Frosty NYC Day Trip

My friend Jess and I had been planning a trip to New York City since November. She hates winter, and she thought it would be fun to have something to look forward to, so we picked a random day in January that worked for both of us. Little did we know that Tuesday January 19th would be the coldest day of the year (17 degrees Fahrenheit but felt like -4 with the windchill!!!).... but since we had nonrefundable bus tickets we decided to just say "Eff it, let's go anyway!". I wore a pair of tights under my jeans, a thermal long sleeved shirt under my wool sweater, two scarves, tall boots, and we were on our way!

... I thought I had a lot more photos for this post, but upon looking back, I didn't take many photos at all. (Pretty much all of these are from the MoMA.) Our biggest focus was staying warm, so there was no way I was taking off my gloves and pulling my phone out at every street corner. We stopped into a tiny bagel place for breakfast as soon as we got off the bus, then started our walk up to the MoMA, stopping at the NY public library and a random crystal place along the way. We shared a flourless chocolate cake in the MoMA cafeteria before wandering around the galleries. (They had a Van Gogh sculpture special exhibit, and a Jackson Pollock special exhibit!) After looking at art for a few hours, we walked through Central Park to go indulge in all sorts of delicious things at Bar Boulud. We sat there for way longer than we probably should have (and spent way more money than we probably should have... OMG, French food!) and then slowly walked back to the bus station and caught an earlier bus home than planned. There were a ton more things we had planned for our trip, but ultimately the cold got the best of us.

I can't even begin to describe how immensely huge this was, and what it felt like to stand in front of it.



Pollock's doodles may be even better than his paintings, in my opinion.



This was so much smaller than I expected it to be!



Simply amazing to see in real life.



I wanted to take home this giant fossil we saw at the crystal place.



Random, but does anyone else think this looks like Lloyd?! Same markings!



Go home, Marine; you're drunk.
Even though we were freezing our buns off, we ended up having a great time in the city together. We've already started talking about taking another trip in the spring time, when we can enjoy some of the outdoor things the city has to offer. Although I grew up frequently going to New York City because my father worked there and it was only a 1.5 hour train ride from home, this was my first time visiting the city as an adult. I hadn't been back to NYC in about 6 years! It was a lot of fun going there with a girlfriend who knows her way around the city and who loves indulging in the same things I do. But next time, I'm looking forward to being a little less bundled up!