Another summer Friday

Last Friday, intead of checking out a new lunch place, I made plans to meet some gal pals at a Diners Deck restaurant downtown.  So I decided to find a museum nearby--I opted for the National Museum of the American Indian, down near Battery Park.  It's a Smithsonian museum, so it's free, inside the old Customs House.  It's a lovely old building, and a picturesque spot for a museum. 

The rotunda is gorgeous and there's a nice area that shows you the evolution of the building itself, plus there's a nice seating area, so you can catch your breath either before or after looking at the exhibits.  I opted to save the rotunda for last, since I saw a gallery exhibiting glasswork by Preston Singletary.    He was descended from the Tlingit, and devoted a lot of his work to celebrating that heritage.  Unfortunately, you couldn't take photos in there, since it was a special exhibit.  There were many gorgeous pieces--I especially liked the vases that had intricate detailing that you could only see by shining a spotlight directly over them and seeing the shadows created.  They were lovely.

Once you leave the glasswork exhibit, you enter the main permanent collection, called the Infinity of Nations.  The permanent collection is a little overwhelming, with over 700 artifacts from various tribes and countries.  The pieces range from pottery from 1500 B.C. to replicate garments made in the 1960s.  Since everything is behind glass, it lends a rather sterile quality to the exhibit.  You can't get quite close enough to see the detailing and how the pieces are put together (you also can't really get good photos).  I was extremely impressed with all of the many representations of the Native life, but I didn't really get a sense of it because of the modern display methods.  If that doesn't make sense, sorry.  I guess I could've used more music and maybe different groupings of the treasures would've had more impact for me.  I will say that I didn't see the exhibit in the correct order--I should've gone out of the glasswork exhibit the way I came in and then entered the Infinity of Nations area, but I went through backwards.  So that could be part of the reason why I found it so overwhelming and a tad confusing.  But there are many gorgeous things there and I highly recommend checking this museum out.  Oh, and definitely check out the Coat Room, which is stunning, and the Gift Shop, which had a more personal feeling to me...

After I finished at the musuem, I decided to walk over to the department store, Century 21, to find some cheap jeans.  Yikes, it's crowded there!  Believe it or not, I had never been there before, either!  But I did find some nice inexpensive jeans that actually fit, and I got a shot of the in-progress Freedom Tower, along with a shot of Trinity Church, as I was walking along.

After my extended time in Century 21 (gosh, it takes a long time to get through the checkout line there!), I sat outside for a few minutes, waiting in a nice park until it was time to head over to the Diners Deck restaurant my gal pal and I were going to check out for dinner.  I had been dying to try this particular place for awhile, so I'm glad we finally found the time to give it a try.  Plus, by now, I was starving!!!

 After a very nice walk across William Street,  I finally found Crepes du Nord, a creperie and wine bar near Wall Street.  It's an extremely small spot, but very attractive.  The building has been placed on the National Registry of Historic Places, which is fun.  I think there's a different restaurant on the other side, but I couldn't tell and I forgot to ask our server.  I got a nice glass of Gruner Vetliner and waited for my gal pal.

The menu is divided into savory crepes and sweet crepes, along with a few other menu items (Caesar salad, burger, salmon).  It was really hard to decide what I wanted, but once I saw that they served a sweet lemon crepe for dessert, I decided to get a 'lighter' crepe for dinner.  Ha.  Lighter is a relative term.  :)

So, I got the ratatouille crepe, that also had some ricotta in it.  It was delicious, made with buckwheat flour and very vibrant ratatouille. The out-of-this-world sweet lemon crepe was spectacular.  I definitely want to go back and try all of the other tasty-sounding treats...

To end the evening, there was a sudden monsoon as we were paying our bill at the restaurant, so they kindly let us stay until the rain let up a bit.  Once it let up, we walked a few blocks to the nearest subway.  As we waited for a train, we decided to stand under one of the huge fans to get some air.  A couple of young gents were there, and one asked if he could 'share the fan with us.'  Awww.  The other gent, who clearly was not that into us, stayed away because he 'doesn't like fans.'  When the first boy asked 'where are you headed?', the uninterested boy said 'uptown.  let's go' and pulled interested boy away.  Oh well.  Almost got a flirting there.  :)  We got on the train and sat there.  And sat there.  And sat there.  Finally, the conductor came on to tell us that because there was flooding uptown, we would be waiting awhile before moving.  We were probably on the train for over an hour, waiting to move, then crawling along.  But at least we missed the flooding.  Ah, New York.

Next week, no museum.  Tennis instead!  I'm sure there will be photos...