A Trip to New York City

This was an anniversary trip of sorts. Mike and I met in NYC (Greenwich Village to be exact) almost 43 years ago, got married 42 years ago and haven't been back to New York since. After all these years of talking about returning, we finally did. It was a fairly spontaneous trip with a desire to stay in G.V., wander our old haunts and do touristy things on a small budget.

The budget was what led us to finding an alternative to hotels. We rented a studio apt. for about $170 a night. Here's a photo of Mike in the entryway to the place on Sullivan Street.

 

And our street.

 

Our first day out, we decided to take the ferry ride out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, which leaves from Battery Park, near Ground Zero.

 

Seven buildings were destroyed that day. As you can see, reconstruction is happening. Just across the street from the World Trade Center, this old church and cemetery were unscathed.

 

Our trip out to the statue and Ellis Island was ideal in that the sun was shining, but the temperature was 21 degrees F. I'm so glad I bought this winter hat.

 

Our second day we started our string of museums with the Guggenheim. The "Void" of the museum was filled with Maurizio Cattelan's retrospective. I had never heard of him, but at age 51, he has retired from the conceptual art world and all of his work is hanging in the Guggenheim.

 

After several hours in the gallery, we were happy to walk across town through Central Park.

 

The rest of that day played out as a perfect New York day. We got frustrated trying to find a coffee drip cone in the huge stores on 34th Street. Then we hopped on the subway back down to Washington Square (definitely a landmark for us from our courtship). In Washington Square, while I was taking a photo of Mike and a musician, a man and woman started a screaming fight with each other. When he threw her down on a bench and jumped on her, I yelled (at a safe distance), "Do you need help?" After yelling the same question 3 times, he got up and they stumbled away from one another. She gave me a weak "thank you." In my back story of this couple, this kind of event occurs regularly, but I felt satisfaction in stopping this particular round.

 

 

When it was dark, we returned to our apartment to find the street taken over with trucks and lights and catered food tables. They were filming "Law and Order: SVU" right there.

 

What a lot of NYC crammed into one day!

While in New York, we went to two Broadway plays--"Godspell" and "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." While I enjoyed both, "Godspell" was by far my favorite. To make things even more fun, a couple days after seeing the play, we were having a midnight drink in a small bar near our apartment when one of the actors from "Godspell" walked in. We bought her a drink and talked for an hour or so. Great fun!

 

Our further adventures included going to the top of the Empire State Building. Did you know that at the time it was designed and built, that spire at the top was intended for docking dirigibles. In the design drawings at the ESB, they had illustrated people descending from the blimp in elegant clothing to the roof of the building. With the wind and and weather and the end of use of dirigibles, it was, of course, an abandoned idea.

 

 

Of course, we went to more museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art. Here I am with a painting by Matisse.

 

We visited other landmarks such as Grand Central Station. Although I'd been there many times in my youth, I'd forgotten how vast it is and how the people scurrying around to catch trains look like ants. I'd also forgotten the beautiful ceiling of constellations.

 

 

As all good things must do, our week in NYC came to an end. Although we had endured most days in the mid 20 degree temperatures, there was no snow until our day of departure. Isn't that a sad scene-- Mike pulling our bag through the snow to the subway.