photo by Ballard Avenue

Not only does the Metropolitan have great collections of art, they have a terrific collection of musical instruments, and your itinerant pianists had to stop to check out the ivories. The museum owns the oldest piano extant. We swooned, but the lighting was too dim to get a decent snap of a black piano. But the museum did have some lights up on this harpsichord. With sea monsters, mermaids, nymphs, and enough bling for any two downtown rappers, this harpsichord is the epitome of 17th century pimp.

photo by Ballard Avenue

This was the next thing that made me laugh. This Upper East Side mom took little Emma and Taylor out to Central Park. She put them in the swings, rang up one of her friends, and spent the next 15 minutes chatting away while pushing the kids. She'd reach to the left for Emma, then to the right for Taylor. Left for Emma, right for Taylor, and never missing a beat. I should have taken some video of it but I forgot that the Fab Fuji has video. Sorry.

photo by Ballard Avenue

I never gave a thought to how the hot dog carts get to their locations each day. Each morning a truck carries these carts down Fifth Avenue along with their workers. Every few blocks they drop one of each off.

Even with its noise, dirt, chaos, and attitude, New York can make you laugh out loud. This was the first "I'm in New York and everything is just too cool" moment of the trip.