"So here's your holiday, hope you enjoy it this time ~"
Here are a couple pictures from our March 19th-23th trip to New York City! Lex was presenting at a Comparative Literature (English Lit for people who have actual knowledge of non-English speaking countries) conference at NYU. So he provided the technical reason for going, UMass provided the lodging stipend, and I provided a rigid four-day itinerary starting the afternoon we arrived. Pics aren’t in any real order.
As impressive as it is ferrying up to and walking around the Statue of Liberty, I preferred the northward ferry trip to Ellis Island, passing the Statue on our left. I had no idea we were going to stand right in the Registration Room, where up to some 5,000 immigrant Americans were shuffled through a day for a couple decades. It was particularly fitting because the day before we’d been to the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side, and walked a tour through a former apartment of an 1860’s first generation Irish family.
This was from the first evening we were in the city. The Irish Hunger Memorial is on the western edge of Tribeca where we stayed, and consists of a transplanted cottage from one of the western Irish counties. It extended on the other side to a modern outdoor hallway illuminated with relevant quotes about the famine disaster and global response. A quiet, tasteful sanctuary in the midst of buildings and mud-river.
I saw my first Pieter Bruegel the Elder painting, at the Met! We went at the end of a day that also consisted of the 9/11 Memorial and Central Park, so obviously couldn’t see but so many galleries. I selected a few must-see rooms based on what artists they featured, and Bruegel was #1 on the list. This is “The Harvesters,” 1565 Netherlands.
If anyone’s idly interested, here is my favorite of all his paintings.
I visited the Flatiron Building by myself one day to sit with it for a while looking up from several different angles. Then another day because I was in the district to check out the nearby high-end chocolatiers and gelato café.
Just before The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre, where the musical’s run since January 1988! Christine was fine (is anyone ever really excited about Christine?), a serviceable Raoul. And the best Phantom I’ve ever seen/heard, with a jaw-dropping performance of “Music of the Night.” PERFECT deliveries of my two favorite lines. (“He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing,” and “have you forgotten your angel?”)
I went shopping and bought two sweaters - a cowl-necked grey sweater from an authentic-feeling little boutique in SoHo (on sale man), and this sweater from Broadway. Purple and magenta are so not my colors, but nostalgia dictates otherwise. Here you see me happily modeling the sweater version of my 2008 AIM chat text window.
This is not NYC related, but I failed to post last time…. My St. Patrick’s Day, and birthday mail! So many cards, so much fun.
Well, that should do it. Later days ~
As impressive as it is ferrying up to and walking around the Statue of Liberty, I preferred the northward ferry trip to Ellis Island, passing the Statue on our left. I had no idea we were going to stand right in the Registration Room, where up to some 5,000 immigrant Americans were shuffled through a day for a couple decades. It was particularly fitting because the day before we’d been to the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side, and walked a tour through a former apartment of an 1860’s first generation Irish family.
This was from the first evening we were in the city. The Irish Hunger Memorial is on the western edge of Tribeca where we stayed, and consists of a transplanted cottage from one of the western Irish counties. It extended on the other side to a modern outdoor hallway illuminated with relevant quotes about the famine disaster and global response. A quiet, tasteful sanctuary in the midst of buildings and mud-river.
I saw my first Pieter Bruegel the Elder painting, at the Met! We went at the end of a day that also consisted of the 9/11 Memorial and Central Park, so obviously couldn’t see but so many galleries. I selected a few must-see rooms based on what artists they featured, and Bruegel was #1 on the list. This is “The Harvesters,” 1565 Netherlands.
If anyone’s idly interested, here is my favorite of all his paintings.
I visited the Flatiron Building by myself one day to sit with it for a while looking up from several different angles. Then another day because I was in the district to check out the nearby high-end chocolatiers and gelato café.
Just before The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre, where the musical’s run since January 1988! Christine was fine (is anyone ever really excited about Christine?), a serviceable Raoul. And the best Phantom I’ve ever seen/heard, with a jaw-dropping performance of “Music of the Night.” PERFECT deliveries of my two favorite lines. (“He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing,” and “have you forgotten your angel?”)
I went shopping and bought two sweaters - a cowl-necked grey sweater from an authentic-feeling little boutique in SoHo (on sale man), and this sweater from Broadway. Purple and magenta are so not my colors, but nostalgia dictates otherwise. Here you see me happily modeling the sweater version of my 2008 AIM chat text window.
This is not NYC related, but I failed to post last time…. My St. Patrick’s Day, and birthday mail! So many cards, so much fun.
Well, that should do it. Later days ~