I’ve fallen behind in documenting my local adventures, but here are some highlights from the past few months:
- The Steinway & Sons piano factory tour was inspiring and educational, probably the best tour I’ve ever been on in my life. And it’s right in Astoria, Queens. This photo doesn’t do it justice, but it was the only room where photos were allowed because there were no workers.
- In Sleep No More, adventurous theatergoers put on creepy white masks and explore a five-floor building with dim lighting and scary/antique props, all the while chasing around actors who are performing mostly silent scenes in unpredictable locations. I honestly couldn’t piece together much of a plot, but I loved independently wandering the set for three hours.
- Hangawi is a special dinner spot, an oasis of calm in the middle of the frantic area of Koreatown/Midtown East. Guests take off their shoes and sit on pillows, with their feet in recessed spaces below floor level. The menu is all vegetarian. I also like the less-fancy sister restaurant, Franchia, that’s nearby.
- Riding the vintage holiday train was a perfect way to brighten a winter day. I love that it runs on the regular subway line, making regular stops, and surprising regular riders who had no idea this was a even a thing.
- There’s a hidden artsy elevator in an otherwise boring office building about a mile from my house, and I found it!
- The Amazing Maize Maze at the Queens County Farm Museum made for a fun, rural outing in the city. I’m sure corn mazes are much larger and more challenging when they’re anywhere besides NYC, but this one does the trick for city dwellers.
