Day 4

Woke up and chatted with the roommates for a while, the girls from Australia and Korea left so just the three of us now. Anaise woke up our Japanese roommate by getting close and yelling WAKEUP CHINESE! at him. Shes a character and it was hilarious in her French accent. Hit the road and it was a beautiful morning. Had been fairly hot and pretty muggy the past couple days. Today though it was beginning to feel like fall and I'm looking forward to that weather when I get back. I walked across Central Park and it was gorgeous this morning. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was closed today so I headed down to see the Museum of Modern Art.

I had an early lunch and finally got a hot dog and a big pretzel from a street vendor. The pretzel did end up having too much salt on it after all. A lot more people at the Moma than I expected. I had a good time just walking around with my headphones on and recognized a lot of the art from my Art History and Humanities courses. Definitely cool to get to see them in person.

I hadnt been to Soho yet so I headed down. The Empire State Building had too long of a wait to go up on the observation deck. I walked by the CBS studios and walked into the NBC studios but didnt feel like doing a tour, I saw the Rockefeller Center, which I recognized from TV. Also saw the Trump Tower, seems like this was where they did the apprentice? I saw MTV unloading stuff for the Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall

Crossing the street in Chelsea I saw a homeless guy locked in a forlorn stare putting something into his shopping cart. As I passed I saw that it was an intact but broken mirror he was looking into. I didnt want to be that guy that stopped to take a picture of it. It made me think of this photo at the Moma. It was of people walking in NYC going on about their busy days but the focus seemed to be on this bundled up blind homeless guy walking in the crowd. I wondered if this guy knows he is on exhibit in a museum. Stopped at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village next to NYU and chilled there for awhile. There was a musician playing some sort of tribal wind instrument next to a fountain and it was really relaxing. I watched some chess games on these built-in chess tables and was invited to play a few times but I had to be on my way.

Finally got to Soho and it was interesting. A lot of old brick roads and bars and shops. There was some more stuff I wanted to see down near Wall Street so I kept walking. Everybody was getting off work in the Financial District and I was going against the flow of the crowd. Ended up in Battery Park on the southern tip of the Island facing the Statue of Liberty. It was really nice there with the sun and the water so I chilled out a bit and watched some of the ferries come in.

About 7:00 decided to take a bus back home. A family from England got on and I chatted with them for a good while on the way back. The dad lived in New Jersey and was getting remarried so the son and daughter and some friends were just in town for the wedding. We talked rugby for awhile, the son had played League and the father and daughter had played Union and they disagreed about which had fitter players and harder tackles. The son is now a taxi driver in a small town. He was well traveled though and said he had worked on a ranch in Africa for awhile. He said it was huge and it took a month to make a round checking the fences. The daughter asked if she could have my hat when she first sat down and would check in occasionally to see if I changed my mind. They were both about my age and the son said he had a sofa for me if I ever make it that way. He said it was really serene out in the countryside and he always wanted to come to Texas because he pictures he liked Little House on the Prairie and thats what he pictures.

I got off the bus on the east side and cut across the park right about dusk. It was really pretty around the lake. There were tons of people jogging around the lake and a lot of people jogging and biking through the park. As I came out of the park there was a guy that looked like Big Pun with his windows down blaring that Holiday Road song from the National Lampoons Vacation. Strange song to be jamming out to but it got me in the mood for the trip tomorrow.

Grabbed some dinner and hung out on the stoop with everybody. Met some guys that just got here from Switzerland. He asked what dead end meant. He said they had gotten lost and pointed toward Harlem and said that they were terrified and thought they were going to be killed for being white. Then they saw a sign that said dead end and he said "maaaan we just thought, well this is our end". I laughed for probably too long at that and apologized. He seemed pretty shaken. While we were sitting out there some girls arrived from Russia, and I met more girls from Australia and Italy that have checked in. Have also met other people staying here from Poland and Spain and Scotland.

Some people went off to go to a club and I showed the rest how to get up on the roof. Everybody loved it up there and we had a blast hanging out, probably fifteen people total. We talked art for awhile and there was a movement in Germany similar to romanticism but they couldn't think of the translation in English. In German it means something like a storm that you cant avoid. I guessed a lot of art movements and artists but they didn't think any of them was this particular one and I dont know if I have heard of this one. Everyone was educated so it was cool. Spent a lot of time talking to Amelia, from Italy. She was in Toronto for an HIV convention and came to check out the city. She is an immunologist and said she has had the title Dr. for four years but will be done at her university in November. After spending a year in Africa for HIV she is leaning towards specializing in it. She looks like a young Ashley Judd. Simone from Switzerland said he got in a fight with a guy that did Thai boxing a few years ago. He said he couldn't do anything but try to cover his face while the guy was landing elbows and knees.