and we are GO FOR HOLIDAY!

[tielan]

*runs around screaming in her head*

The tickets are booked, the Annual Leave is booked - trip USA-ITALY IS GO!

Destinations (planned dates) are San Francisco (25th-29th August), Greater Denver area (29th-2nd Sept), North Carolina (2nd-6th Sept), and New York City (6th-9th). And then it's off to Italy with the parentals (and my uncle) for three weeks.

I am staying with people for the first three locations, and will probably be hostelling it in NYC. I'm contemplating couchsurfing in NYC, but am *handwobble* on the safety aspect. Never done it before, not so sure I want to try it.

I am always up for meeting fannish people - anything from a meal to coffee to whatever you have the spoons for.

Suggestions on what to do/see in NYC in particular would be very welcome!

Comments

[hopefulnebula]

DENVER DENVER DENVER!

[tielan]

Am trying to arrange meetup with Aei and Dre (and mebbe you?). I'm heading out to Estes Park eventually, to go camping/trailwalking with a friend (who's driving in from NE), so hopefully a little time to sit, meet, break bread?

[hopefulnebula]

Yus! I can't help with driving but I'm in on the meetup. :)

[thothmes]

I grew up in a suburb of New York City, and like many locals, I've never been to the Empire State Building, or the Statue of Liberty, or many of the other iconic sights of the city. When I go into the city it's for a Purpose. I go in, I DO ALL THE THINGS, and I leave.

My favorite place to get soup dumplings was at Joe's Shanghai in China Town. The Metropolitan is vast, and a lifetime of things to see, but they have some great art in the traditional sense (iconic paintings, famous sculptures, etc.) but they also have world class collections of Ancient Art, with wonderful Egyptian galleries, a new Islamic pavilion, Greek and Roman Galleries. I remember wonderful, intricate Mandarin jackets, and there is even a transplanted Egyptian temple. The arms and armor collection are quite famous on this side of the Atlantic, but I don't know if they are all that impressive for Europeans. In the Greek Gallery my absolute favorite piece is a small bronze figure The Baker Dancer. It's in the Hellenistic gallery, it's 20.5 cm tall, and because of the way it twists, it's a slightly different composition from each different perspective as you travel around it. I could spend years in the Met Museum and not tire of it.

Hours and admission cost (a pretty darn mandatory "recommended amount") are listed here. If you do go, please be aware there is a very classy, very expensive dining room (near the Greek and Roman Galleries) with statuary, a fountain, sitdown meals, and tablecloths, which will cost a hand and a foot. There is also a cafeteria, also fairly expensive for what you get, but generally worth it, since eating opportunities near the Met. Mus. are a little sparse and generally pretty costly, since it's in a ritzy part of town.

I hear that the Cloisters Museum is fantastic, if medieval and early renaissance stuff is your thing, but I have never been there. I've always wanted to go, but only when I didn't have to drag an unwilling child along!

I've also spent a fair amount of time at the Natural History Museum on the opposite side of Central Park from the Met Museum, with its anthropological displays, which I suspect I'd find a bit dated now, although they may have surely have been updated to keep current and avoid being racist and dismissive, its delightful animal dioramas, its planetarium, and the giant whale model, but most of the time I have been accompanying a child (whether a sibling or one of my own kids) who wanted to leave all that stuff behind and go see the DINOSAURS, DINOSAURS, DINOSAURS!

Times Square is worth seeing to say you have seen it, and the Discovery Times Square exhibition space sometimes has interesting stuff (We saw some of Tut's stuff there, and they were one of the places in the U.S. that had the Harry Potter exhibition.) so it is certainly worth looking at what will be there while you are.

I wish I was going to be down visiting my mom in Northern New Jersey at that time, because I'd make a point of coming in to see you, but it's when school is back in session, so I'll be here in Vermont, looking after The Whirlwind. May the food be tasty, the connections all work out, and may all the lines be short, and most importantly, may your feet somehow forget to ache, in spite of all the walking!

[tielan]

Ooh! Thanks for the tips. It's been 13 years since I was in NYC, and I didn't have the first or last idea of what to do then - it was my first trip to the US, and the first 8 days of it was: a) with friends, b) at Disneyland, c) with friends, so turning up in a city with no idea of what to see...

Yeah.

Now I am 13 years older, a little more worldly-wise, and having seen many many things in the intervening years, I know what I'd like to look at - history, art, clothing, jewellery. I love food and seeing things and people watching and ambiance, so I will definitely look at your suggestions! :)