grabbed a picture of the Momo Sushi place I had previously eaten at and hadn't managed to take a picture of.

Then, headed home to decide where to eat dinner. Luckily, I found my loftmates' Zagat Guide and tracked down a nice sounding Thai restaurant in the village. Wild Ginger. It was dark, with romantic lighting (good for a date), and with a very nice decor and good ambiance. The food was quite tasty, though I didn't have a typically thai entree like curry. I had a funky drink, as I recall something like an alcoholic papaya with tapioca. Whatever it was, it was good. But the best thing about the restaurant was the service. The waitress was attentive but not too attentive and the timing was great. In short, the best service I'd had dining alone in the city.