We had made arrangements to meet Thomas at the Guggenheim on Sunday morning at opening time. We took the subway 7th avenue and 83th street and walked a little on Park Avenue to see how the other half lives. I half expected to be crushed by a giant Monopoly token.
Next we crossed Madison Avenue with it’s wonderful old fashioned urban living feel. Apartments over stores. The Guggenheim is built where 86th street meets Central Park and creates a wonderful contrast to the faux-baroque apartment buildings next to it.
The Guggenheim with Central Park behind it.
We arrived to a significant line up outside the museum. It turned out to be the last day of an exhibition of works by Maurizio Cattelan, an Italian sculpture and known prankster of the art world. This artist had never had all his works shown in the same place at the same time, and has made a career out of bucking convention. He did not want his works to be simply displayed in the traditional exhibition spaces of the museum, and so they suspended all his works in the center space of the corkscrew gallery that constitutes the museum main space. It was very effective.
A hundred pictures would not be enough!
We walked around this spectacle with our mouths hanging open and after listening to the introduction we forgot completely about the free audio guides hanging around our necks. It was best just to use our own imagination to try to figure out what this was all about. Many pictures were taken, and many more could have been taken.
Once outside we pass by the Shake Shack on the way to the subway station, and decide to have a burger for lunch. We need one of these in Ottawa “stat”! Juicy burgers, quick service and quite the expansive menu. We spent some time showing Thomas the pictures we took the two previous days and had downloaded to the ipad.
Once in the subway again, Thomas pointed out a rat scurrying on the tracks, but luckily I did not see it. Zero to hysteria in 2.5 seconds! I don’t do well with rats. Thomas explained us why so many of the lines run over the same section of track (once all separate companies) and why the older lines are so close to the surface. (dig and re-cover technique). The I beams are pretty worn looking! The older stations are decorated in gorgeous mosaic work, which even when damaged still evoke this wonderful early 20th century feel.
Subway station mosaic
On our trek to MOMA (the next stop) we saw these gorgeous spheres on top of a church building and had to go check it out. It turned out to be the oldest synagogue in New York, although it is not the original building. Shortly after that we found ourselves on 5th avenue again. Thomas pointed out the new UNIQLO stores, a Japanese clothing store which has a very large and well organized but simple selection of fashionable clothing. There was no time to go in, but we had seen more of these stores on our exploration. I wonder how long before they will be in Toronto or Montreal.
At one point we saw the Waldorf Astoria Hotel at about 10 blocks down the street. This famed hotel was the result of combining two hotels competing in a family feud between William Waldorf Astor (Waldorf hotel) and John Jacob Astor (Astoria Hotel). The feud was astutely navigated by one George Boldt, who in merging them founded the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, the first hotel ever to offer room service. He also left us Boldt Castle in the Thousand Islands, but that is another blog post some other day. Right next to the hotel is St-Bartholomew’s Church. This Byzantine inspired building is another stop that unfortunately had to wait for another visit.
St-Batholomew's with the Waldorf Astoria behind it.
Just a little further along we ran into the absolute last thing we expected to see in New York. A genuine piece of the BERLIN WALL!. You can’t help but walk up to it and touch it. Nearby a man was having a cigarette and confirmed that it is a real piece of the Berlin wall. He sounded bored, like he has confirmed this for many incredulous tourists. He was in a white short sleeved shirt and white pants, and I assume he worked in a kitchen, because it was around freezing and a biting humid wind cut through our clothes bun he said he wasn’t cold…..yet.
An unexpected piece of history.
Once inside MOMA we used the coat check and made our way to the top floor. The next hour became an almost incessant repeat of the same remark. “Oh that’s here!” I saw many great and well known pieces by Cezanne, van Gogh, Picasso, Klimt, Monet, Sissly, and so many others that I have seen in books and art courses. The lower floors contained less familiar stuff, and made me realize I should have taken an audio guide after all. There was also an old fashioned airport schedule board and a Smart Car!
Now a museum piece....how old am I?
On the 2nd floor there was an exhibition by Croatian feminist artist Sanja Ivekovic. The art was clearly of great socio-political value, but at this point I was so saturated after two museums that unfortunately I absorbed only a very small portion of it, which was a huge pity. As with Maurizio Cattelan,I resisted buying the book just to have it.The last exhibition we visited was Diego Rivera's murals, also under appreciated due to sheer saturation. Dammit dammit dammit!
We walked from MOMA back to the area of the hotel where around the corner there is also the InternationalCenter for Photography, and the photographer wanted to at the very least check out the bookstore, so Thomas and I waited and chatted on the bench in the hallway. Two nice books were acquired. After that we sought refuge in a Starbucks to warm up, chat and rest the legs. We then dropped off the books at the hotel, and went for dinner at the Heartland brewpub on 43rd street just a few doors down from the hotel. They serve a pretty decent glass of beer, brewed on the premises, and a tasty New York striploin steak. (My favourite!)
We said goodbye to Thomas and took our tired legs to bed.
On Monday morning we made our way through a throng of New Yorkers heading to work (all carrying coffee) back to Penn Station through the garment district. We entered Penn Station from a different entrance and we saw Madision SquareGarden over top of it. The oldest arena in the NHL and site of many famous concerts including The Song Remains the Same. It is actually round.
On the return journey we took seats on the left side of the train again, so that we can get a view of the other side of the track. The landscape was grey and dominated by thick low hanging clouds.
Once in Syracuse we retrieved the car and put the foot down. We made it home in a record two and a half hours.
George Washington bridge
Hudson river under very low clouds.
Now what could that have been?
Once in Syracuse we retrieved the car and put the foot down. We made it home in a record two and a half hours.
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