Sarah blew into town, and I haven't had time to write. I'm sure the readership has appreciated the break. Today, though, I want to talk about Central Park and some other interesting environs of New York City. Central Park is a giant swath of green literally in the geographic center of Manhattan Island. It's 843 acres of the most expensive land in North America. It's the largest urban park in the United States. It is a breath of much needed air in a jungle of concrete, high rise buildings, choked roads, blaring cars, buses and taxicabs foaming with wall to wall people. The park opened in 1857, and has been continually improved.
All the 'features' of Central Park except for the rock outcroppings are man-made. There are several lakes (all man made), 26,000 trees (all planted), miles of benches, walkways, garden areas, meadows, the largest ice skating rink in the city, statues both life size and larger than life size, and fountains. There are 24 playgrounds in the Park. People stream into the park from the surrounding streets. Housing with a view of the Park' is highly prized and extremely expensive - millions of dollars expensive. The first apartment house built in New York City was built at the edge of the Park.
As a tourist there are four ways to see Central Park: (1) hoof it - it's 6 miles around the park. (2) bike it - rent your bike at the Boat House (where you can also rent boats or gondolas to go out on the big lake). (3) Take an old-fashioned horse-drawn carriage ride, and smell manure for your entire tour, or (4) hire labor to pedal for you by renting a pedi cab with bicyclist. We chose option #4, and we had a thoroughly entertaining time being rickshawed thru Central Park. We wove in and out of bicycles and horse draw carriages while in the Park, and in and out of cars, trucks, buses and taxis on the short sojourn out of the Park. Our pedi cab driver confided that the horse carriage drivers hate the pedi cabs. I'm sure they do. These pedi cabs halved their business. It was a great and relatively inexpensive way to see a lot of Central Park.
We also went to another park - it's actually a new park in Manhattan in the Chelsea neighborhood. It's a park with a twist: the park is elevated. It's called "The High Line". NYC parks took possession of an abandoned elevated rail line, and turned that ribbon into a new urban park. It's wildly successful, and it's been cleverly executed. It's obviously bringing more people to the Chelsea area and thus more businesses and lots more housing is being renovated because of the High Line. There are benches, GRASS, flower gardens, trees, amphitheaters, and wide walkways on 6.73 acres that is elevated 30 feet in the air. It's got views of the New York piers along the North River (It's where the Hudson and East Rivers come together, and it's got it's own river name.) The High Line Park is a triumph, and a genius re-purposing of what was once a rusting eyesore running through this neighborhood.
Another 'environ' of New York City is the club/cocktail scene. No - Drake and I haven't suddenly given up our stodgy ways. We are living this part of the New York City experience through Sarah and Jay. At age 25 life begins at 11pm. One of the things they have wanted to do while here was go to cool clubs in New York City. As you look at the pictures, you will see one such place. They came to breakfast yesterday with a terrific story.
Upon getting ready to leave dinner, they asked the waitress if she could recommend any really "NY" places for an after dinner drink. She must have liked their looks because she sent them to a place with two, not one, but two bouncers out front. The waitress warned them to tell the bouncers they were joining someone's party inside, and they should be able to get in. The bouncers did give S & J a hard time because their function is to let in only deserving people (meaning NOT TOURISTS). Sarah and Jay just kept bullshitting them about joining "Jenyne's Birthday Bash", but I think the truth is that they didn't LOOK like rube tourists - that's my specialty. The place was everything they hoped: All New Yorkers. A specialty bartender (meaning, you just tell him you like 'gin', and he makes a specialty drink just for you.) A DJ playing music to set up a distinctive New York atmosphere. Sarah and Jay were popular enough to be invited back by the 'regulars'. A very satisfying New York experience for all of us.
Drake and I did make a THIRD trip to the Metropolitan Art Museum - I really wanted to see the Contemporary Art. It was gratifying to see that the artists being collected at the Met are the same artists that the Fort Worth Modern has been acquiring. I also wanted to see some Asian art, particularly Japanese art. My favorite Japanese artist - Hiroshige, a 19th century artist doing woodblock prints, was well represented. I also got to see the Alexander McQueen haute couture clothing exhibit in a less crowded setting. We closed the museum down at 9pm on Friday night, and we both feel like we saw everything we wanted.
I'm putting in two picture sites. The first link is the Parks, and the second link is the third set of Metropolitan Art Museum pix.
https://picasaweb.google.com/jalyss1/NewYorkCityCentralParkAndEnvirons?authkey=Gv1sRgCNz71K2Cx76cQw#
https://picasaweb.google.com/jalyss1/NewYorkMetropolitanMuseumOfArt3?authkey=Gv1sRgCMeEopa37tna9QE#
We've also eaten at four more terrific restaurants - scattered all over New York City. Tomorrow it's either the Guggenheim or the MOMA for Drake and I. Then one last blow-out outing for the four of us; the crescendo of this trip for me: The American Ballet Theater doing Swan Lake.
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