The End

Tomorrow all of my traveling comes to an end and I fly back to Champaign, so this is the very last bugaboo post. There are no more museums to visit, and no more fossils to shapesnatch. Thanks to all of you who took the time to read along and post your advice and encouragement! I want to especially thank Pispu and her family for making my stay in Florence so wonderful, and Negro and Frida for looking after my plants and beans while I've been gone. Anyone within easy traveling distance from Champaign-Urbana are welcome to join us at the Embassy tomorrow night for reunion beers (of course, if any of you long distance folks want to come too, you're always welcome!)

I'm going to be sad to leave New York. I really like this city. I've had some time over the last few days to wander around and explore. Here's a shot of Manhattan taken from the Staten Island Ferry:



If you come to NYC, you should definitely take this ferry to Staten Island & back. It's totally free, and you get a nice view of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Statue of Liberty from the water.

Here's a small 911 memorial I walked by in the West Village:







On Wednesday night I met up with an old friend from Champaign. Some of you may recognize Ertan (seen here with Mrs. Ertan):



He's originally from Turkey, but now he's living in NYC and working as an architect. It was really great to see him again, meet the wife for the first time, and catch up on each other's lives.

Yesterday, I met up with my friend Peter at the AMNH. We got there late so we only had time to explore one floor of the museum, but we did make it into the butterfly conservatory.



One landed on my head and stayed with me for almost 20 minutes :)



The butterfly ladies in the conservatory told me that this was a sign of good luck. It really tickled when it flapped its wings.



After the museum, Peter took me to one of his favourite bars in the Village. It was a really pretty little place with great people-watching opportunities and very good drinks. I felt very sophisticated sitting there with my blue cocktail ;)



I wish I had it in me to appreciate a classic martini but, alas, I'm a big wimp and can only tolerate the more girly, candy-like ones.

Later today we're going to explore the MOMA (free on Fridays between 4-8pm) and go see another play after that (we won the ticket lottery for Avenue Q on Tuesday night and got 2 front-row tickets for only $20 each. Very cool.)

I'm going to end this blog with a lovely photo of Central Park I took yesterday afternoon.



Bye-bye boos.