On to the next part of my trip! Brooklyn day! Though I spent most of my time in Manhattan, I did get down to Brooklyn a few times! One of the first places I went was to this pizza place called Di Fara's pizza! One of my friends down at medical school told me that it was absolutely the best pizza in NYC. He told me some of the other famous spots... but that the lines were long and this place was by far better. I did have pizza a few other places and from what I can tell, he was absolutely right.
Upon reflection, I should've gotten two slices. It was so tasty! Very thin, garlic-bread-tasting crust. It was amazing. I may not want to live in NYC permanently ever, but the food there is fantastic.
Next we decided to go to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens! The place is actually attached to the Brooklyn Museum, but already I needed a break from the (overly) massive museums. Going into the gardens was like stepping out of NYC! So green and open!
Definitely a beautiful spot! My friend and I greatly enjoyed just walked around and checking out the gardens. Nice to get a bit of space in the crowded city!
Then we decided to go to the Brooklyn bridge and walk across it. This is a view from the Brooklyn bridge, looking on another bridge and I believe lower Manhattan.
The Brooklyn bridge! It's actually a really nice place to visit because there are walking and biking paths separate from where the cars are driving.
Of course we were rewarded for our long walk down and back on the bridge by some fabulous restaurants a friend of mine from the area had recommended! Most notably was an ice cream shop on the Brooklyn side, a few blocks away from the bridge. They only had five flavors I think, but chocolate chocolate-chip? Amazing!
We did have a bit more planned for the day, but it was getting dark so we decided to just enjoy the view and then head home for the evening.
The next day I was back in Manhattan, this time to visit the Museum of Modern Art! I wasn't sold on visiting this one, partially because I'm never really sure what "modern" entails and some of the modern art I see... seems like kind of a stretch... but I'm so glad I went! They had the incredibly famous "The Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gogh, my very favorite artist!
Van Gogh is just one of the most interesting people to me. He was unquestionably brilliant. It was amazing to me that he basically never sold a painting in his lifetime.
One of the other artist's work I was happy to see was Jose Orozco's! Orozco was a famous muralist who painted a big and relatively famous mural at Pomona College!
The view from the MOMA:
I decided to try and cajun macaroni and cheese with sausage and spices and green peppers and onions and it was out of this world amazing!
While I was in the area, I also decided to check out this park called the "High Line." It's a converted (former) elevated railway that has been made into an elevated walkway spanning several blocks in lower Manhattan.
From the walkway I was treated to one of my favorite pieces of art in the city!
The High Line was a really nice park, another place you can step outside the super crowded NYC streets!
And of course, what trip to Manhattan would be complete without a trip to Central Park! This picture is from another day, but such a nice place! My friend and I rented bikes for a few hours and biked around the entire park! It's surprisingly large, according to the guy at the bike shop, it's about 6 miles around on the bike path.
Right outside of Central Park is the Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka another massive museum you can't possibly get through in one day). I really enjoyed some of the exhibits in this museum--particularly the ancient Egyptian art.
While I was in the city, I had an opportunity to go to a comedy club with the friend I was staying with! We went to this place called "the Stand" where we had the opportunity to see Amanda Seales perform a comedy set called "It's Complicated," which was just her (and the audience's) commentary on relationships, losing love, and being open to a new relationship. I didn't get all of the references, but I definitely had a good time with lots of laughs!
And that's it for this post! Look for more NYC pics soon! :)
PS. Only two days until my new semester starts! Just took a look at my schedule... 8 hours of class MW&F this week. Should be busy as a bee soon!
Looks and sounds as if you had a wonderful time!
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