La Caccina The Parting Glass (by LaCaccina)
La Caccina, your voices slay me. Amazing women.
NYC, or the surprises of a grand metropolis, or panic attack on 110th and Broadway
New York City was spectacular. With ups and downs and many in-betweens it was quite an experience. I’ll outline the goings-on of each day:
Monday
Woke up promptly at 7 am to get ready to catch a train (NJ Transit) from Ridgewood, NJ to Secaucus Jct to Penn Station, NYC. Once I was in the city, I met up with Kiera at Penn Station and we took the 1 train at 34th up to 110th to meet up with James D. Dropped my shit off at James’ place until I could leave it with my man. We went to see the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Wow. It is SO beautiful; it is very much on par with le Notre Dame de Paris, and I found it magnificent how it’s still under construction. We are witnessing the same thing as our predecessors in medieval Europe. Then we went to the Hungarian Pastry Shop on 110th. It was great. I had an apple strudel and a cappuccino, talked about shit with James and Kiera. Oh, not to mention the fact that we saw Christopher Walken there, enjoying his coffee and newspaper in the corner. I’m sure he noticed our frequent glances in his direction, but you can’t blame us: a) he’s Christopher Walken, and b) his hair is AMAZINGLY insane. After that we split up with James as he had a doctor’s appointment. Kiera and I took the 1 train down to 50th street to go to MOMA, had a brief walk around Times Square and decided that we’d go find the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. First we found St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, not what we were looking for. However, once we found the church we realized that they were just starting a spoken mass, so I, aspiring to be a priest, dragged Kiera (actually she was quite willing) in and we celebrated mass. Unbelievable. My acroecclesiological senses were overwhelmed by even the remnants of incense in the air. After mass, we found our way to MOMA and decided that it would be worth it to pay the $12 student fee. So worth it. Between Bauhaus, Tim Burton, Van Gogh, Monet, Rothko, and who knows what else, I felt incredibly cultured. There were also an incredible number of gay couples at MOMA, ranging from high school age to elderly. It made me long for my man, who was up with friends on the upper west side. Anyways, we then met up with James again and went to the Burger Joint at le Parker Meridien from the 56th St. entrance. What a delicious burger! We proceeded to head to SoHo to do some (window) shopping, went to Topman and Uni Qlo, which was a fantastic experience and made me realize the inadequacy of my closet. Lastly we went to the Village Tavern and El Burrito Diablo (I think that was the name) and had some nice beer and flaming shots. I went back uptown with James and picked up my stuff, met my man outside and went back to his place to chill and meet his mom.
Tuesday
Woke up around 9 after a magnificent night with Joe, went to Cafe Mila, a little greek cafe on (or around) 96th. Great food, and pretty inexpensive. Had scrambled eggs, home fries, toast, and a coffee. Went up to meet Joe’s old roommate from freshman year who is now at Columbia. Interesting fella. Went on a walk with him and Joe through Riverside Park, soaked in the nice weather and talked a bit. Went back and chilled at Chris’ (Joe’s old roommate) place with Joanna and Sarah for a bit, then I separated and went downtown (Greenwich Village) to meet up with Kiera, Cooper, and Kiera’s friend from Venezuela (who’s attending NYU). He’s German-Venezuelan, which I thought was awesome. Ate at Cooper’s mom’s place, a nice restaurant called Jack’s Place, I believe. Great food, good portions, lot’s of flavor. Had a brisket sandwich with fries and a salad and shared some of Jean-Claude’s and Kiera’s mac and cheese, which was fan-freaking-tastic! After, went with Jean-Claude and Kiera to 5th Ave to do some window shopping. Nice, but not too great. Had been hoping to meet up with Joe, but it didn’t work out at that time. After much walking I decided I’d head back uptown so I picked up the 1 train at Christopher St. and Waverly Pl. Got off at 96 and found my way back to Joe’s nest, met up with Joanna and Sarah and did a little window shopping on the Upper West Side, but got pretty tired so I went and crashed back at Joe’s place. Later that evening we all went out to this place called the Heights on 111th and Broadway. I didn’t have anything, because I was still full from my earlier meal. Went back to Chris’ place and hung out, while Chris went to go practice sax. Opened up a Svedka and made some Screwdrivers. Played “I Have” as an alternative to “Never Have I Ever”, which was a nice way to learn some interesting stories. The alcohol loosened me up, which was great, because I had been pretty tense. After a while some other Columbia students came over and we had some interesting discussions, had a good luck shot before going back downtown with the crew. Went back down to Christopher St. and went to the Fat Cat, a nice jazz bar with billiards, ping pong, some sort of shuffleboard alternative, and chess. Inebriated chess is a lot of fun, albeit fairly difficult. Played Joe and won. We ended up heading back uptown, after two of our members ran out due to high levels of intoxication. Joe and I went back to his place, and crashed.
Wednesday
Joe and I woke up and went to Cafe Mila again, had some good discussion, then went to the subway to go our separate ways. I picked up the C train downtown to Penn Station, met up with Kiera, and went back to Jersey. What a trip!
