Day 2; Misguided misadventures

Day 2. 28/12/17. Thursday.

Off to the met this morning.. but at a Dunkin doughnuts met a guy who had a lot to say and no one to say it to. A New Yorker with strong sociological and historical opinions and also really wrong ideas. I just end up walking out of there cause i had already wasted 20 minutes not knowing how to get away from him and left him with the arguments he had started as other shoppers had overheard and began to react to his discriminating statements. By his age though, hes already found that loud arguments trump correct ones in this day and age of apathy. Especially while in public.

So i start to make my way to the Metropolitan Meuseum when..

When I get there, the line on one side streached to the edge of one wing and than back again to the doors. The priority line streached in the otherside in exactly the same fashion. I stood for a couple moments there wondering what to do, got a hotdog from a hotdog stand, and turned away. Too frozen to wait more than half an hour in lines, I duck into some random place that seemed to not be too discerning about randoms. The New York Society Library. This gives me a place to plan the next forray into this concrete wilderness.

Legit cabbage looking plants in every planterbox outside these big fancy buildings. Cracks me up. Perhaps they are a brussel sprout gone to seed, or something, I dunno. Some purple, some white. Hilarious either way.

So, anyway, I decide to try see the biggest library in the city. The New York Public Library. Too bad my Google-Fu was weak, and trying to find it led me to a few options. So I chose one and went.
Invariably.. to the wrong place..

When we did get to the real one though, by god. The masonry and woodwork was astounding. This is the building you see in movies and TV shows with the great hall and the two lions out the front. 

 

The whole place was the epitome of grandeur and blew me away at the love and skill people had put into making this building what it was. Absolutely staggered at the detail and labor to make the wooden paneling and marble everything. Even down to the lego lion in front of the kids section.

The day was getting on now, and I got to meet up with Dana again at 4pm. Walked so fast through Times Square I couldn't take any photos. The moment I looked up I was scurrying to catch up to her again. Definitely some next level people dodging skills to weave between all the other pedestrians but on the plus side I didn't knock anyone over! May have been a few close calls but definitely didn't actually shoulder charge into anyone.We went first to Madame Tussauds. The famous attraction with lifelike famous figures cast in wax before you. 

A info sign said that they take thousands of photos of the people if they're still alive, and make everything as lifelike as possible. This mental Goliath next to me, was actually this tall had I actually stood beside him in real life! As amusing as it was, I walk away most humbled by the historical leaders of people. Of people that at the height of their power had charisma that affected millions of people to follow and believe in them and their message. Malcom X. Ghandi. Abraham Lincoln. Even Stalin had an eerie reverence to him for that very fact.

And Oh, whats New York without a little King Kong that breathes on your neck as you walk past..

So we go to an Italian restaurant for dinner. The sicilian themed Il Corallo Trattoria. One that servers proper and true Italian comfort food.. I swear to god, it did not even have carbonara on the menu. Was too authentic for that crap. 

The Mikittrick Hotel -Sleep No More Experience. 

When we walk in we get given a playing card before walking into a 1930s themed jazz bar. We get called into an elevator after 20 minutes depending on our card and so got separated. In the elevator we were given a super creepy mask and told a little history. The hotel was supposed to be the next big high end hotel in Manhattan when it was built, but building it eventually made the owner bankrupt. Staff had transformed the hotel into this immersive theater experience and we were to explore it to our own leisure. The choice of where to go and what to see was ours, but never remove the mask, and do not make a sound. This allowed everyone to, without thought to anyone's experience expect our own, decide how or what to be interested in. 

It was set up with creepy music everywhere, and curious things to look at at every turn. There were actors and actresses playing out in different rooms different interactions. One moments being still gazing into a mirror the next bolting as if for dear life down a hallway and ducking into a secret passageway. A small group of masked witnesses running hard to keep up and ultimately getting more lost into the greater story. Big fight scenes happening in a dance style in the great ballroom, to parkour and flips in a hallway, to an Asian maid, cutting paper people ribbons to hang in her small shack, cornered at the end of a maze made from a hundred saplings planted into the wooden floor. Scenes of suicide, of murder, of whores and debauchery. Sex leading a mistress to force her worker to abortion. 

Because I was alone and stayed in the same room for a time, I got special treatment. An actress, a lady in red, walked into the room slowly. approached me and got real close. Whispered in my ear to do as she says. Seconds later a horde of white masked people come in. She begins her monologue before taking my hand and running around a corner, forcing me up against a padded wall. She whispers 'stay right here for a moment' before running further down through a hallway, white masks in hot pursuit. 30 seconds later, part of the wall opens up behind me, which she drags me into. We're in a small red lit room with vials and potions. She opens one up and offers the drink. I take it, and find it to be only water. She beings telling a story, a tale of a boy searching for a way to help an old woman. I agree, he should help. She nods, and pushes me into another room, completely dark. Her tale ends with her hands clutching my face, voice swelling and filling the void. How foolish the boy must be to help. How the woman was a witch and the boy would get lost forever in the dark woods. How he should scream and cry out for his life as he wanders delusional int the dark. So.. I screamed. I play along. And after about a minute, as they die away, a door to one side of me opens, and I find myself in a different area of the hotel, but one I had explored earlier. As I stumble out rubbing my eyes in the brightness of a nearby lamp, the wall shuts behind me and I realize that with all the sound effects and creepy music, anyone walking past would have heard me screaming, and assumed it was mearly part of the atmosphere. 

That 1930s jazz bar was tempting to stay in and watch the band play but all the seats were reserved for other guests and I needed some fresh air so we headed out to explore a little nightlife, perhaps go to a different cocktail bar within walking distance. Learned about mixologists and how in NYC it really dosent matter how alcoholic or not a drink is. It MUST, bottom line, taste good.

We go to a speakeasy after this cocktail bar. By the till and coffe machine,there is a coat check, a DJ, and security. We drop our coast off and walk through a wee curtain behind a pot plant to find a large room, with several booths with 4-8 people in them. Waitresses, Barmen, wow. Just super classy. Everything is pretty dimly lit and this place was loud as we sat almost directly under a speaker but it was fine could still talk through the house music and local rap. Got a teapot with piping hot liquor, which got served with a teacup that has star anise and a slice of apple in the cup. As I said.. delicious is the bottom line around here and while I could tell it was strong, the heat and spices in it made it dangerously tasty. 

Finished up at the bar around 3:30 am, and said farewell to the fair lady.