Then we hit the Japanese art and entered Astor Court, which was definitely worth finding. It was made up to be a Japanese garden, and it was so tranquil, serene, peaceful. Lovely. Nilly asked me to take a picture of her and Scola, and when I asked her how the framing worked on the camera, she just said, "Do it how you want to do it." She also claimed that by the end of the day, she'd have a picture of me, to which I replied, "That's what you think." Because that's what I do. I did like that she was so insistent on having a picture with little old me, though.
Close by was the Indian art, which was all stuff I'd seen before in its natural habitat or in, like, people's houses. "You feel right at home," said Nilly. I related to her the story of Ganesh.
We stopped by Astor Court again to take the Nilly and me picture.
I had to leave around five or so, so Nilly requested Greek and Roman art. We perused the sculpture, and Nilly pointed out something I'd never noticed before. In nearly all the sculptures, the big toe was shorter than the other toes, even though in most humans, that's not the case. I looked at a bunch, and sure enough, every big toe was either shorter than or the same length as the second toe. Huh.
Nilly's and my bags were tied together when they were checked. As I handed the man our tag, we saw a guy pick up his anti-Bush sign. I haven't made much mention of the protest environment, but I assure you it was there. Friday night, we saw hordes of bikers stop traffic (one man in an SUV yelled, "Fucking liberals!"). This morning, we had seen protesters on the train, as well as a group of people dressed up in 80s fashion for some reason.
Outside, we found msbelle knitting what she said would eventually be a rag. Which was a shame, because why would we spend so much time making something so pretty only to muck it up? I told Nilly to write in my journal as we figured out how I should get to the airport. She asked, "English or Hebrew?" I told her she could do both.
A proper plan having been constructed, we walked toward a station. She kept asking if I needed help with my luggage, and I told her I was fine. When I lifted it to carry it down the steps, she said, "Don't do that! Just let it go bang bang bang. That's what I do." I said I didn't want to bang things up. On our way, Nilly admired the residential buildings.
At the station, I lifted my luggage down the stairs again, and she said, "No!" And then she relented, "Or whatever you want." When I lifted my bag over the turnstile, she said, "It fits under. That's what I learned yesterday." Which was helpful. Full of advice, that Nilly. We took the train downtown, as they were going to show Nilly the Strand. As the train slowed down at one stop, Scola said, "Well, it was nice meeting you." Wha? Oh crap, it was here already! This was no way to say goodbye!
I jumped up and ran across the train to msbelle and Nilly, whom I hugged both at the same time to save time. "You're so nice!" I said, to both of them. I turned around and hugged Scola.
And then I was off the train. Nilly wished me a safe trip home, and I wished her one as well. That was it for me and the Nilly. I regretted not having had time to really hang with her and take in her Nillyness, but I got a pretty good taste.
I ended up getting to the airport obscenely early. Bugger all.
As I waited for my plane, tired as all get-out, I called Jessica's apartment and left a message on the machine about how I missed them already, and they were really cool. Seconds after hanging up, my brain unexpectedly put together the statement Jessica had made last night about The Apple, when she had said she "just got" the bit about the "red tape," because I suddenly understood the pun. So I called back and left a message about that. I leave very strange phone messages. I hope people don't mind.