NYC 2010 November

I went to New York City for 20 days. My plan was to find a job and a place to live. I did a whole lot of walking. Manhattan is fantastic for soaking up culture. The window shopping is pretty phenomenal too. I walked past this place one night. It was so pretty I had to stop and look.

I walked into a bookstore on Broadway (not sure why). It's really nice to see a successful bookstore that's not Borders or Barnes & Noble. There was a sign out front advertising that Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office) was going to be there to give a talk. So I came back later that week and waited in line. He's very down to earth. He seems like a friendly person you'd start a conversation with instead of an untouchable celebrity. And he's a surprisingly spiritual guy.

He didn't want this book signing to be typical and boring. So he gave a little talk about the book and his spirituality. He also invited Rhett Miller a band member from The Old 97s. He played a few songs. And guess who participated?

Dwight plays a mean tamborine. Drums too.

I met up with an old friend that I've known since Kindergarten and went to school with from K-4 and 7 - graduation. Leina lives in Brooklyn and works for BAM which gives her FREE MOVIES at several theaters all over town! We went to see Strange Powers. In the movie, they showed a guy going to the actual movie theater we were sitting in! Maybe that's why I like New York so much. You feel like you're in a movie all the time.

She also took me to a Vietnamese sandwich shop where I had a pork belly sandwich. TAAAAASTYYY.

I went to the Brooklyn Museum, which is amazing! This museum is really nice inside. And they have excellent exhibits. If you don't want a huge museum like the Met and you don't want tiny little galleries, Brooklyn Museum is right in the middle and it's fantastic. The admission is just a suggested donation of $10.

They have a great African art collection. I've seen a fair share of African art, and they had stuff I had never seen before. There's an Egyptian exhibit that has stuff from different ancient time periods. They have real mummies! There's also a really unique exhibit where you can go behind the scenes in storage where they keep all the art you don't see. It reminds me of that place in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the Ministry of Magic where the prophecy is.

Of course there's central park. It's so wonderful that a place like Central Park could exist in a town known for it's skyscrapers.

This is another park (sort of) that stretches all along the West side of Manhattan. There's a bike/running route where you can go from the top of Central Park all the way down to the bottom where the Financial District is.

I ran across this park after looking at a great apartment in the upper west side. This was one of my favorite apartments that I saw. The best part is that it's a typical size for Manhattan, but it's a loft. The "bedroom" is tucked above the kitchen and bathroom. So you save a lot of space. This one cost $1,725/month.

If you know me, you know I love the subway. It's a big reason why I love NYC. And street performers are everywhere. This guy had a really unique drum set that I had never seen before. And this little girl stood their swaying to the beat.

I also saw this on the subway and thought it was a really sweet image.