New York City: Guest Post!

Our New York City Adventures are chronicled below by our lovely host, Iris. Thanks, Iris! Our side notes are in bold.

So I really wanted to hear what Amanda and Betsy had to say about their trip to NYC, however, they asked me to “guest blog” about the trip. Judging by my awesome stories in the Met, sounds like they just wanted to hear more!

The trip started off with me making the girls come uptown by themselves rather than me go down and meet them, because if you know me, that’s how my lazy ass works. Not within ten minutes of them in my apartment, Betsy broke a picture in the bathroom and then I made her fish out the glass in the toilet. What a welcoming party!

We then walked to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was fun until it started to monsoon. It was great that the girls came fully prepared with no umbrellas and that my parents taught me how to share. (it's true. thanks iris!)


It took us a LOT longer to get to the museum since it was pretty much impossible to trudge through the puddles that were becoming lakes. Once inside, we dried off and enjoyed the many sights of the museum, including the guy who was busting out of his shirt because his muscles were too big for his size kids 10-12 shirt and the many tapestries that had zero descriptions of what they were, to which I provided my own color commentary. Iris taught us that many of the Egyptians couldn't read menus. They also had trouble buying birds since they were decidedly blind. And if you ever go to the Met, look for William, The Blue Hippo.

Afterwards, we went back to my apartment in an even worse rainstorm than earlier in the afternoon, which left all of us completely drenched. Mind you, I had utilized many coworkers’ opinions of where to go out and drink so that we had a really full itinerary of awesome NYC bars… which never happened because the girls had no more going out clothes since they were completely soaked. Hooray! But we made a night out of it, so nothing was lost! Instead, we feasted on all kinds of chinese food and didn't have a single sip of the mass amounts of alcohol that Iris tried to pawn off on us. But who needs to go out in NYC when its storming and you have all sorts of vegetable fried rice staring you in the face in a nice, dry, apartment?? Not me. Not I.

Every weekend in NYC there is a street festival that occurs on different avenues. To make up for a crazy Saturday, they obviously planned around us and held the street fest on 3rd Ave right outside my place! This vast awesomeness included free food (which we only discovered after we bought food… that wasn’t very good), free crap and free water bottles, which I seemed to accrue the most of.

Once we walked the entire festival (20 blocks), we headed down to Chinatown where we were immediately harassed to buy everything ("You want Gucci handbag? Handbag handbag handbag??"). Super cool! We saw live baby turtles being sold on the street, anime bobbleheads and even water filled balls that were shaped like boobs. Then we got candy! FYI never try to sample something in a candy store in china town if it isn't clearly noted as a sample. They'll follow you around like you just tried to steal a part of the Great Wall.

Next, we traveled to the East Village where we found an awesome bar that had phenomenal taste in music, like The Cardigans and Interpol. Then they played BOTH of their records in the entirety because they’re really just that good. Both of them. Then we rushed back up town to get their stuff and down to the bus where Betsy and Amanda continued their nationwide travels.

Monday night, while in Boston, I received 3 text messages one right after another from Betsy and her two siblings about the concert they were at. One was pretty detailed, one was short and to the point, one was completely blank and Amanda doesn’t have my number. I was already missed!

It's true, Iris was instantly missed. She was, however, a fabulous host! And if Amanda HAD your number, she definitely would have texted you as well. Thanks again Iris!!