NYC Wrap

Christopher Wool - Guggenheim

Street Art from the Highline

Bikes - from the Highline

Scaffolding, 30th Street

Temple of Dendur - Metropolitan Museum of Art

B & J Fabrics, Garment District

Balustrade detail, Central Park

Frozen Central Park

I'm posting this from my Amtrak train as we pass through Connecticut on our way back to Boston.  New York is already feeling a little like a dream.  To totally confound us, today is 19 degrees (Celsius). This after a week of freezing and below freezing temperatures, witness the frozen pond in Central Park above. Miraculously we managed to squeeze nearly everything in: a very modest bit of fabric shopping;  some rushed but productive Christmas shopping at FAO Shwartz; the Highline (which had reopened, and the crowds were thronging on the first day of 'The Holidays' and in the mild weather). We had to imagine how it would look all leafy green.  We even made it to the Saturday evening session at the Guggenheim for Christopher Wool and Robert Motherwell retrospectives.

We had a rushed few hours at The Met. They say to leave 'em wanting more, don't they? So much to see.

Craig and I went to The Breeders at Webster Hall on Friday night, the last night of their Love Splash tour. Kim and Kelly Deal are looking (& sounding ) pretty damn good for fifty odd. Kim was wearing a black jumper (sweater) and comfortable pants, as was I, so I felt totally at home. I spotted at least two people older than me in the crowd. Everyone else could have been twelve except for the facial hair and full sleeve tatts.  Craig had a shave and a haircut at a groovy looking barbershop nearby. I joked that his barber would probably be a Columbia student, but as it turned out he was a Boston University graduate in New York doing his PhD. 

So that was New York. I'm looking forward to a few quiet days in Boston, though of course there is Christmas ahead which is not traditionally a quiet time. Although the streets have been full of decorations, the shops full of Christmas songs (not really many traditional carols to be heard though, which I miss), and everyone wishing us a happy holiday, it doesn't feel like Christmas. I guess for me, the end of the school year, all the work and social functions, our annual gingerbread decorating party, those long days when you savour the coolness at dawn and dusk, the endless baking and sewing - that is what Christmas is. People used to Northern Hemisphere Christmas often say it doesn't feel like Christmas when it's summer. I thought that, somehow, Christmas would feel more Christmassy in the winter. But it turns out that it's not the weather that makes Christmas at all. 

Empire State of Mind

On Monday night, as Craig and I took the subway to Madison Square Gardens to see the Knicks get beaten by 1 lousy point by the Washington Wizards, we agreed that we'd love to live in New York, at least for a year or two. I asked Craig's dad whether he'd live here:  'No way!!!' was his unequivocal answer - he reckoned he'd go crazy within a year. Ruby concurs - too many people for her, she's looking forward to getting back to Boston. Funny isn't it, what does it (or doesn't do it) for a person? 

We've been doing a fair bit - the Museum of Natural History, Empire State Buildjng, Christmas windows on 5th Avenue, Rockefeller Plaza. It's a lot for little legs and old knees, so today we decided on a leisurely stroll through Central Park (Nana and Pa had a rest at home) and a skate at the outdoor rink. It was just what we needed to recharge and refresh - healthy activity that didn't involve battling crowds and making sure eight people have got on or off the subway. We are all getting to be passably decent skaters. Even Lil can get around holding my hand.  

If you come to New York in winter and want to skate, try the Lasker rink at the northern end of the park. Mid week there were no queues and it was $7 and $4 for adults and kids respectively. Highly recommended.

Because of all the snow, the Highline is largely closed, though sections of it are due to open and with warmer weather forecast I'm hopeful I'll get to it before we leave on Sunday. I've somehow also got to squeeze in a visit to the garment district for a bit of fabric shopping, and the Guggenheim.

We went to a fantastic Broadway show - Matilda (a musical based on the Roald Dahl book written by our own Tim Minchin).  My friend Megan had given us a CD of the music which made it especially enjoyable for the kids.  I'm not a huge musical fan but this was really terrific. If it comes to your neck of the woods it's worth going to see. Even Craig liked it.

Today we plan on visiting the Met, which has the tick of approval from Ruby and Nina because of 'From the Mixed-Up Files if Mrs Basil E Frankweiler' which they loved. I'm anticipating another day that alternates between amazing and irritating as we experience priceless wonders whilst contending with the tired or bored or hungry or urgently-needing-a-toilet. Wish me luck.

New York

Ellis Island

Statue of Liberty from Ellis Island

Tiled Ceiling, Ellis Island

Just in case it isn't obvious from the photos we are in New York. Having four little kids and two septuagenarians with us means that dashing all over town and taking full advantage of the night life on offer isn't quite possible. But I have long since understood that parenting is, in part, a lesson in accepting limitations. So we won't get to everything and I won't be able to spend hours wandering around the Whitney and the Frick and I might be lucky to even get to the Guggenheim, but there will still be moments, however fleeting, of magic.

Yesterday we took the ferry across to Liberty Island. Though her image has become almost hackneyed, in real life she is both impressive and profoundly moving. We had clear skies and sunshine to take the edge off the minus 3 day.

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On Ellis Island we walked through the hall like more than 12 million had done before us. The museum is still recovering from Hurricane Sandy and most of the exhibits were closed, but a sense of the immigrant experience, the beauty and terror, was still present. I was annoyed that we missed an earlier ferry home, but how fortuitous that turned out to be.  As we boarded the later ferry the sun was setting over Lady Liberty. We oohed and ahhed and then, in the still blue sky, a huge full yellow moon rose over Manhattan. It was there only moments before disappearing behind the skyscrapers. The ferry, filled with sightseers tired after a long day, suddenly came alive. There was an audible gasp as everyone rushed outside into the biting cold to capture it, either in mind or on camera. I tried but failed, my shots show a blurry washed out disc partially visible by a building. But I can see it now in my minds eye - one of those brief moments that exist only for the few who happen to be in the exact place at the exact time.  The captain slowed the boat and announced in his New York drawl 'there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the moon over Manhattan'.  It acted as a tonic on the passengers. We were all newly invigorated, talking and laughing, aware we were the fortunate few.