Friday was art day.  Ian, having things at work he could not get out of, left Carrie and I to our own volition, so we thought to begin hitting the extensive list of small art galleries she wanted to visit while back in the City.  Again the ritual of buying a New York Times and reading it at a coffee shop, and since I wrote about that particular segment of time interspersed in my entry yesterday, I won't go further into it now as there isn't much else to tell about it. 

Except Misty tells me that it sounds like an offer on my house is forthcoming.  So you should get your offer in now to beat out the others!

After the bakery cafe, we walked east, crossing Park Avenue (ritzy!) and turned south on 5th, walking along the edge of Central Park.  Carrie has a general dislike for nature - even parks due to their grass, trees, squirrels and the like, so we dared not enter at that time.  We eventually reached a building directly across from Trump Tower containing the DC Moore gallery featuring the works of Mary Frank.  While I did enjoy Frank's use of both shadowed imagery and geometric structures in several of her paintings, I really preferred her sculptures, especially a "landscape" with figures walking across it cut from the base land, the space they were cut from forming a sort of primal shadow.

We visited three other gallaries before calling it quits, though I cannot recall the names of the featured artists, other than to say one was selling in the hundred of thousands of dollars price range.

On the way back to Casa Del Ian, we stopped by Dylan's Candy Bar, a huge candy store that I had just read about in Fast Company this week.  Known for it's use of exuberant style and classic candy memorabilia, Dylan's was packed with New Yorkers on a bender for some sugar.  I bought some sour balls for the low low cost of $8.50 per pound and then we finished the trek back to Ian's apartment so that we could give our feet a break.

I am fortunate to have not one but three friends living in NYC - in addition to Ian, Lena and Jay, also former Des Moines residents, moved to the City over the summer.  Jay is a Resident at Beth Israel Hospital and Lena, a native Ukrainian, teaches english as a second language.  The five of us, along with Jay's dad who was also in town for his work, went to dinner at a good Mexican restaurant in the East Village.  Good times were had, filled with tortilla chips and habanero-enhanced salsa.

Carrie was tired and Ian had work so they split off afterwards to head back.  After his father went back to his hotel, Lena, Jay and I went to a bar where Jay and I had some Octoberfest while a very tired Lena had dessert and debated pros-and-cons of American living with me.

I took a cab back afterwards and learned that cabbies don't like to break twenties for an $8 fare.  I don't get to see Lena and Jay very often, so it's always a great time seeing them when I do.