Okay, I'm breakin' this up into days - it's been too long!
Friday
Most of the day Friday was spent blogging (this takes a lot of time!) and working, but I did some museums in the afternoon and evening.
I don't really get modern art. What MoMA has going for it, though, is that its collection starts in the mid- to late-19th century, so it has a number of what I consider classic pieces as well. Once you get past 1920 or so though, it's all kinda lost on me. I mean, this? Really?
What is this, actually?
Except photographs. I like photographs from any era. But really, this is art. My favorite!
So exciting!
Remember a few weeks ago when T and I went to Springfield and saw the Dana-Thomas House? Well, when he made the initial outdoor panelwork for the house, the otherwise brilliant Frank Lloyd Wright used plaster and paint - not, as the tour guide said, "the best weatherproof material." The pieces on the house have been recast in resin, but at MoMA, they have one of the originals, in plaster:
The real deal
About the time Charles and Ray Eames were perfecting their techniques for bending and molding plywood (later used to make their famous lounge and ottoman), it came to their attention that American servicemen returning from war were being tortured by the metal braces used at the time to stabilize wounded legs. The metal splints would amplify vibrations experienced by the ships transporting the wounded, and often would make injuries worse. The Navy commissioned 150,000 of these splints:
Ha. Now that's modern art with appreciating!
From MoMA, I walked and bussed it over to The Morgan Library and Museum, which was phenomenal. The Morgan Library portion of it is very much in the style of the Frick Collection - a whole, lived-in room - furniture, draperies, art, the works. I love that. The Frick still wins as my leading museum, but the Morgan, though small (just 4 rooms) is a must-see. The collection of books is stunning, and when it's all surrounded by heavy mahogany and red damask, it's just that much better. A Gutenberg Bible? A 1530 bronze-cast globe? A letter from James Madison? Yes, please. Keep 'em coming!
The museum portion of The Morgan Library and Museum had a fantastic (though again, small) exhibit on the words of Winston Churchill with letters, telegrams, video, his honorary American citizenship papers, and his Nobel Prize. There was also a slightly less enthralling (to me, anyway) exhibit on Venetian drawing. Really great stuff, all. Oh, and very small exhibitions of Ellsworth Kelly sculptures and an homage to the avant garde opera Einstein on the Beach. And, to boot, an adorable museum shop and lovely-looking restaurant, The Morgan Dining Room, though it was closed by the time I got there. Gah! And one more thing! There was a string duo playing cello and violin in the lobby! So wonderful!
Saturday
Saturday involved a lot of rain and wet shoes and subway riding. E and I went deep into the heart of the Bronx to visit the New York Botanical Garden. As our subway came out from underground, much to our dismay, it was pouring down rain. Buckets. We waited for a bit at the subway station once we arrived and it did subside a bit, but the ground was puddle-y and our feet spent the day is a gross sog of wet shoes.
The garden, however, was lovely - and uncrowded due to the inclement weather (again). The rain did stop and the sun even came out, and it turned into a beautiful day and a beautiful stroll around the garden. We crossed several times over the Bronx River, which runs through the garden and is Manhattan's only fresh water river.
On the way home, we stopped for lunch at a place I went to with L last summer: Dinosaur Bar-B-Que - which E gamely went for despite being a vegetarian. She had the "veggie platter" (aka a collection of side dishes), while I had pulled pork and a couple of sides myself. And we both had some delicious Ithaca Apricot Wheat Ale which I could have had a lot more of.
Later that night, we were heading out to a birthday party for a friend of a friend (that's right, we didn't know them, but we went anyway), and we saw these amazing birds just playing around in the sky right above our apartment building!
Sunday
Sunday was a pretty relaxed day. E had discovered some outdoor yoga at Chelsea Piers, so we traversed lower Manhattan to enjoy a beautiful day of sunshine! And I walked part of the High Line on the way there. It was lovely, but packed! The fact that it was a beautiful weekend day probably didn't help.
I went for a brief jog afterwards, and we strolled through Chelsea looking at all the stylish people on our way home to get ready for our big trip to Broadway! E's friend C has access to cheap tickets to lots of shows, and she happened to have some for Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, so we went!
It's true, this show got terrible reviews when it opened (and even before). They had lots of technical issues, and I can see why, what with people flying all over the theater! General consensus was that the music was disappointing, especially considering Bono's involvement in the production. Personally, I thought the instrumental music was, for the most part, better than the vocal pieces. Not that the singers were bad, the pieces just seemed to lack...something. And while it wasn't a great show, it was certainly fun.
And after, we went around the corner to Shake Shack and had so much good/bad food! They have frozen custard there which is purportedly based on the custard at Ted Drewes - and it might be true, because it tastes an awful lot like it! I got the chocolate shake version, E got it mixed with fig compote. C went for the big kahuna, the Shack Stack, which is a burger and a cheese-stuffed-and-fried portobello mushroom cap. She gave me a bite, and it was certainly deliciously terrible for me! I will be back.
Monday
I worked in the morning (as usual), then did a walking tour of the financial district, including stopping by the 9/11 Memorial. I was a day early, but they were already shutting things off for the ceremony the next day.
From there I worked my way uptown to Westsider Books - another used book store in the grand tradition of being an overstuffed fire hazard. Plus they have a rare book room with some interesting finds.
I jumped on the 1 train at 79th and Broadway and headed north, and I saw the last lost station at 91st Street, the one I couldn't get to last week! You really have to have your eyes peeled, because it's a small station and the conductors slow down not at all when they're barreling uptown.
I got off near Columbia University to visit the Book Culture store on 112th. The main floor feels like a traditional bookstore, although definitely erring towards the brainy/nerdy. Upstairs is organized according to academic department, and that's where the students go to buy their books. There's lots to see just browsing though, and if you're interested in used books (they have a huge literature section upstairs and lots of other popular stuff), that's the place to be. One annoyance, they make everyone check every bag - even my little purse! I hate that! Sure, if I had a backpack or big shopping bags or whatever, I can see it. But my purse I'd like to hold on to.
Since I was so far north, I decided to head over and take a peek at the northern reaches of Central Park, which I'd never seen! Just as lovely as the south, but much less crowded.
My last bookstore stop was Rizzoli's on West 57th, and it is beautiful! It is something to see, even if you're not interesting in browsing or purchasing books. But if you are, you should know it has a very small literature section, leaning instead heavily in the direction of architecture, art, design, fashion, photography, and the like. They also have a very small music section on the top floor, where I bought the last copy they had of a CD they were playing in the store - in fact, I bought the play copy: There's No Leaving Now by The Tallest Man On Earth. I'm happy to loan it out!
On my way to dinner in Tribeca with E and some friends, I saw this building. This is what I love about cities. They have to be creative with their use of space - every store, restaurant, apartment, and office has to work with the quirks in its particular building. Even "big box" type stores are different when they're jammed into an urban environment and not in a design-your-own strip mall. And if rehab was done right and you keep your eyes open, there is beautiful architecture everywhere:
Tuesday
As per usual, I spent the morning working again, and listening to the names being read via the live webcast of the 9/11 Memorial Ceremony.
After my afternoon jog I headed into Manhattan for the opening of the Richard Phillips exhibit at the Gagosian Gallery. Why? Do I really care about paintings of Lindsay Lohan and Sasha Grey? No. Actually I don't even know who Sasha Grey is. But I thought just being at an opening might be fun anyway - and it seems like a very NYC thing to do!
Needing food, I wandered around lower midtown and Chelsea looking for an acceptable place for a woman on her own who really just wanted to read her book to eat. Sort of a wine-bar-type, but not too dark, and just crowded enough to know the food was good, but not so crowded it would be too loud or I'd be a waste of space at the bar. Eventually I found it - the Silk Rd. Tavern on West 22nd street between 5th and 6th. It only opened in the beginning of June, which probably explains why it's not too crowded yet; when people discover it, it will be. I had a light and refreshing Allagash White to drink (I had actually gone looking for wine, but I had never seen this beer before, so why not?), and some crispy barbeque pork tacos with carrots and pickled onions, but instead of being served in little baby taco shells, they were served in crispy, house-made wonton wrappers. Mmm mmm good. (Allagash, it turns out, is a very eco-friendly small brewery in Maine. Happy to support them!)
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