Goodbye to the Pod, Big Mama's Accident, and another Monumental Museum

We said goodbye to the Pod Hotel today, in favor of fancier digs a few blocks away. More on that later, but for now, here are a few goodbye to the Pod photos:

Gretchen, being mod in the Pod lobby...


Me, also in the lobby, in one of the hip pod chairs.

These guys are awesome, and here's why: there were 4 bathrooms on our floor, and a little light system in our room told us when each was free. Bathrooms 1 and 2 were pretty normal, we didn't know where 4 was for a while, but 3...well 3 was bigger, had special features, and these guys on the wall right when you walked in. Made me smile each time.

We checked out and headed to the big museum of the day, the MOMA. G wanted to go to a special Dali exhibit and lecture, me not so much. I wandered around happily for 2 hours, listening to the free audio guide and learning lots of things. Here are a few of my random favorites...I sat in front of Monet's Waterlilies for a long, long time. Same with Rothko. I felt grateful to just be in the room with these paintings, experiencing them in their original size.




Leaving behind Rothko, Calder, Cezanne, Chagall and all the rest, we had some business to attend to...we picked up our luggage at the Pod, debated about how to get to The Library, which is our last-night-in-New York-splurge hotel. (Backstory: I read about this hotel at least 5 years ago, and always thought about how much I'd like to stay there if I was ever in NYC...it's organized based on the Dewey Decimal System, how cool is that? So here I am, and we can only afford one night, but they gave us a free upgraded room, and it's lovely here, so...I'm glad we did it.) We thought about a taxi, which would have been nice, since we had luggage...and we discounted walking because it was near 90 degrees and over 10 blocks...so we headed for the subway instead. Just one stop. Except this: (fans of Big Mama, be prepared). Just as I was lifting her to climb down the staircase of the entrance to the subway, her handle snapped off, and there she went...tumbling end over end past shocked and unhappy commuters coming up the stairs and landing at the feet of a very surprised man who looked up at my horror-stricken face and asked politely, "This your bag?" My goodness...I'm so lucky that she didn't hurt anyone, and I don't think anything inside was damaged...but it was a very dramatic moment.

We finally made it to the hotel, via our new subway stop:

it was really, really crowded:
...and after a rest, we headed out for the Staten Island Ferry and views of Ms. Liberty. Gretchen bought me a super cool present today, and here's a little explanation. We saw a girl on the plane wearing these super cool "sun"glasses. Then we saw several more here in NYC. They're ridiculous, they don't even have lenses, but they're pretty trendy, and I'm sure you're all jealous!

The short trip to Staten Island was great- it was nice to be out on the water in less oppressive weather conditions. Here are a few shots that captured the moment:



We stopped off at Magnolia Bakery on the way home to get some treats...we ate the banana pudding immediately since it's DELICIOUS, and saved the cupcakes for later. Now we're tucked away in our room, watching Annie Hall and having finished a little McDonalds dinner and cupcake dessert. Good night!