Day 174: Midtown with Kate

After restocking on groceries in the morning I met my cousin Kate underneath the Washington Square Arch in Midtown Manhattan at 12:30pm.

Kate was in NYC doing a research internship at NYU.

We spent some time talking on a bench in the park while listening to one of the numerous jazz groups that busk there during the weekend.

From the park we walked to the adjacent NYU main library, which I loved (plentiful seating, outlets, WiFi, reading rooms with fantastic views of the city!). Visitors aren't normally allowed, but security was kind enough to give me a one-time pass.

We were getting hungry, so we walked over to a weekend market that Kate had seen on her way to the park. I got a mango and pineapple smoothie, but had to go back a few hours later and get myself a pita gyro as well. We returned to the park, me with my smoothie and Kate with her kebab, and listened to a performer who had rolled a grand piano with wheels into the park to perform.

According to Kate, the university often rolls pianos into the park. Although we saw multiple performers on the piano, there wasn't any indication that it was a university sponsored event. On both sides of the piano are stickers with "THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS" written on them.

After the second performer ended his set, they opened the piano up to passerbys. I wasn't confident enough in my piano skills at the moment, and Kate and I went down to the fountain to take a selfie for our parents.

We decided to go to Starbucks, Kate to study and myself to work on my blog. On the way there, we passed by the piano again. It was sitting empty, and my brain waves at that moment were running at just the right frequency for me to do something spontaneous like sit down and play something. I played the only thing I was reasonably confident I wouldn't mess up too badly, a sort of variation on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star where I first play the classical, harmonically perfect version of the piece then switch into a jazzed up version of the harmony and rhythm. Some people in the audience laughed (good naturedly, I'm sure) when I first began playing the "straight" version of the piece, but I got a healthy round of applause after I hit the last notes on the jazzy variation. The whole experience made me look forward to getting back to my own piano even more!

Thanks for the fun day, Kate!

After a few hours at Starbucks, Kate left and I followed shortly after, back to the hostel.