The Big Apple excursion

Like I mentioned earlier, the morning after I returned from MN I repacked my bags and headed for NYC with Seth.  The first evening was spent getting oriented in a new part of town.  We stayed in Columbia University, and our little apartment/flat/hotel on 121st Street was the farthest north we had been before.  This borders Harlem, so we got to split our time between two very different cultures.

That night we met with my cousin, Christina, and Seth's friend, Ting-Chun, over some world-famous soul food dished up at Sylvia's.     

Christina and Ting-Chun join us at Sylvia's

 I had the chicken n'dumplings and Seth got the chicken livers

I could have taken a better picture of the exterior of the restaurant but I felt rushed by a crazy guy shouting something next to me

The next afternoon Seth had meetings at Columbia and I spent some time walking around the neighborhood checking out the local coffee scene.  Turns out that in this part of town the best places to relax and have something to drink were Starbucks... ergh... Actually there was one really cool place nearby, Max Caffe, but the people working there were not so nice :o(  

When Seth returned in the afternoon we did a bit more strolling and made a big night out of cheap bananas and a halal chicken kabab on the steps of the library at Columbia.  This reminded me very much of the last kabab we had:  on some steps outside the Arena in Verona, listening to the dress rehearsal of The Barber of Seville.

A view of 125th Street, Harlem's party zone

 

The next afternoon, after Seth's shortened meeting, we took off for the East Village, probably one of the coolest, funkiest, spots in New York.  

For some reason Seven Eleven convenience stores were having a free slurpee promotion, so we got to be reunited with some flavours from our childhood, haha.   

 I thought it was pretty awesome that Seven Eleven has macrobiotic Japanese Bento boxes in stock.  Is this sort of thing easy to find in convenience stores?  I will have to check in Waltham.

 One of the many very creative, hippie eateries in the East Village

Cute designer Japanese hot dogs!  If Seth weren't still nursing his slurpee I would have liked to eat here.

We got sushi instead and ate it in the nearby park.  Not a bad deal.

In the evening we headed back up north to 125th Street to catch a show at the Apollo Theater. 

It was Amateur Night!  Thirteen contestants competed for 3 spots to go off to perform in London.

All in all it was a great four days in the big city.  In the mornings we went running in Central Park and Riverside Park, dodging misty raindrops.  The afternoons were generally clear, but on the last day we got caught in a thunderstorm on our way to the Boston-bound Chinatown bus.

The university housing where we were put up was really comfortable, especially compared to the hostel where we stayed last time.  Unfortunately I don't think we will be able to stay there in the future unless Seth can find some business to attend to at Columbia... 

After all the excitement from these past couple weeks, it is nice to be back and settling into some sort of post-school routine.  Online classes start soon, and hard-core volunteering at the hospital shall resume tomorrow!  Have a nice Memorial Day!