New York weekend

Laura asked to hear more about living in New York, so here is some. Don't worry, Shannon! I will write about bread making soon as well!

Anyway, this weekend R and I went to see Bodies: The Exhbition. This is one of those exhibitions where actual human bodies are dissected in interesting ways and we can see how all the muscles and organs work. It was pretty cool, but R and I were a little underwhelmed as it wasn't totally amazing, as we had heard. We decided you can only look at so many muscles. There was a cool part that just showed the circulatory system. They injected a polymer into the system, it hardened into plastic, and then they dissolved the rest of the body away. It left behind these really beautiful and feathery structures. We also really liked the embryo/fetus room. Especially the embryos. I find it amazing to think about how we were all little single celled things once, and now look at us! R wanted to see more diseases, and I would have liked more organs systems. Organs are cooler to me than muscles.

So that was fun, although it took us a million years to get there. It was located on the A train, which we also live on. So at first you think, hey! No prob! The prob is we are impatient and the museum is pretty much on the exact opposite end of Manhattan from us. Usually the A runs express for quite a bit, so it is fast, but it has not been doing so lately due to construction on the C. Anyway, we get on the A, then remember we have to switch anyway to another A, because of other construction. We decide to outsmart the system and instead switch to the 1, which we will then take to the 2 or the 3 as one of them is allegedly express (isn't this fun to talk about?). We attempt this, get off the 1 to go to the 2 or 3 and find a sign that says no! The 2 and 3 are not running where we want to go. Then there is a very confusing sign saying something about the 5 running on the 2 but only as far as blah-de blah, but then we can take the 6 to the P to the Q or something ridiculous. We finally ascertained that the only train going to our destination was the A, so we got back on the 1, then back on the A, and finally arrived. Whew. On the way back we learned our lesson and just sat on the A the whole way. No problemo.

This discussion of subways is what, to me, makes NYC so unique. People like to talk about New York being special in lots of ways, but to me it is mostly just big. I am not enthralled by its 'specialness'. But the subway conversations are awesome! Nearly every time I am out the evening ends with "OK, I'll see you later, is the 2 near here?" "You can get the 2 at 32nd Street, but why don't you take the 9 to the 2?" "I don't like the 9, but can't I get the G at 30th and take that to the P to the 2?" "No, the P is not running this week, but you could take the J to the L." I love it! It is hilarious! I also overhear conversations like that all the time, and I think in depth discussions of the merits of different subway lines will always be New York to me.