New York 2015: Saturday

We started the day grabbing bagels and eating them at St. Catherine's, a nearby corner park. From there, we walked to the tram that took us to Roosevelt Island (reminiscent of the gondola that takes you to high camp at Squaw) and walked to Four Freedoms Park, and the FDR memorial.

Our original plan was to visit MoMA in the afternoon, but we rerouted and headed instead to Queens, to The Noguchi Museum. It was incredibly inspiring and peaceful—a highlight of the trip.

Eric’s favorite piece.

We spent a little longer there than expected, and by the time we made it to Soho, we were ravenous. Slices from 1A Champion Pizza hit the spot, and allowed us a few minutes rest in their seating area. Saturday’s weather was perfect–in the 70s–and the doors to the shop were flung open and the people watching was good.

We strolled around Soho, stopping at The Apartment, COS, Patagonia, Storefront for Art and Architecture, Amarcord and Balthazar Bakery. It’s hard to resist the cobblestone streets and the charming architecture, even when surrounded by consumerism. We weren’t able to schedule a tour of Donald Judd’s studio, but it is certainly on our list for the next visit.

After we had our fill of the cool part of town, we headed to Aji Ichiban in Chinatown, in pursuit of dried mango (somehow, it is only available in their NY or LA shop, not online!). Eric was skeptical, but one bite and he was convinced. ;D We stopped into the New Museum’s lobby and gift shop, though didn’t have the stamina to check out any exhibits. After one last stroll back through the Bowery, we headed to the UES to rest before heading to dinner in the East Village, at Misoya.

Yet another delicious meal, Misoya offers 3 distinct vegetarian ramens and both of our bowls were delicious. From there we headed to Smalls Jazz Club in the West Village and listened to the Joe Farnsworth quartet. We didn’t make it back to the West Village during the day, but I look forward to spending more time there on return trips.