A weekend with Calliope and the Cyclone

If ever I could think of a real-life counterpart to the muses of Hellenic art and folklore, I would most certainly be thinking of my friend Ann. After months of phone-tag and conflicting schedules, we finally worked out a time for her to visit me in NYC. The weekend was, of course, crazy as all hell.
Friday night we walked great distances in the city, just catching up. We settled in to a little Ukranian diner just as the snow began to fall, and then hurried home after a fantastic meal. One sleepy subway ride at 3:30 in the morning later, we collapsed.
Saturday was Coney Island in the morning/afternoon. Did you know they have a museum there? There are also some decidedly creepy rummage sales to peruse, if you're in to that sort of thing. This is only the second time I've been to Coney Island, and both times were on the off-season, which really adds to the bizarre splendor of the place. The odd people who inhabit Coney Island this time of year make it extra strange. There's a marked surrealism about watching someone shuffling past the idled Cyclone roller-coaster on a cold day in February, as you both sort of pretend that this is normal. Only it's not normal, it's Coney Island.
After a much needed nap, Ann and I headed out to Williamsburg to check out some small, hole-in-the-wall art galleries that were staying open late as part of some special event or other. They were only supposed to stay open until 11, but when we arrived at williamsburg it was already about 10:45. Thankfully, almost every gallery we went to was hosting a party, so we gallavanted about for several hours. I was very impressed with the way some of those artists used their spaces.
At about 2:30 we headed to Union Square and got dinner at a place called Coffee, which was really pretty excellent. Another sleepy late-night subway ride later (this one was at 4), we collapsed in Brooklyn.
Sunday was spent lazily crawling around the city and enjoying some much-needed Indian food at 28th and Lexington. If you ever need Indian food, there are about four-thousand Indian restaurants at that intersection. Enjoy.
Ann got to check out the lab (since we were nearby) and then we headed back to Brooklyn and enjoyed walking around in the nice weather.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. The good news is that she's coming back, with a whole gang of folks, to check out the Basquiat exhibit at the Brooklyn Musesum. I'd better get my sleep in now.