Day 31: New York – The Guggenheim, a Fashion Shoot and Bad Sushi

Friday,  October 4, 2013

We visit the Guggenheim Museum.  There’s a major installation going on and they offer reduced tickets.  Visitors can visit three floors.  Whining, buzzing machines seem to amplify as the sounds echo off the walls of the spiral building and make me wish we hadn’t come.  It’s nice that we can ask questions of any of the staff with (I think) “Let’s Talk Art” buttons.  I ask a question and one staff member launches into a perception of what is implied in the gray cast of a particular art piece.  I did enjoy seeing the works of many masters, but the torn paper, scribbles and other haphazard pieces of Modern art is not a favorite.  My husband said I should pull out some of my doodles and practice papers and start tearing!  Suggestion:  Wait until the end of October when that major art installation is finished and you can visit all the floors in peaceful contemplation.

Afterward, we head over to Chinatown. There’s a restaurant that Lonnie wants to visit. We can’t find it and check Tripadvisor before eating at Red Egg. The food is fine and we continue on our quest to seek NomWah Tea Parlor. It’s found! We order. I whip out my camera to take a picture. A man rushes over and says they usually charge for pictures, but since I’m eating there, I can take no more than two. The waitress brings out our desserts. Disappointment. The oversize almond cookie is a little hard and has a cashew on top. The sesame balls were not as crisp as what we get in Houston. Oh, well…

New York is an exciting city. Walking in Chinatown, we run across a fashion shoot.  Wonder what magazine will post it.

We thought we were finished with mediocre food as New York has so many great restaurants.  Yuka restaurant on 80th St. has a sushi special.  For $20, you get unlimited sushi from a set group of choices.  Don’t! Don’t! Don’t do it!  The rice is overcooked and becomes a sticky, textureless blob and there was too much sauce on the eel.  The crab roll was made with sea legs, a fish product.  I consider that false advertising.  As you can see from the photo, the filling is not consistent in thickness or shape so each bite will yield different tastes.  The pieces are also smaller than the regular size.  You have to eat all the rice, seaweed wrap, etc. or whatever you order or you will be charged for what wasn’t eaten.  I forced myself to eat the last handroll as it wasn’t very good but I didn’t want to be charged more – the special wasn’t worth it.