I had to get out of suburbia and feel the exhilaration, joy, and excitement of The City. I made a reservation at the Park Terrace Hotel in Manhattan for a three night stay.
My son Chris met me at Grand Central Terminal where we sampled Pasteis de Nata custard tarts. Delicious!
We stopped off at the Schwarzman Building of the NY Public Library to view the special exhibition celebrating the 100th Anniversary of The New Yorker Magazine.
We said “Hello!” to Patience and Fortitude.
It was a pleasant walk uptown to MOMA – the Modern Museum of Art – to experience Christian Marclay’s fascinating exhibit simply called The Clock. It was amazing and indescribable in a few words!
The Louis Vuitton flagship store looked like a huge stack of their famous luggage. It was built to camouflage ongoing construction.
Dinner at Au Bonne Soupe on west 55th street before going to see the off-Broadway play “Amerikin” at 59E59 Theater. It was very good.
On Thursday March 13th, Chris joined me and we took a subway uptown to the N.Y. Historical to see their latest exhibits.
Unfortunately, a private event closed the museum to the public, but they gave us two free tickets to return on another day. After a tasty lunch at La Pecora Blanca on Columbus Avenue, we entered Central Park at 72nd Street and saw the famous Strawberry Fields memorial to John Lennon.
There was a crowd of young people gathered around the flower-strewn “Imagine” memorial. They listened to a busker who was playing Beetles’ songs on his guitar.
Chris and I walked through the park to the east side. Our goal was to find the beginning of a virtual tour of Christo & Jeanne-Claude’s Gates.
This year was the 20th anniversary of the artists’ monumental project which had rows of saffron-colored “gates” along several paths in Central Park in 2005.
To celebrate, a virtual tour was created for smartphones where people walked along the same paths using the app as a visual guide. It was amazing!! I was able to take photos as if The Gates were really there!
Afterwards, we went into the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see a current exhibit of landscape paintings. We enjoyed a tea break in the Patrons Lounge.
Later, we took a scenic bus ride down 5th Avenue and had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants: Franchia Cafe.
Friday morning, March 14th, I crossed the street to see the “Treasures” exhibit in the NYPL building. The library rotates their Cabinet of Wonders of literary and artistic treasures regularly. Great stuff: Dickens’ desk, James Baldwin’s manuscripts, medieval atlases, Albrecht Durer prints, etc.
Afterwards, I walked to The Morgan Library on Madison and 36th Street. I wanted to see the two current special exhibits. One on the author Franz Kafka and the other exhibit was about the life of Belle da Costa Greene, the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library.
I met my granddaughter, Hannah at an Apple computer repair shop on 36th Street. She had a problem with her computer. Chris later joined us and we had a fun afternoon chatting.
Chris and I walked up to west 50th Street to Urban Hawker’s for a casual dinner. Singaporean street food is represented by 17 vendors offering a variety of Asian cuisine.
I had roast chicken from Hainan Jones and Chris had a tofu dish from Jakarta Munch. Both delicious!
Chris walked me to the theater to see an off-Broadway performance of Perfect Crime. It was just okay.
I enjoyed walking back to the hotel afterwards. It was fun seeing all the tourists and the lights of the city at night.
I got a late start on Saturday: relaxed, and enjoyed a couple of Nespressos in my hotel room. Hannah and Chris joined me for lunch at La Pecora Blanca on 40th Street before walking up to MOMA.
Late in the afternoon, I rode a Metro North express train back to the boonies….
The next day, Sunday March 16, we had tickets for the Hudson Valley Irish Fest at the Paramount Theater in Peekskill, NY featuring my favorite Irish band: Cherish the Ladies!! 🍀
They were fantastic!!!