Brenda and Chris are here!

Friday, September 25, 2015

Hello!

I have decided that there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done, and for once, I was unable to get to the blog last night … just too tired!  So…Thursday!  We left the hotel in Long Island City at about 10 a.m. by cab for our trip to the Park Lane Hotel on Central Park South (our up-tick hotel!) for the next four nights.  The Plaza in Long Island City arranged for a livery service (lovely black SUV, clean and with lots of room!) to pick us up, and it was there in literally less than 5 minutes.  Now, as I am sure EVERYONE in the entire United States knows by now, the Pope is coming to New York!  Yes…it’s quite the thing.  In fact, beginning yesterday, before the Pope even got here, there were entire BLOCKS of streets that were blocked off to ANYBODY – which of course includes the buses!  I don’t know what folks who rely on bus transportation are doing – it is suggested that subways and walking are the alternatives…?!  As our driver was trying to get us to Central Park South, we passed a true phalanx of police – I’ve never seen so many – and as I watched, a tourist came up to one in the large group to shake his hand, as his wife was taking pictures!  Police officer looked a bit uncomfortable, but handled it (from what I saw) with good grace.  And truly, last night as we were coming back to the hotel, I have never felt so safe in NYC! 

Arrived at the hotel safely, albeit slowly, as the traffic back-up is so badly everywhere, and checked in.  As our room was not ready, our luggage was whisked away into storage, and we were told to come back “about 3 p.m.”  So…out and heading (via subway, obviously!) to The Cloisters, which is at Tryon Park at the far north end of Manhattan Island.

Overlooking the Hudson to New Jersey!

A Cloister!

We walked to Columbus Circle to catch a train, and ended up on a #1 Train, which we took to 167^th where we changed to an A train.  We emerged from the subway station and of course, there was absolutely NO signage pointing to The Cloisters. 

The Cloisters!

One of the chapels

Robert got us across the street and into Tryon Park, and we finally got on a path of steps (and why do they always lead up??) which eventually lead us to The Cloisters building.  It is very interesting, and we’ve never been there before.  John D. Rockefeller, Jr. provided for the building, the setting in Fort Tryon Park and the acquisition of the George Grey Barnard Collection to get things started.  So this is a purpose-built building specifically for what has turned out to be the Metropolitan’s collection of art and architecture of medieval Europe.  It is filled with huge stone arches, lintels, doors and doorways and even entire chapels from primarily Spain, France and Italy, and it includes at least six separate cloisters:  a covered walk in a convent, monastery, college, or cathedral, typically with a wall on one side and a colonnade open to a quadrangle on the other.  There was also a large collection of jewelry – rings especially -- as well as church vestments and religious articles.

Another chapel

Cornice

According to the explanatory information, much of the material that came out of France was as a result of the French Revolution, when monasteries and churches were being routinely looted.  No such explanation for Spain or Italy.

An exterior cloister

Beautiful plantings!

Medieval Europe is not our “thing” but the collection and especially the building were very interesting.  We finished about 1:30 p.m. at which time we got a text from Chris Lowder that he and Brenda had arrived in LaGuardia and were making their way into the city.  As they hadn’t had lunch yet either, we decided to start back to the hotel.  So…we found a #5 bus that was actually moving, even though the driver said that rather than the normal route, he would be heading (eventually) down Lexington rather than 5^th Avenue.  Even so, our journey went fairly slowly, so we decided to hop off at a stop and connected to a #1 train which took us directly to Columbus Circle, and thence back to the hotel.

Me, Brenda and Chris at hotel cocktail party

Central Park!

And, our room was ready!  We’re in 1716 and our view is primarily of the water tower on the building next door! But the room is nice; spacious and nicely furnished, and the bed is comfortable, which is more to the point.  I decided to do a total unpacking so that rather than rummage through suitcases for the rest of our visit, we would have things in real drawers!  Yipee!!  Got unpacked, and R set up the computer, and waited for Chris and Brenda to arrive.  It took them some time (again, because of traffic issues and diversions) but they’re in Room 909, so we headed downstairs for our great reunion! 

SO good to see them!  Brenda visited us in Tucson last February for the gem show, but it has been at least 2+ years since we have seen Chris.  We headed outside and over to 57^th (in amongst all the barricades and police – seems the Pope and 80,000 people are expected for today’s procession in Central Park) to the Morton Williams market, which I had seen the day before.  Excellent grocery store – both fresh foods and produce – and we all bought things and headed to their eating area – tables and chairs and utensils upstairs; had it mostly to ourselves!

At Tavern on the Green

R's chopped salad

My figs with breasola!

R got some grilled shrimp and cole slaw; I got a Cobb salad; Brenda and Chris got sandwiches – so at least we were no longer starving!  Back to the hotel, stopping to pick up some sparkling water for our room along the way. 

We met again at 5 p.m. and went down to enjoy the manager’s reception that now takes place here every evening between 5 and 7 p.m.!  Brenda, Chris and I enjoyed free glasses of champagne, and R had a glass of chardonnay.  Chris also had an experimental glass of their “pumpkin” lager, which Brenda deemed “awful!”  They also had a spread of goodies, but as we were heading out for dinner at 6 p.m. we didn’t eat too much.

So…from the hotel we walked through Central Park (Chris navigating, as I managed to get us on top of a hill with not much of a path to follow!) and made our way to Tavern on the Green.  As it was so lovely outside, with a nice breeze, we opted to eat outdoors, and were seated at a very nice table.  The menu was interesting!  Brenda and I started with appetizers of roasted figs with breasola, goat cheese, honey and greens; excellent!  Chris had their Caesar salad with truffle oil (which smelled wonderfully!) and R had their chopped salad with gorgonzola. 

My Cauliflower Entrecote

R's scallops

Brenda's dessert

For mains, Chris had London broil and Brenda had filet, and both declared them excellent.  R had their wonderful sautéed scallops, and I had their cauliflower entrecote – no beef in sight here!  It was their vegetarian/vegan entrée of the day, and it was wonderful!  For dessert, Brenda had chocolate fudge cake, Chris had a very interesting carrot cake, and R had sherry.  Finished about 8:15 pm and we headed out for our next stop, the Empire State Building!

We walked back to Columbus Circle to catch a train to Herald Square and headed to the Empire State Building.  There were people there, but it wasn’t crowded downstairs – and as we had tickets, once we got through security, we just had to wind through the 2^nd floor to the first elevator (floor 2 – 80) and then do another wind around the floor to catch the elevator from 80 to 86, which was where we stopped.  Lots of people outside, but we were able to move around fairly freely, and R got some wonderful photographs! 

Chris' carrot cake

View of the restaurant!

Made our leisurely way around the top, and finally, having seen enough and having had a fairly long day, headed back to the hotel, arriving somewhere around 11 pm … so, another great day in NYC!  Can’t wait for the buses to be back to normal – which should happen around 10 a.m. tomorrow morning!  Yipee!!  Today we’re heading for the Metropolitan Museum!

Lots of love,

m

xxx