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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Nighttime at Columbia University

This Monday, I finally got around to taking the long exposures around Columbia University that had been on my to-do list.  I'm so glad that I didn't put this off any longer.

Columbia University

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Rainy Day in NYC

We had an entire day tour scheduled for Monday, but it was rainy.

NYC

The Guggenheim Museum NYC

The Guggenheim Museum in NYC is open to donation of choice (we each paid $1) on Saturdays after 5 PM.  The line wraps all the way around the street corner.  There's strictly no photography inside the museum designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, which is a bit of a bummer, but understandable.

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Friday, July 5, 2013

4th of July in NYC

We had the day off for Independence Day.  Our only real plan was to watch the Macy's Fireworks over the Hudson River, but we didn't really know how to go about doing that.  The Macy's website listed where the barges would be and where to view from, but we didn't know how early it was necessary to be there to reserve spots.  We also didn't know if we'd be allowed to bring coolers, chairs, and the like for holding spots after reading mixed reviews online.  I decided it was worth it to try to bring my travel tripod.

We got off the subway at 34th Street, and after talking to our friends who were ahead of us getting there, we knew that we needed to start moving south.  We ended up finding a location at 30th and 10th, right by the High Line.  Because of the construction, it wasn't the prettiest view.

I think by the time we finally got settled, it was 7:50 PM.  We thought fireworks started at 8:30 PM, but they ended up starting at 9.

Macy's 4th of July Fireworks

Macy's 4th of July Fireworks

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Empire State Building

I guess my reward for getting my work done Sunday afternoon was that I was free to go to the Empire State Building with a friend that night.  It was his last night in NYC, and he really wanted to go to the top of the Empire State Building.  Being one of the only ones finished, I got to go with him.

The Empire State Building is open until 2AM.  We arrived on Sunday around 11PM.  Luckily for us, the skies had finally cleared (there was zero visibility from the top earlier that day).

Empire State Building

There was absolutely no line for tickets.  We walked right in.  Tickets to the 86th floor are $25, and you can pay an extra $17 to go to a higher viewing platform.  We stuck with the $25 ticket.  They also advertised $50 passes which let you skip the lines, but there were no lines for us to skip.  We walked right through.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

NYC Sightseeing

This past week, we had a friend in architecture from Germany visit us in New York City.  He's been here for 11 months and on his last hoorah before he heads back to Munich in a week.  So I took the opportunity to tag along as he visited the must-sees on his NYC list.

NYC

This is also when we got scammed by the street performers.

NYC Discoveries: Never Prepay for a Street Show

NYC

On Saturday, we were headed to check out the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center when a crowd of people caught our eye.  When we got closer, we realized it was a street show.  There were 5-6 young black males with ripped out bodies who were very clever and entertaining when describing their show.  My initial thoughts were, "Okay, this is going to be cool."  Which is why I was slightly caught off guard but not put off when they requested that we pay in advance, explaining that normally for a show like this, they'd perform, and we'd all leave (understandable, I thought).  So they came around with bags to collect money, and the three of us each got out a dollar to donate.  As the performers circled the crowd, collecting money, they'd yell, "Stop the show!  Someone just donated $10.  A black guy!"  "Stop the show!  Another person just donated $10.... another black guy!  If the black guys are donating $10, shouldn't the white guys be donating $20, $50?"  Then they kept doing this thing with the last person to donate - "The last person to donate is from Australia... going once... going twice..." and did that three times until they pried money out of three more people.  The three of us looked to each other, complaining that this had gone on way too long.  Finally, it was time to start the show.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Magnolia Bakery

Cupcakes are very popular in New York City. And Magnolia Bakery is the shop that perhaps started the cupcake craze in the mid-90s (there is a very informative Wikipedia Article on Magnolia Bakery).  We passed it while walking down Bleecker Street and couldn't resist the temptation to get cupcakes.

It's very crowded and unorganized inside.  The cupcakes are serve-yourself and located on the left side of the bakery as you enter.  There are signs saying that if you touched it, you bought it.  However, there is no one there to monitor that.  So it's not surprising to me that the famous bakery was briefly closed by the New York Department of Health in 2007 due to health code violations.

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The bakery has gotten a lot of airtime.  It was featured in the 2005 Lonely Island "Lazy Sunday" digital short on SNL, as well as Sex in the City.