Actually the last day of the PGA. Not overly interested in sessions.
Went to Metropolitan Museum of Art. Some interesting stuff but a little disappointing. Not actually the sort of art that I am interested in.

Sculpture terrace was very cool. Was made even more enchanting by the fact that I was standing there taking in the sculptures and Central Park out the window beyond the terrace and all of a sudden it starts snowing.

I’ve been to NYC three times and this is the first time it’s snowed. Big fat snowflakes.

Sore feet by the time I’d traipsed around all of the museum. Walked to Times Square, was freezing cold so decided I wasn’t going to stand around in the TKTS line.

Went back to East Village. Booked a ticket to “In The Heights” the latest Tony Award winning musical. Ate dinner and wandered back uptown. By this time it’s well and truly snowing. The snow was pretty cool to start with – and then it melted on my jacket and things just got cold.

Musical was pretty good. I was sitting almost in the gods….but I guess that’s what you get for buying cheaparse tickets. Still, the music was quite catchy. There were a few earworms slithering around my head afterwards.

Day 5

A somewhat cold freezing cold day even if I do say so myself. Slept in (deliberately) and then wandered around the East Village. There was a funky cafe that I’d seen in my previous wanderings that I wanted to check out. I eventually found it on East 9th St – Mud. Cosy. Great ambience. Best coffee in New York in my opinion (given my limited exposure to to coffee shops in NYC). Delicious breakfast.

Feeling upbeat (and zinging) after two large, strong lattes, I went shopping in SoHo and then wandered uptown to MoMA. Ironically, when I was in NYC the first time, I declined to goto MoMA on the grounds it didn’t interest me…to the point of sitting outside whilst others went in and explored. This time, I would rate it as one of the highlights of my RTW trip. I spent all afternoon there and probably could have spent longer had it not been closing time. Quite a stimulating afternoon.

Subway back to the East Village. Wandered past a funky cafe called Karen’s on Astor. Quasi-organic I guess you could call it. Food there certainly hit the spot – more protein, less processed carbs (processed carbs seems to be the norm in the US).

Went to Equus at the Broadhurst Theatre. I had a seat in the on-stage seating.
I was suitably impressed. The stage had been done up such that it was like one of those old operating theatres…or forums….where there are two rows of seating above the centre, circular space where all the action happens. Artistically it was almost like gods observing silently and passing judgement.

The performance was a slightly different interpretation to the one I was in. It was quite effective although I would say, budgetry differences aside, our local Brisbane performance certainly stands up well against it.

Day 6

Up at a sparrow’s fart.

Bus to Boston. Slept most of the way. Free WiFi on the bus which was good to pass the time I was awake.

Met Xav at the station in Boston. We wandered around Boston and Cambridge – including visiting Harvard. Had a noteable cup of coffee in Harvard Square.

I stayed at the HI in Back Bay. Was rather unimpressed at the cleanliness. The room I was in honestly smelt like it hadn’t had any fresh air in years. There was layer upon layer of odours. The predominant smell was that of musty stale starchy bodily secretions. Was not particularly pleasant. Fortunately I was sleeping next to the window and in spite of the bitter cold, I was able to prop the window open a centimetre or two to allow at least a smidgeon of fresh air to permeate the thick and putrid atmosphere.

Day 7

Met Xav and his mate Leo – who lives in Boston and is doing funky Bioinformatics at MIT and an MPH at Harvard. Toured Harvard Med School and the hospital complex near by (House of God territory).

Had lunch in Chinatown. Very full. Just as well…

… went to South Station to catch bus back to NYC. As I entered station, it was just starting to snow. Bus was overbooked. About five people after me got a seat on bus. By the time the bus left the station we were in a blizzard with snow everywhere. Trip back to NYC was at a slow pace (~60km/hr) meaning a 4.5 hour trip became a 7.5 hour trip. To boot, free WiFi wasn’t working and toilet was overflowing. I read and finished Chocolat.

Bitterly cold when arrived in NYC. Amazingly beautiful with snow covering the city. Slippery.

Day 8

Again up at a sparrow’s fart.

NYSORA Regional Symposium – again at Marriott in Times Square.
Far more interesting and useful than the PGA. Learnt quite a bit.

Went wandering in the evening. Finally made it to Strand Books. Amazing. 18 miles of books. I could have spent days looking through the piles of new and used manuscripts. Made a few purchases.

Went to Mud for dinner.

Dropped into funky hat shop “The Village Scandal” which is nearby to where I’m staying and tried on a million different hats. Got a funky suede paperboy cap.

Day 9

Ultrasound guided regional anaesthesia workshop this morning. In spite of feeling a tad cross-eyed from staring at grainy US images on screens all morning I feel inspired and empowered to go forth and learn me some regional anaesthesia. Made me realise how much anatomy I don’t know though.

Afternoon wandering around town in and out of stores. Didn’t buy anything. Sun came out and shone on the icy streets in the afternoon. Quite picture-sque with the steam rising out of the subway vents and the reflections off the ice and the buildings in shadow.

Took subway to JFK. Far quicker option than Super Shuttle me thinks. Took only about an hour from the East Village to JFK as opposed to the two-and-a-half it took last time.

Nothing worth buying in duty free.

Discovered a tasty beer – Brooklyn Brown Ale – in the Admiral’s club (American Airlines equivalent of the QANTAS Club).

Flight to London delayed. Was due to leave at 2135. Now 2300hrs with a departure time predicted at 0020hrs.

C’est la vie.