Kaitlin and Emily do New York: 10 March 2009.

On our second day in New York, we drove in with Emily's friend, who had graciously offered to have us stay with her family in New Jersey, and some friends of hers as well. We did not have nearly as much luck finding parking as Emily and I had had the day before, but eventually we found a space that wouldn't involve wedging a piece of cardboard and nudging the car behind us (as an obliging man suggested we do at the first spot we tried) and made our way over to Central Park.



Just walking down the street was fascinating. Even in cold, blustery March, the city was beautiful.



The Met was open this time, and I submerged myself in the old masters. I found this Rembrandt, depicting Aristotle contemplating the bust of Homer, which correlated incredibly with the book I'm currently reading (in my spare time, so not very much at all...), Whose Justice? Which Rationality? by Alasdair MacIntyre.

There are only 35 known Vermeers in existence, and the Met had four of them. So awesome.

There were so many Monets, Renoirs, and Van Goghs that I was more than a little overwhelmed. It would take a lifetime to fully appreciate their collection.

I had an idea of finding Holden Caulfield's sarcophagus, but it turns out there are a ton of sarcophagi in the Egyptian exhibit, so I just made sure I got a picture by at least one.

The Egyptian section was truly brilliant. From a partial tomb that you could walk into, to jewelry crafted from precious stones, to scrolls of papyrus running down the walls, I could have spent the whole day there.

Emily and I beside Queen Hapshetsut, who had an entire room devoted to her.

Can I just say that I love public transportation? Such a good idea.

We enjoyed all the sights and smells, like slabs of raw fish for sale on the sidewalk, which was both a sight and a smell.

We had a good time haggling with the shopkeepers and picking up souvenirs.

Then we headed over to Times Square. Emerging from the subway moments after being in Chinatown was a little surreal, and a lot of fun.

From left: Emily, her brother, her brother's fiancee, her friend we stayed with, and me.

I was excited to see the NASDAQ.

Everything was so shiny and flashing and bright. I could have stood there looking forever.

We found some exciting mirrors in the ladies' room at Toys r Us.

We also found a giant Barbie house there.

Emily and I toured Times Square for a bit more (here we are in front of Radio City Music Hall) before meeting her brother and his fiancee and her cousin and his girlfriend for dinner at a little Thai place. Her cousin's girlfriend works at a publishing company in New Jersey, so I talked to her about her industry for a while, and she basically gave me the same advice James McBride did last semester: get an internship in New York. "You'd probably be sharing an apartment in Brooklyn," she said. "But lots of people do it." I said I'd think about it.

I was also super excited to walk past the New York Times.

And the Dow Jones. As we had walked around all day, we had realized that there was an inordinate amount of black, puffy quilted coats on the streets, and so every time we saw one, we'd whisper a code phrase, culled from a sign we'd passed: "Hot bagel." There were a lot of hot bagels. And Washington D.C. would have a hot bagel of its own, which is where we headed next.