NYC
Stopped by all the regular spots, UNION, Reed Space, Alife etc..
In Soho, on Spring Street, there's a tiny little pick-up window for a place called Baked by Melissa where they sell miniature stuffed cupcakes for a buck each.
They're pretty damn amazing. And I don't even really like most cupcakes. We stopped by this place about 3 times in less than 2 days. There's a Sprinkles down the street from my new place in Newport and believe me, if Baked by Melissa makes their way out west they will put Sprinkles out of business.
Stopped by the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. They had sort of a weird exhibit on the ground floor; all about felt. Couldn't take pictures inside, so, just let your imagination run wild.
Rucker park
Saw the Francis Bacon exhibit at the Met. His early works were pretty cool. His later stuff, with the distorted figures and paint globs, I didn't really like as much. Outside the museum, Ruchir bought a Wolverine poster from a street vendor. I guess all these museum and studio visits haven't quite yet matured his sense of art appreciation.
Our last night in the city we stopped by this place Lombardi's. The plaque outside states that they're the oldest pizzeria in the country, established in 1904. And, as you can see, the awning outside claims that Zagat rated them 'Best on the Planet'. Bottom line, the atmosphere is ok, the breadsticks are horrible, the pizza is good and slightly different. Main problem was that it was super expensive. Plus, I don't think anyone can live up to 'Best on the Planet' level hype. If you're in the city, save your money, head down the street and buy a few dozen miniature cupcakes instead. You'll be much happier, trust me.
D.C.
International Spy Museum
Crazy to think that a street artist and 'vandal' like Shepard Fairey now has a piece hanging in the National Portrait Gallery. I had to see it for myself. They also had a cool exhibit of modern portrait photographers including a guy named Alec Soth who had some pretty interesting work.
Portrait of Abe from which the image on the copper penny is derived. Kind of cool.
Also stopped by Georgetown University one night to play some tennis. Between sets I wandered into their gym looking for a drinking fountain and I ran into a few of the players from their basketball team having an informal summer shootaround. (Ruchir had a few photos of us inside the gym which I would've posted here, but they included a shot of me dunking on one of the Georgetown players in a pick up game and a Nike rep made us delete the images before we could leave).
Anyway, all in all, very good trip. Back to California where the humidity is much more bearable.
