Day 32

Today we reached an agreement, not wanting to subject Ruth to another day of tennis, and Ruth not wanting to subject me to more modern art, we decided to head our separate ways for the day. I went back out to Queens, and suprisingly they gave me a free ticket due to yesterday's rain...sweet! Big day today I saw the big names on show and some great tennis in the smaller, but way better viewing and atmosphere, Louis Armstrong Stadium. Murray ended up getting mowed in his match against Davydenko, then top women's seed Mauresmo spanked Marat Safin's little sister in the 1/4's, then Federer came on and the crowd was sickenly fawning over him so I started cheering very loudly for the other guy...who did not win a point till Federer had reeled off 12 straight. This guy is good, he's quick and has it all and he cruised it in straight sets, and here's a bold prediction for ya, I think he'll win it all, though I'm going for Roddick. Then there was the match of the day, the ladies favourite Rafael Nadal against the nerdy looking Mikhail Youzhny in the first men's 1/4, again going against the grain I started barracking for Youzhny, and man was this a match, it was real tight for the first three sets, and the crowd was going crazy as these boys had some great rallys. Sure enough the crowd turned my way and Youzhny just killed Nadal in the 4th set, and the second seed was gone. After all this I went home happy...how was your day Ruth?

I had a good day too (even with no sport), walking some of the NY streets and getting my bearings. After yesterdays rain the morning was overcast but warm and dry and the cloud lifted by lunchtime so a perfect day for sightseeing. Wandered through Times Square and the Rockefellar Centre to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in time for opening at 10:30am. Am undecided whether I prefer MoMA or the Tate Modern ... MoMA has a bigger collection and in my opinion more pivotal modern art pieces but the Tate is better set out and their Audio guide kicks MoMA's arse. Saw more amazing art and sculpture and MoMA also has a design section ... good for checking out all the furniture and Danish designs I love ... managed to restrain myself in the MoMA design store too was quite taken with a lightfitting but decided it might cause luggage issues. After MoMA I headed down 5th Avenue to Saks (I guess an old school Kirkaldies ... but more pricey) for a browse, then continued on to the Empire State Building. Luckily I'd already brought my City Pass (... save 50% of 6 top attractions) at MoMA which let me jump the queue at the Empire State so only a 10min wait to get to the top. Primo 360 degree view of the whole island, across to New Jersey and up to the Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island. The lobby and elevators in the Empire State are almost as impressive as the view from the top. Finished the day with a wander around Macy's - "The Worlds Largest Department Store". Didn't do any shopping today (well other than a couple of little things at MoMA's design store) ... Tiff is taking me to the outlets on the weekend so today was more about research ... saw a couple of stores that are worth a second look if I don't get enough of a shopping fix on the weekend.