New York - Slover

Okay, so fall break was a long time ago now, but I remember my last post promised a vivid account of my time in New York. The recollection's a bit blurry now, but I'll try my best. Sooooo, the accommodations. We--my family, of which there are four of us--stayed at my aunt and uncle's super super uptown apartment. 215st. Way up there. It was a little crowded, to say the least. Two medium sized families. One apartment. But it was blast, too. I don't see these cousins too often, so the squishedness was really pretty welcome, if you ask me. I can't speak for my parents; they need their space. So we did lots of the touristy things, of course--went up to the top of the Empire State--crazy view. Checked out Grand Central Station, one massive room. I don't know how they get away with that in New York: it's really compact, even the outer burrows. Unfortunately I didn't go to Central Park, which was where I really wanted to go. I passed it plenty, though, on the bus. Speaking of which, the public transportation was really exciting for me, maybe one of my favorite things, especially when I went out on my own and had to get the hang of the system. All the trains and busses are named with numbers or letters--get on the 1 train, switch to the m4 bus--I think real names would've been easier. Like the Piccadilly line, or something. Stayed a night with a friend who goes to Barnard, Columbia's all women sister college, around 116th street. Super fun. Out late. I didn't bring a camera for any of this, so no pictures. Sorry. Went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art the next day. I'm a walking zombie staring at The Death of Socrates around now. All the same, I guess it's just one of the things got to do. And it was worth it. Also saw The Cloisters, where the Met chucks all its medieval art. I liked that stuff a whole lot. Those were the only pictures I took, but I took them on my phone, and they certainly don't look very New Yorky. More like, I don't know, Venice or something. Went to some improv on the last night. One of my cousins arranged it. That was probably one of the more local things we did. Real citizens come forth and laugh merrily. We did. Then flew home. Left grandmother in the care of cousins for a few days extra.