Spring Things

I had the most lovely weekend.

What is better than spending time in one of your favorite cities, with someone who actually lives there who can show you some pretty awesome things? Things, that even though you've been visiting Manhattan since you were 10, you never knew existed.

Seeing as one of the most notable things about this weekend was seeing Das Rheingold, the first opera of Wagner's epic Ring Cycle that I've been obsessed with for years, I'll start with the second most notable thing about this weekend: The weather.

Flowers blooming in the old railroad tracks of the High Line. 

The weather was gorgeous. It was the first time in a long time that I could actually feel spring approaching, saw some flowers blooming, and had a marvelous time walking around the city. Not to mention that the company present was one of the reasons why this weekend was so great.

Other reasons why this weekend was amazing?


1.) The High Line.

The High Line is an urban park, built along on old rail line that is elevated above the streets of Manhattan, so that it actually goes past the windows of apartments (a good reason to keep your living room clean). Aside from adding a new perspective to how you look at buildings, it also offers great views of the Hudson, street traffic, and modern architecture. It runs from West 34th street to the Meatpacking district, where we caught a few minutes of Nummer Negen, the day I didn't turn with the world. It is essentially a video of the artist who created it, standing at the north pole for a span of 24 hours, slowly rotating in the opposite direction that the earth is spinning. The video was about nine minutes long, and I started to get really cold just by watching only a few minutes.

The concept of having seats overlooking a New York city street. Pretty cool. 

2.) Learning a lot about modern architecture.

Architecture is an art form, and I learned quite a bit just from seeing a few buildings along the High Line. The building in the picture below that is all the way to the left is the IAC building, designed by Frank Gehry. It's inspiration is...a sailboat; a glass schooner of a workplace. I really wish I had taken more pictures, but I was having such a great time that I didn't feel like constantly documenting everything. I guess next time I should find a happy medium.

Beautiful buildings. Architectural genius.

3.) Kafana

After a long walk through the East Village (we did walk in the wrong direction for a little while), we finally found Kafana, one of the coolest restaurants I've ever been to. Cool for me at least, seeing as it's strictly a Serbian restaurant, and I've never actually had Serbian food. I've also never really heard anyone speak Serbian before, and I'm happy to say that there was plenty of that as well. I had to look up the menu, because there is no way I would have remembered what I had. We started with an order of Lepinja sa kajmakom, traditional bread with a cheesy spread (even though I have issues with lactose, it was totally worth a few bites). For dinner I had dimljena vesalica, which was smoked pork neck...dude. Amazing. I even got to try some Cevapi, which is another traditional dish that was apparently - because I wouldn't know - spot on with the way it was supposed to taste. Topped off with a refreshing beer and lots of water, it was the perfect end to our quest through the city. (We also stumbled upon a little tea shop, that was totally cute and unrefined yet homey). 

4. Central Park. 

Until now, my favorite moment in Central Park involved eating a gingerbread cookie with some hot apple cider around Christmas time last year. I've never really experienced the park in the spring, and now my favorite moment in Central Park is the following: Simply eating lunch that we ordered at the Boathouse Express Cafe, sitting outside, in the sunshine, and talking. We shared an order of french fries as well, and then walked it off through scenic park.

That's the other thing about this weekend. There was a lot of walking. I didn't exactly run, but oh man was I walking. 

Like a Fairy Tale. 

Those are just a few note worthy adventures that were had this weekend, not to mention seeing Rheingold up close and personal, eating more amazing food, listening to even more great music, having great conversations, and having time to practice in the midst of having all this fun.

And I leave you, with a really great song. "No, I regret nothing".