They even have the cute fancy gift bags!

So, for my first Key To The City destination, I met up with my BFF "E" for a crazy crazy Sunday. I met her after church to go watch the Pride Parade, which was predictably fabulous and chock-full of Gaga, and after pulling our blood sugar levels up to acceptable standards (read: NOT about to pass out from heat exhaustion and not-eating) with a quick meal at -hack, cough- Wendy's, we headed up to fancy-pants Upper East Side.

The Key to the City key got me in free, and even if it hadn't, E works for a respected publishing company (think cute tuxedo'ed birds) that gets her in FREE to the Met (and MoMA and the Whitney and basically she's the art equivalent of having a friend with a rooftop pool). So we basically just explored bits and pieces of the museum... it's HUGE - maybe bigger than the Louvre but I'm not sure, certainly reminded me of the Louvre - like the Picasso exhibit, a photography exhibit, the American Woman exhibit (which was a costume depiction of the 1880s-1930s eras of women's fashion). Found a few pieces I LOVED:

  (I think I would actually buy this piece, if it weren't likely about a bajillion dollars.)

And after we dragged our exhausted butts out of there (being on your feet for 5 hours straight is really tiring, I'll tell ya!) we happened upon a live gymnastics/comedy show out in front of the Met. Completely hilarious and entertaining. I wish I had pictures but I think by that point we were so hot and pooped that I forgot I had fingers, much less a camera.

So, as far as New York things go, the Met is one of the most quintessential, but like the blogger I linked to who is also doing this projects (except with dates... I need to work on that...), I felt a little disconnected from it. Sort of an odd feeling. I think I was expecting something more magical, and while it was incredible, it wasn't magical. Well, there are plenty more sites to visit and sights to see. 

Like my experience on Sunday, this blog post is slightly lackluster, and I apologize. I was a lot more energetic and inspired earlier in the day... but the evening has completely vanished (time flies when you're watching a Gaga marathon on Fuse) and I am SO ready for bed. I want to get at least one more site in this week before the 4th of July festivities start up and I am trying to have fun while simultaneously avoiding the crush of tourists that will undoubtedly show up. I need a dartboard or something that can help me randomly pick these sites.

Unlock the mystery

Yesterday, due to my sheer fabulousness, I was awarded the Key to the City. Yeah that's right. You heard me. I have the key to the city, once reserved for men and women who have landed planes in the Hudson, or won a national championship, or looked really awesome on reality television. BOW BEFORE ME!

...Okay, what actually happened was this project, which means that anyone willing to stand in line for an hour or so gets a key to certain interesting or iconic parts of the city. I read an article about it in the Times yesterday and went to Times Square (barf) after work. Met a cool guy named Jan, who became my civil partner in all of this - or something... the phrase "I do" was exchanged so who really knows? - and now I can embark upon the journey of discovering the City with a purpose instead of just aimlessly wandering around poking at things like "oooh, this looks cool." Jan (I wish I had thought to take a picture of the two of us!) has lived in NYC for 30 years ever since he started college, so it's a different kind of journey for him too, but it was really nice to hear that in 30 years, he still hasn't seen all the sights and is still enthusiastic about trying.

In a classic moment of "MAN I wish I had thought of that first!"... A girl has started a really entertaining blog entailing her search for love/a relationship/not-just-a-hookup,-anyway as it intersects with the Key to the City Project. Totally a Julie & Julia moment. Now I can't copy her style... and the idea of 25 dates between now and September is sort of intimidating (although when you do the math, 25 dates in 95 days isn't that bad, but spending 26% of my evenings on a date seems a bit exhausting).

Either way, though, I will be exploring the city with my key and taking lots of pictures and blogging about it, starting with the Met tomorrow! The plan, I suppose, is to have a friend with me for the adventures, so if you'd like to be a part of it let me know!