October 3 - 6, 2013 - Four Days in New York City

October 3 – 6, 2013

New York City, NY

We made our now-annual trek to New York City this past weekend to celebrate my Mum’s 83^rd birthday and to show Luisa NYC during her stay with us. As always, it was a busy, exciting time. The amount of things we try to fit into four days is somewhat insane, but that’s New York. One wouldn’t want to waste any time there.

We arrived late in the morning on Thursday with a lovely clear view coming into LaGuardia airport, direct from Des Moines to meet my Mum’s flight from Detroit a half hour later.

We all shared a taxi via the Midtown Tunnel because of traffic on the Triboro Bridge and suddenly were in downtown Manhattan. The scale is larger, the pace is faster, and the crowd of cars, taxis, buses and people is amazing.

We checked into our hotel much earlier than we expected and our rooms were not ready for us. We like to stay right on Central Park, near the Plaza at 59^th and 5^th Avenue. It’s a splurge, but worth it for the view and convenience. We left our luggage there and went in search of lunch. In one of my worst ideas of the trip, I suggested the Carnegie Deli, which was close by and a NYC legend for sandwiches and rude NY service. We each ordered a sandwich and received a mile high pile of meat each. The deli meats were great, but as a sandwich, it was just a pile of meat without anything else with it.

Full after half a sandwich each, we made our way through Times Square (which was mind-boggling, as always) and over to the MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. They have an American Modern show there which was very interesting. It is a mix of artists and medium from around the 1920s, including very early O’Keefe, Stieglitz and his circle’s photos, Hopper canvases, etc. The architecture of the MoMA building itself is an exhibit to see, also.

We returned to our hotel and really checked into our rooms. We had two adjoining rooms on the 22^nd floor, our highest floor at the Helmsley Park Lane yet and we had great views. Central Park stretched out before us. Here's our view looking north.

We “freshened up” and changed and headed back out for our first night on the town. We traveled south again to Aurellos on 42^nd Street near 7^th. It is ranked as one of the best restaurants in NYC and we wanted to try it. I tried their pumpkin risotto and scallops with potato and leek, both of which were subtle and very good. Luisa announced that the first appetizer exploded with flavors in her mouth and all in all, everyone enjoyed their food.

From there, we walked to the Shubert Theater for Matilda, the musical. Once there, Alle realized that the front of the Shubert is the one used in the movie version of The Producers and that was a touchstone in the Theater District for her. We all loved Matilda. It had a beautiful set, the songs were fun and the child star was incredible. Very worthwhile.  And, that was only our first day.

On Friday for breakfast, we enjoyed room service for as much as a typical dinner for four might cost in any other city. We walked through Central Park so that Luisa could see our hotel from the Park and the beautiful lay-out of the lakes, paths and central promenade.

We exited at 72^nd Street to the East and went to the Frick Collection. What a beautiful house and what amazing paintings. The Frick family acquired at least one of so many famous European painters from 1500 – 1900. Each room is more glorious than the next and it is difficult to imagine a family living amongst the treasures. There are Rembrandts and Vermeers, Holbeins  and Hobbema, as well as Monet.

From the Frick, we traveled down 5^th Avenue to meet one of Mum’s friends from High School. They both attended Music and Art, now LaGuardia High. He is an artist and a member of the Century Club. We met him there and viewed some of the amazing art there, as well. Early members were asked to contribute either $25 to join the club or a piece of art. Many, including Winslow Homer, contributed a painting rather than paying the “hefty” fee. Now, of course the paintings donated are worth thousands or millions of dollars each. We enjoyed lunch there and then walked around 5^th Avenue shops and to Grand Central Station. Grand Central still feels central and important. My Mum stated, “The most important thing Jackie Kennedy ever did was to restore Grand Central Station”.

From Grand Central, Mum decided to return to our hotel and rest. The girls and I decided to take a subway down to the southern tip of Manhattan, Battery Park and see the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center site. Battery Park is under construction, but we did see the Statue of Liberty from the shore. We walked north to the World Trade Center site and even though we only had a short time, we decided to try to see the new memorial. It was very worthwhile to see it. I found walking up to the large fountain and seeing all of the names and the water rushing down into an endless square stunning. I stood with my mouth open looking at the cascading water, replicating the falling of the towers and the loss of life. I was moved to tears, thinking about that day and the scale of the destruction.

We headed north again by subway and met up with my Mum at our hotel. Friday night (our second night), we were dressier and made our way to 1 Central Park West and Jean Georges restaurant, one of NYC's three star Michelin restaurants. This was a treat. Due to time, we chose the four course prix fixed menu rather than some of their larger and longer tasting menus. Every course, except for my entrée was exceptional. The real stand-out was the service. We had impeccable service. Our waiter was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. Whatever we needed arrived before we had to ask for it. A real stand-out in a city of fabulous restaurants.

From Jean Georges, we walked up to Lincoln Center for the NY Philharmonic’s performance of Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony. We love Lincoln Center with its three vibrant theaters looking out on Broadway and Columbus streets and its fountain bubbling forth, forming a wonderful white backdrop for the figures of people hanging out around it before performances. It’s a beautiful space. Before Beethoven’s 9^th, we had to listen to a new modern tribute to it, composed by Turnage. Some people probably celebrate this piece, but I found it an atonal replication of some of the gang fight songs of West Side Story. Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, on the other hand, was a tribute to that work. The choral parts filled Avery Fisher Hall and were glorious.

Saturday morning, we again tried a Room Service breakfast and headed north on an A train as early as possible, which for us, was around 10 am . We took the subway all the way up to 181^st Street, my Mum’s old neighborhood. We walked around the old park, up Pinehurst Avenue and to Fort Tryon Park. I have many happy memories of walking through that park as a child with my grandparents and to my eye, it appeared unchanged.

We arrived at the Cloisters around 12N. The Cloisters with its many inner courtyards, medieval stone pillars and artwork, is a sanctuary.

In celebration of the 75^th anniversary of the Cloisters being open to the public, they were playing the wonderful 40 part choral piece by Thomas Talis in one of the chapels. The 40 voices were separated and each part was playing out of a separate speaker. The result was to be part of what sounded like a live performance of a 15^th Century choral work in a 12^th Century chapel with wonderful acoustics. It was beautiful and everyone present stood with their eyes closed, in a trance.

We walked back to 190^th Street and took the A train back to Columbus Circle. We had more time to rest and get ready than previous nights, but somehow suddenly, we were heading out again for dinner and an evening event. We walked up to Café Fiorellos and the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. At Fiorellos we dined on huge pizzas and an enormous “open-faced” lasagna, but after the incredible service and experience at Jean Georges the night before, it was hard to measure up. The food was good and it was wonderfully close to Lincoln Center. We left with a half hour to spare, to enjoy the lead-up to the Opera.

The people are always so interesting at the Opera. There you see people in slacks and sweaters along with couples walking in black tie with diamonds sparkling; Groups of students giggling standing along side season ticket holders and couples who look like they might own major parts of New York. I had splurged and bought tickets just a few rows up from the stage on the main floor. My Mum was delighted with her close-in seat. We also love the translation screens of the Opera text which are displayed on the seat backs in front of each attendee. Your screen is only visible to you and it is so nice to follow along with the words to the songs. Here's the view up to the ceiling from our seats.

We saw Cossi fan Tutti or something like “Women are always like that”. It is a Mozart opera which is not very complimentary to either men or women. But, it is a comedy of hidden identities, misrepresentations, and people becoming trapped in their own schemes. The only challenge is its 3 and half hour length. But, it was very grand to be there and each of us enjoyed the setting, the environment, and the seemingly effortless singing. The Metropolitan Opera is always excellent. I’m not a huge Opera fan (my Mum is), but the Met is always worthwhile. Last year’s Marriage of Figaro there was one of the finest productions of anything I have ever seen.

Luckily, NYC never sleeps and as we walked back at 12M, we were surrounded by other theater goers and people out on the town.

On Sunday, our last day, we took a taxi to the upper East side to visit an old friend of mine for breakfast. After a wonderful meal and seeing the East River with him, we walked to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to view their current textile show and photography of Julia Margaret Cameron. Both were excellent. Cameron’s portraits of family and friends of her time (mid-1800s) are glowing with soft light and captivating.

We taxied back to our hotel and left for La Guardia airport. My Mum was feeling nervous about her flight, so we left with about three hours to spare. Last year at the end of October, our flight was one of the last out of LGA prior to the Hurricane Sandy hitting New York, so we were grateful for on-time departures and no storms this year. After sunny days in the 70s in NYC, we were shocked to return to Des Moines to find rain and 50 F. Four action packed days in NYC and now, thankfully, sleep.  

 

September 12 - 15, 2013 - Long Weekend in Boston and Maine

Long Weekend in Boston and Maine

September 12 – 15, 2013

We have booked more travel than usual this Fall, using Luisa’s stay with us as an excuse. We decided to take her along with us as often as possible when we have the chance to travel. With this in mind, we took Alle and Luisa with us to visit Boston and coastal Maine when we were invited to a wedding September 14^th in Kennebunk, Maine.

The four of us flew to Boston early Thursday morning, after leaving our sleeping boys for the longest time we will be apart from them since they were born. They will be in good hands with their nanny, Savanna. We arrived in time to take a Boston Duck ride from the Prudential building, which is close to our hotel, the Fairmont at Copley Square. We settled into our two rooms, separated by four floors for some reason, and set out for the Duck tour. It was a good, quick tour of the top Boston attractions, as well as the mandatory dunk into the Charles River to have a quick look at Cambridge from a distance.  Here's our Duck Boat/Bus sliding into the river (as reflected in a near-by mirror).

 

We took Luisa to Legal Seafood for her birthday dinner that evening and were the last ones in the place as we ordered almost one of everything on the menu and then dessert.

On Friday, we did touristy things we have never done while in Boston before. We walked the Freedom Trail and then took the T (subway train) over to Cambridge for lunch and the Harvard University tour. The Freedom Trail is a wonderful walk around all of the best sites of colonial Boston. I have seen most of them before, but it was more interesting seeing them all together in one walk and thinking about the time and the actions of the people there as the US moved towards independence.  

 

Being in Harvard Square is like seeing an old friend, but it was new to Alle and Luisa. So, the Harvard tour was a good introduction for them.

It was fun to walk into Cardullo’s (shop of gourmet items), which I remember from spending summers near-by when I was between the ages of five and fifteen. I also forced the girls to walk west to see where I used to live and more interestingly, Longfellow House and its lovely gardens and view to Memorial Drive and the Charles River.

We went back to the North End for dinner later that night and had an amazing meal at Ristorante Saraceno, a small family run Italian restaurant on Hanover Street.  We found out the easiest way to embarrass teenage girls is to be serenaded by street musicians (whom we had to pay, of course) as we ate our gelato from a near-by gelato shop afterwards.

Saturday, we left the area after taking more photos of rowers on the Charles and of Memorial Drive on a beautiful, crisp Fall day.

We drove north about an hour and half to Ogunquit, Maine. We were staying at the hotel recommended by the wedding party and I had made the incorrect assumption that it would be near the wedding and reception. They both turned out to be another half hour away and so we broke a few traffic laws trying to make the wedding on time.

After a lovely, and unfortunately, very on-time wedding in a small church in Kennebuck, we had a chance to congratulate the bride’s father, who is an old college roommate of Ricardo’s.

We went to the reception, ate wonderful food, tried to figure out Tom’s statistics of the wedding guests (!), and danced with our teenagers.

On Sunday, we had another amazingly clear, sunny late summer’s day on the coast of Maine. We walked the Marginal Way in Ogunquit and at one end of it, ate truly fabulous lobster rolls at the Lobster Shack in Perkin’s Cove. There are other restaurants and ordering windows right near the Lobster Shack, but they are only trying to pretend they are the Lobster Shack. The real thing has the best food.

We then drove to Manchester, New Hampshire to try the new flights to Des Moines on Southwest Airlines. All in all, we had an action packed four days and we hope a wonderful four day introduction to the northern East Coast of the US for Luisa.