We woke late this morning after a mild dose of jet lag, but otherwise unscathed after the long journey.

Fearful of Starbucks, we had been told of an Aussie-run cafe which turned out to be less than five minutes walk from the hotel. Sure enough, it was pretty Aussie, I had a decent flat white and we all grabbed Vegemite toast for breakfast. Maybe this is the equivalent of Americans coming to Australia and heading straight for McDonalds but what the hell, the coffee was good.

  
It was a lovely sunny morning, so we strolled to the Asics store on 42nd street for a squizz at some running shoes, then headed up to the Museum of Modern Art. It was somewhat surreal to be heading down the streets with the Chrysler building poking out of the skyline, heading past Radio City, and so on. 

  
The crowds weren’t too crazy, thankfully since E was in the pram, and we made it to MoMA unscathed.

The breadth of the collection at the museum is astonishing, I didn’t expect so much variation and so many famous works. We started our tour with the Yoko Ono exhibit, which was quite interesting but unsurprisingly surreal. One piece consisted of a performer on a small raised platform undressing inside a large black velvet bag. Must have been bloody stuffy, was all I could think. 

  
E was particularly excited about the Matisse nudes, and gleefully yelled out “Boobies” every time he came across them. 

  
 The Picasso cubist paintings and Van Gogh’s Starry Night were particular highlights. 

 

 

Elliott loved the children’s section and spent time colouring in and exploring the various activites.

  
There was also a big collection of Warhol’s soup tins if that’s your thing – I was reminded of the great quote about Warhol – “the only genius I’ve ever met with an IQ of 80.” Still, it was cool to see the Marilyn Monroes in person.

 

 
A quick lunch and we finished the museum quickly while E slept in his pram (or stroller if you prefer – why do Americans call all the baby things differently? Diapers, pacifiers, strollers, cribs…) then back to the hotel for a pre-dinner rest.

The hotel is serving as a recruitment/careers expo for NYU law students so it’s full of earnest young kids in suits looking nervous and clogging up the lifts.