6/28/08 CT, New York & Pennsylvania

Chapter 3: In which Liz gets lost in the Met, and the and the ladies find Mirth (Complete with Business Card)
After Apples to Apples late into the night I slept in my own bed and Ria slept at Jen & Cole's. I woke up ready to go and we had a nice part of the morning at with Jen, Cole and Dave M., in which everybody was sleepy and then had waffles.
Then we ventured off to NYC. I drove much of the way but Ria is officially our city driver. I make good time on highways, and am comfortable in small cities and towns, but not big confusing or unfamiliar cities. We parked near Greenwich village. We went to Bluestockings, which had a cafe that consisted of drinks, and a few breads and cookies. I was thinking cafe meant a little more, but that was alright. From there we had public transportation adventures getting to the Met. (Technically that picture is from later in the day, but whatever.)
I had never been to the met before.

"Tomtom does not really help you inside the Met."- Me
It is unfortunate that this is true, because the Met is kind of insane, and easy to get lost. in 19th & 20th century European Paintings I wandered away from Ria and got lost. I called her from a room with vaguely impressionistic and colorful paintings. I apparently got Ria yelled at by a Met guard for using her cell phone. However I consider losing people in the Met and emergency which warrants cell phone usage. I then found Monet, and Ria found me so all was well.
I got us yelled at at least one more time because I used flash photography to capture the bodhisattva, after which Ria showed me how to turn the flash off on my camera.
Later in the trip we got both got lost in Greek and Roman art and I thoroughly considered drinking my coke so I would get yelled at and hopefully escorted out of the building by the Met guards. But we found our way out on our own.

After the Met we walked through Central Park in which we learned exactly what the effect of Liz watching too much Law and Order & Law & order SVU is.
"Look there's a couple of tourist's sleeping on the benches.........Unless they're dead."-me
Ria just looked at me.
We then went by the theater in the park to the castle. It rained. It was a hot day in the city, so rain was not the worst thing. Ria was thrilled by the weather. I was "meh"

The part that made me happy was going to Max Brenner's where we got chocolate for our soon to be host and ourselves. I also had the Chocolate Granita which was heavenly and we chatted up the server who was very fine looking man and, of course, trying to be an actor (sorry didn't think to get a picture) .
Sadly we did not get to see Gina as she was checking in with sick relatives, but I wish her family well.
It was on the road again after that. Ria learned to trust Tomtom a little better after it got us out of the city. We headed through Jersey, and around 9ish realized we hadn't eaten much in the way of real food since the waffles. We had trouble finding an open restaurant where we could grab something quick, so we headed for the A&P where I got Hummus and carrot chips which was one of the best dinners I have had in a while.

Then we got to DAVE'S!!!!!!!
I love Dave O., and if I had been smart I would have got a picture of him in the outfit he was in when we arrived, but I was too busy hugging him. He had come from the totally normal event, and was wearing a blue and purple headscarf with horns a utilikilt, without glasses, and with a great big Dave smile.
We chatted late into the night, I made him a tour poster, we chatted more then curled up to sleep.
I woke up earliest, and drew a picture and note for Trinket while waiting. (Trinket is Dave's very pretty girlfriend who I have yet to meet, but have read and heard lots about). VERY VERY soon Dave will be living with her as today Dave is moving out of the apartment we stayed in. (We have good timing) We were going to help him move, but he will not get the Uhaul until after it will be time for us to leave. So instead we hope to treat him to a fabulous breakfast.

Next up Ohio.