Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Brief report

I'm leaving NYC in 2 hours; I was here for 2 full days - Mon & Tue. Here's a brief rundown of what new things I did.

Sightseeing
1) Lower Manhattan walk with NYCbyfoot. I've never heard of them before, and found them while I was googling for walking tours. NYCbyfoot is gratuity-based, so you don't pay up front nor are expected to pay a certain $ at the end of the tour. I've taken a lot of city walks in the past, and this Lower Manhattan walk with Renee from NYCbyfoot did not disappoint. I learned a lot about the history - Dutch settlements, Colonial times etc. I highly recommend this to anyone, and I intend to take more of their tours on future visits.

2) NYPL exhibitions - I went to the main branch and saw the THREE FAITHS exhibit, as well as the ReCollection photography exhibit. The Three Faiths is very good, with lots and lots of ancient & rare religious books and manuscripts on view, including the NYPL's copy of the Gutenberg Bible. The ReCollection show is smaller than I thought, but still enjoyable.
http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitio...stianity-islam

I also went to the NYPL Lincoln Center branch to see the On Stage in Fashion exhibit. There are a lot of costumes on display, mostly worn by actresses in movies. They also have on view the costumes worn by singers in the Met Opera production of Attila last season - these costumes were designed by Miuccia Prada.
http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/stage-fashion

3) Metropolitan Museum of Art
I only had 2.5 hours there, so I went to see several current exhibitions (and none of the permanent collection). I spent almost an hour at the Jan Gossart show. I love Flemish paintings and this is quite a rare exhibit, reuniting a majority of his works.

I also quickly saw the John Baldessari show (interesting but I don't quite "get" it), the Stieglitz section of the photography show, the Miro Dutch interiors (also quite fascinating), and the Charles Rohlfs furniture exhibition. I really enjoyed the Rohlfs show - his style was a mixture of American Arts & Crafts + medieval influence.

4) Chelsea galleries
I went to 3 galleries in the Chelsea neighborhood:
2 of the Gagosian galleries; one has a HUGE show on Anselm Kiefer which is really worth checking out. I only wish I had printed out the NYT review with me, because I don't think I got as much out of the show as I would have if I had some "guidance" on hand.

The other Gagosian gallery has a show on Rauschenberg, again quite a big show with about 50 of his works.

The 3rd gallery I visited is the PACE gallery which has a Sugimoto show currently. Most of the "photos" are his "lightning field" series, which aren't really photographs. They are generated by an electrical spark going across the film negative; so the final effect appears like a lightning bolt. On view is also a Tesla machine which discharges electric sparks every 7 minutes or so.

Food
Since I'm staying with friends, I ate most of the meals "home". I had 2 ethnic lunches out which were both wonderful. These are foods that I can't get in Boston.

1) Mandoo Bar in Koreatown
2 West 32nd St., New York, NY 10001 (btw 5th & 6th ave)

This tiny eatery's specialty is mandoo, which is Korean dumplings. At the front of the store, there's a clear glass and workers behind are busily wrapping the dumplings. My friend & I were particularly hungry, so we ordered 2 different types of dumplings - the regular pork + veggie, and the Kimchee dumplings. We also shared a dolsot bibimbap. Nothing can taste better than freshly made dumplings. Lunch was $43 for the 2 of us.

2) Lan Zhou handmade noodles in Chinatown
144 E Broadway (btw Pike & Rutgers)

This place is a total hole-in-the-wall. There's no ambiance and minimal service. Their menu has about 10 different types of noodle soups to choose from, all featuring their own homemade noodles. At the back of the restaurant is a marble slab where the chef kneads the dough and pull it into noodles. Another worker was busy wrapping dumplings. I ordered a lamb noodle soup. Very tasty, and the noodles are great, though perhaps not as chewy (or as much texture) as the Lan Zhou noodles I had 2 weeks ago in London. But it's definitely a satisfying "comfort food" for me, and the noodles is only $5.

Shows
1) Don Carlo premiere at the Metropolitan Opera. This was the main reason I'm in NYC, for the opera. I've said a bit about this performance in 2 other threads, so I won't go into details here.

2) Elling on Broadway. This show just opened a few days ago; reviews have been mediocre. I thought it was better than what the critics said. While Brendan Fraser is probably the star who draws people there, I thought the rest of the cast (all 4 of them) was better than Brendan Fraser. The other actors are Dennis O'Hare, Richard Easton, Jeremy Shamos, and Jennifer Coolidge.

Anyway, even though I bought a discounted ticket, at the end the show, I couldn't help but think I should have spent the money on a Balcony seat for Cosi fan tutte at the Met instead.