The Van Blog: The Big Apple

Yesterday we left Brooklyn, NY after a fun-filled, action-packed two days in NYC. After going back and forth about a dozen times about whether or not to drive into the city or leave the van outside of the city and take a train in, we decided to put our apprehensions aside and fair the traffic into The Big Apple… and it wasn't without a few stressful moments. Not only did we run into a height problem on several roads leaving Connecticut (we are not 100% sure how tall the van is with the sky box on top, but it’s probably somewhere in the 8’ – 8’6” range, but for sure under 9’ because we successfully went under a 9 foot over pass) causing us to take several random scenic routes, but the bridge from the Bronx to Queens was being worked on which meant lanes were narrowed and closed, then once we got into Queens the traffic came to a complete standstill on the freeway long enough for cars to start off-roading over medians and making the shoulders into extra lanes. But we finally made into Brooklyn and found parking on the street where my old friend from Sophomore year in High School, Kira, and her husband Nino and their 6 month old daughter, Olivia live and where we would be staying the next two nights. Once parked our stress level went down about 95%. We grabbed lunch at Bark, a cutting edge hot dog shop that grills their dogs and the buns in butter… so there is no question as to why this was by far the best hot dog I have ever had (thanks to Kira for the recommendation). After that we made our comical subway debut by taking the first train the wrong direction, then after getting turned back around and going the right direction, letting our next train come and go as we stood there unsure of our decisions… but we eventually got where we were trying to go, which was the Museum of Metropolitan Art or The Met. The Met was simply amazing. We could have spent 3 days there, but we only spent 3 hours. We didn’t see the whole thing, but the exhibits we did see were fantastic. We spent most of our time in the Ancient Egypt/Nubian wing which included the Temple of Dendur. We may never get the chance to go to Egypt, so this really felt like the next best thing. My other favorite was the modern art exhibit and specifically Georgia O’Keefe’s florals, which are some of my favorite art ever and give me some of my best inspiration. I was also able to check off seeing a Pablo Picasso painting from my bucket list. On Saturday we spent the day in Brooklyn with Kira – which was cool because she is a friend I had semi lost touch with after she transferred schools in 10^th grade and then went far away to college at NYU, but in the last several years we have reconnected. So she showed us some local favorites including the Grand Army Greenmarket (or Farmer’s Market), New York Pizza under the Brooklyn bridge, a walk in the park along the Hudson River with great views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty and finally dinner at her parent’s house, which was a treat because they are a family of chefs. A special thanks to Judy and Robert, Kira’s parents, for having us over for dinner Saturday night and for the delicious shark & steak tacos. And an even bigger thank you to Kira and Nino de Paola for letting us stay while visiting what many consider to be the greatest city in the world.