Back From the Big Apple!

Well, we got back yesterday after spending a lovely five days in New York City where we saw the sights during the day and went to shows and movies in the evenings. This time we drove down and parked on Staten Island at Warren's aunt's house and that worked very well as the hotel where we stay is basically "on the way" going and coming from Staten Island. Speaking of the hotel, this is a picture taken at dusk from our 12th floor hotel room at the Riverside Towers where we always stay. This year we had a corner "suite" with windows facing across the Hudson to New Jersey and down the Hudson toward 45th st. This hotel is located at 80th Street and Riverside Drive in a really nice neighborhood. Zabars is two blocks east on Broadway which is where we hop the subway as well!

Monday was spent visiting with Warren's elderly aunt who is getting very frail -- she is the last of that generation for the both of us and we like to visit each year and see how she is getting along. She has aides full time now as she does not want to go to a nursing home (and she is pretty healthy except for hearing and short term memory loss).

Our first day out on the town we spent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is always a must see for both of us. I particularly liked the Pierre Bonnard special exhibit. There was no photography but I took this picture also by Bonnard at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) two days later. That evening we went to see Shrek, the Musical which was very well done and the music was wonderful with great talented singers -- although we have almost never been disappointed by Broadway musicals.
This is of course the main entrance to the Met.

The next day we got up early to make our annual visit to the Zoo in Central Park which we really like. We particularly enjoy the building dedicated to the Rainforest birds. This was a particularly handsome polar bear moving around for our entertainment. We managed to catch the Sea Lion feeding as well for the first time.

We rushed up 9 blocks to take a guided tour through Central Park in the afternoon. It took us from East to West at around 72nd Street.

Always on the lookout for a new bird, I spotted this Hooded Merganser off in the distance camouflaged by many, many mallards! He wouldn't let us get anywhere near him!

Although you probably can't see him, Pale Male (a red-shouldered hawk) was sitting on this pole (left hand side) on an apartment building close to the Park. He caused quite a stir a number of years ago when the apartment building where is nest has been for years decided it needed to go!! Petitions were signed and the nest is back at the Montana (I also took pictures of that!). Quite exciting to actually see the famous bird as well (easily amused as I am).

There were actually flowers blooming in the park so spring can't be too far off. We saw a lone crocus, a pansy and some violets later in the week at the Brooklyn Botannical Gardens as well. Warren and I split up for the evening and he went to a Haydn opera given by one of the Manhattan opera companies and I went to another play -- this time August-Osage County which had won the Pulitzer for drama and several Tonies a couple of years ago. It was absolutely excellent. It was over three hours long and I never noticed it! Warren was getting worried as I was not arriving home and it was 11!

The next day we split again and Warren took the Grand Central Station tour that I had taken last year and I went to MOMA. This was really a high point of the trip for me. I especially liked a large exhibit they had on the history of printing and bought the book published by the Museum which was the full document -- it was fascinating!! We didn't have the patience to stand in line for tickets and there were no plays we were dying to see so we opted for the movies and saw Doubt which I would highly recommend -- superb acting and good thinking story. This is of course one of the many Picassos that is housed at MOMA.

This is one of the spectacular water lily paintings by Monet. It was probably 10 feet by 30 feet. I remember seeing a similar one at D'Orsay in Paris.

Friday was a gorgeous and fairly warm (60 degrees) day so we decided to walk the Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn from Manhattan, go to the Brooklyn Museum and also to the Botannical Gardens. This was Warren with the Financial District of Manhattan in the background.


The view back down through the Brooklyn Bridge. The weather was supposed to be cloudy and drizzly this day - ha!
See, I didn't even wear my coat! I really enjoyed the Botannical Gardens and would love to see it in bloom. They have a wonderful section inside with Bonsai which is some of the nicest I have seen!

The highlight of the Brooklyn Museum was the Judy Chicago masterpiece called The Dinner Party. It is extremely impressive both from an artistic statement standpoint and sheer craftsmanship as well!