I had been needing a weekend away – and Manhattan hit the spot this weekend. We took an early bus from DC to NYC on Friday morning, and spent the afternoon wandering, first in Central Park – I wanted to see Strawberry Fields, and just sit in the park – then in “DUMBO” (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, an artsy/parky area in Brooklyn that required a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, which was really cool) I can’t say how great it is to have friends living in the East Village, especially friends as gracious and laid back as Jordan and Amanda. Being able to stay with them means getting to experience the city in a very different way – as if their neighborhood, too, is a friend we get to know a little better each time we go. I only carried my phone, so my photos are grainy and entirely unedited – gritty, like the East Village. Wonderful things not pictured below include: two cats on leashes in Central Park, eating grass and lying in the sun; sightings of Frances McDormand and Bill Heder in the West Village; Improvised Shakespeare; puppies playing with a balloon; bagels from Russ & Daughters with names like the Fancy Delancy and the Heebster; the huge pigeon poop that landed in my hair; my cool t-shirt purchases.
Saxophone under a bridge in Central Park - moody acoustics, lovely.
Under another Central Park bridge, on our way to Strawberry Fields.
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
This is a *WAFFLE TRUCK* from which one can buy, at ungodly hours of night, warm crispy waffles topped with all manner of decadent things. I may or may not have had a waffle topped with Nutella and powdered sugar.
In Soho, the work of famous graffiti artist, Banksy.
In Soho, the New York City Earth Room. An art installation: a small loft filled two feet with rich, damp dirt. Photos were prohibited. This soil has been in this room since 1977.
This is Kay, and she merits a post of her own later this week.
Baubles for sale from street vendors in Soho. It was as if Etsy had set up shop on the sidewalks.
Amanda (writer of Tastee Pudding) and our table of afternoon sustinence.
Monkey and Dragon refueling after an afternoon of roaming.
We all took some time to take pictures, tweet and check email - of course!
The Brooklyn Bridge, from the walking path.
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First I want to say to Jon Stewart and his “Rally to Restore Sanity” crowd, welcome to our city. We’ve been waiting for you! It’s been two years of over-wrought red-staters with misspelled signs, fanny packs and racial epithets leaving McDonald’s wrappers in their wake for those of us who call the nation’s capital home. We need a real party – not a tea party. A party like we threw on November 3 (and well into November 4th), 2009. You know what I’m talking about. 
