Sam on the train heading to our stop at Morristown.
We had a great time in the city, but the energy level and intensity is really very overwhelming. My hat goes off to those that live and work there each day.
I very neat place, but the smiles and the warmth are rare.
We at after the Guggenhiem at a French bakery place called Communial Table. This was a real hit with the cheese and bread plate. With water, bread and cheese this was a cheap but good dinner.
The next stop was the Solomon Guggenheim Museum. It's good to be able to learn about and appreciate art because at it's purest level art reflects "THE Creator." And yet some of the modern art with it's post-modernism world view denies God. God is a God of order and he is drawing all things to Him so I'm not worried, but it is certainly interesting and again a testiment to what THE Creator has allowed us to create.
The building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is un believable.
No photos of the art, but a few shots of the emmense attrium.
Sam has fun playing and learning at the cool technology hands on and free Sony Wonder Museum.
He preformed a digital open heart sugury...glad it wasn't mine...
We checked out of the hotel and stowed out bags with the bell captain. We headed out to explore today's plan is the Sony Wonder Museum then perhaps the Guggenhiem and then if time and energy are still left in excess then we'll venture to the lower east side to explore.
Then catch the train to NJ and go off to Amanda and Dave's to sleep...
Here Sam rides in a cab this AM.
We had a great dinner at a "The Stags Head". Five doors down from our hotel and rated great on google by locals for great food at reasonable prices.
The London Pub atmosphere and the waitress who became a vegatarian in second grade (just like Sam) did not disappoint. Good service, good food, and very reasonable for dinner in New York.
In the 60s and 70s Bleecker Street was the center of American bohemia. Artists such as Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix got their start in clubs in this area. Bill Cosby did as well - yes, I said Bill Cosby...
Here Sam stands near signs for Bleecker Street.
There is a very sad Simon and Gafunkel song about the pain and sadness associated with the pains from the values of the bohemia movement. Bleecker Street is the name of the song. Sad...listen to it on YouTube.
We stopped into a nice little espresso place on the edge of Little Italy. Sam had iced tea and read the New York Times. I had iced coffee.
If you havn't been to Little Italy recently you'll see that Chinatown has been steadly encroaching and displacing many of the streets that have been traditionally Little Italy. The two nieghborhoods are very different. I asked Sam why he thought they were so different.
In a quick moment he said, "Well they are literally half a world apart. They have very different cultures, languages, histories, and religions." Good answer.
We walked down through Brooklyn to a park overloooking the Manhattan. We stopped in for a yummy, but over priced milk shake that we considered lunch.
The Statue of Liberty is in the background...look hard it's small from here.
We crossed the Brooklyn Bridge on foot today.
It is a long walk with 80 degrees temp and sunny. It was worth though.
A big breakfast at the Morning Star Cafe. We slept in a bit. We've got adventure plans today to take the 6 train down to Chinatown, Little Italy, and Soho.
We also plan to take in a cool bookstore called The Strand. Their claim to fame is 18 miles of books.
We'll see how the day plays out.
Thai food for me. Taco Bell for Sam. I'm not skimping on him, it is his favorite.
We got food to go and we are dinner on the roof top of the Pod Hotel. Awesome nightime city view.
After a very long and productive day at the Museum (we are able to have the long and productive excursionary day because we really don't have any crazy protein food episodes) we hiked through Central Park. We saw multiple weddings going on and we stopped and watched a bit in honor of Charlotte who would have thought it neat and romantic. Then after wandering through a part of the park aptly called the "ramblings", Sam hailed his first cab all by himself and we rode 20 blocks back to the hotel.
Sam remotely controls a number of cameras to focus in on colorful tree frogs...
In this activity sam works through a momovement activity to show growth in procedural memory.
This exhibit is the relative scaling of the universe and this walk around the Hayden Sphere will blow your mind and give you a fundamental basic understanding of the size of the universe both infinitely small and infinitely large.
Hanging from the ceiling is a life size model of a blue whale then all of the shark, whales, fish and various sea creaures you can imagine. God made the ocean an amazing place teaming with some craziness creativity. I love how David Wilcox sings ironcally "it was a big mistake to have eyes that see..."
It's embodies the tension that is New York City with such a history and culture that man has created...God has allowed all of this and yet most of our culture dismisses His work in the cosmos. It is sad, but it is also part of His plan. Regardless of us, He is God and He choses to redeem His creation.
We once had an Arrow Crab in our fish tank and it was a vicious self protecting animal that gave no regard for anything but itself. I suppose that is the way of the Arrow Crab. I just don't want it to be the way of me, of Sam, of us all. Tough navigating this broken world...
The giant arrow crab picture below is for Charlotte...
This is an interesting exhibit of a rain forest in the Central African Republic. Sam found it interesting.
Most people probably know this, but if you need to eat cheap in new york it's pizza...good, cheap, and easy to find. Sam found a cheese calzone with motz and ricotta that he is very fond of...
Abittino's on Second Avenue...an Italian Pizza Place run by Latinos..
