Category: Manhattan

Manhattan Adventures

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WAITING OUT IRMA

We led a schizophrenic existence the past few days enjoying lovely sunny fall days in Manhattan while mentally anxious about Hurricane Irma’s path and the fate of our Florida home. We were some of the fortunate ones; by the time Irma reached us, she had lessened in intensity and the wind direction sent any potential storm surge away from our house. We did not suffer any damage, just a few downed trees and branches around our property, while many in our area are without power.  While we waited, we walked, ate, went to museums, and spent time with our granddaughters.

EAST SIDE VIBE

The Upper East Side is a new neighborhood for us as we’ve always stayed in midtown or the West Village in the past. We love the West Village, its irregular streets, its funkiness, its cutting edge restaurants, and its overall small burg feeling. But, there is life for us in the UES too. The streets, while straight and grid-like, are bustling with people and places to shop, and a European aspect to some blocks. The dining is mostly more traditional, Old World German or French bistro-style, with in between a Chinese or Vietnamese eatery. Lots of bakeries too. Where Italian food seems to predominate in the Village, here it’s French. Although we did discover Nicola’s, a family-friendly popular restaurant serving delicious Italian food.

MUSEUMS

Met Breuer

We are a short walking distance from Museum Mile on 5th Avenue and have visited two museums already. We had long ago been in the Met Breuer building when it was the home of the Whitney Museum, but not since then. Flora Bar, their coffee and pastry outpost, offers a wide selection of coffees and teas, but also a tasty slice of greens pie and an awesome sticky bun that has sugar on top, but is not too sweet. It’s a pleasant spot to while away the time.

We were less impressed with the one exhibit on display. A retrospective of furniture, ceramics, jewelry, and textiles by the designer Ettore Sottsass, it was challenging for those who had never heard of him. With label text written in high museumese, it was not nearly as accessible to a general audience as it could have been.

We bought a Met membership since that gives us entry to the big Met on 5th Avenue and The Cloisters as well as here; if, however, we had bought admission tickets for just this museum, we would have been disappointed that there wasn’t more to see.

Neue Galerie

My friend Patricia has been singing the praises of Neue Galerie for several years, both for their collection and for the luscious Viennese pastry at their Café Sabarsky. We went and were very impressed on both counts. Feeling relieved after Irma left us intact, we indulged in a celebratory lunch starting with champagne and ending with a shared slice of apple strudel. The Chief Penguin went the traditional route with bratwurst, German potatoes, and cole slaw while I had what might be called, the “ladies special.” It was a mound of delicate fresh crabmeat salad covered by a silky ripe half an avocado with a few micro greens and cherry tomatoes around it. Just perfect!

Concentrating on Austrian and German art from about 1880 to 1940, the museum’s permanent collection includes lots of Klimts and Schieles as well as works by other artists of the period. An especially beautiful work is Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer,” which Gallerie founder Ronald Lauder purchased in 2006. This study in gold was the subject of the excellent feature film, Woman in Gold, starring Helen Mirren.

“Woman in Gold” from Neue Galerie

We also appreciated seeing the first ever museum exhibit of works by Richard Gerstl, an Austrian painter known for his revealing portraits, both of himself and his musician friends. His early suicide, after an affair with Arnold Schonberg’s wife, resulted in his work being sent to a warehouse for many years.

Note:  All other photos by JWFarrington.

Art at the Whitney

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WHITNEY BIENNIAL.

The Whitney Biennial brings together works of art by a wide variety of artists (60+ this year, I believe), many of them young.  Most of the art is recent or new works and includes paintings, sculpture, and video.  Overall the art is strange, provocative, disturbing, and sometimes even realistic.  We did just one floor of this extensive exhibit and will have to return to see the rest.  Here are some samples of what we saw.

One section of a cube by Pope. L, you could walk into whose interior and exterior walls were all covered with these slices of bologna each one with the face of one individual Jew in New York.  Almost 2,800 of these slices representing a fraction of a percent of the Jews in the city.    Odd and slightly disturbing.

  Work by Jon Kessler

La Talaverita, Sunday Morning NY Times, 2016 by Aliza Nisenbaum

One of John Divola’s series of Abandoned Paintings.

Section of stained glass wall by Raul de Nieves.  In front of it were several life sized figures made of yard, fabric, beads and the like.

  Glimmer Glass, 2016 by Carrie Moyer

Rug, 2015 by Ulrike Muller

 

The Whitney’s outdoor terraces are a wonderful venue for large scale sculpture.  I was particularly taken with the series of red cubes within cubes graduated in the degree of transparency.  The sculptor is Larry Bell.  The header photo is another view of this captivating work.

Note:  All photos by JWFarrington.

Jaunting in Manhattan

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JAUNTING ALONG THE HUDSON

We have taken advantage of being only a block from the water to explore nearby Pier 45.  One evening at dusk, a group of young people were dancing to Brazilian tunes there while other folks sat on the lawn braving the cold breeze.   The other morning we walked the promenade from Pier 45 up to Pier 88 (where the big cruise ships dock), about 40 blocks each way. This promenade and its extension going south comprise part of Hudson River Park. Nicely landscaped with many grassy areas, lots of benches, café tables and chairs, and periodic restrooms along the way, it’s well designed for pedestrians, runners and bicyclists. A small stretch of our route was still in the process of being built out, but even so, there were clearly marked lanes for walkers and bikers.

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Soccer practice, anyone?
Soccer practice, anyone?
Sign reads: Monarch Way Station
Sign reads: Monarch Way Station

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BOOK UPDATE

Priestly Politics

On the recommendation of a good friend, I decided to try one of C. J. Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake mysteries. The first one, Dissolution, is set in 1537 in London and Sussex. At the direction of Thomas Cromwell, lawyer Shardlake travels to the Scarnsea monastery to investigate the murder of a royal commissioner who was there on an inspection tour. In the spirit of Protestant reform and as the head of the new Church of England, King Henry is actively working to close and dissolve all the Catholic monasteries.

Hunchback Shardlake is an intriguing character—smart and thoughtful, though not without his own biases; his protégé, Mark Poer, is young, naïve, and attractive; and more suspicious deaths occur. I found the book slow at first, but then got engaged and enjoyed the suspense and learning about this piece of English church history. There are four other books in the series thus far.

Advice for Boomers

Old Age: A Beginner’s Guide by Michael Kinsley.  I always liked watching Kinsley spar about politics and issues of the day as co-host of TV’s Crossfire. He was quick, witty, and cutting.  As most people know, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in his early 40’s, more than 20 years ago, and that eventually changed how he approached his professional work.   He is now 65 and his new book contains a lot of information about the disease (much of which I knew, but not all) and is intended as advice for the Baby Boomer generation. I found it less than satisfying, somewhat repetitive and not very helpful—perhaps that’s because I’ve already crossed the Medicare divide.

 

Header photo:  Plantings at Chelsea Piers

All photos by JWFarrington, some rights reserved

Manhattan Moments

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MOSTLY HEARTWARMING

We missed seeing this film at the Sarasota Film Festival and so were pleased to catch it here in Manhattan. The Man Who Knew Infinity is based on events in the life of genius mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan. Ramanujan was a poor man from Madras with no formal education who saw the world in numbers, patterns of numbers and equations. No one in India understood his work, but a colleague referred him to one of the professors at Cambridge University. The film portrays the prejudice, academic jealousy, and indifference he faced while at Cambridge, initially even from his sponsor, Professor Hardy. Dev Patel of “Marigold Hotel” fame is engaging as Ramanujan and Jeremy Irons plays the condescending, socially clueless Hardy. Interwoven with Ramanujan’s amazing story is an appreciation for the beauty and elegance of complex math. Ramanujan’s work is still being used today.

Colorful plate at Santina
Colorful plate at Santina

EATS

We have some favorite restaurants in the West Village, but are attempting to broaden our scope and intersperse some new ones midst the familiars.  So far there are two new places which we’d definitely recommend.   Rosemary’s serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we were there for dinner. It’s a bare wood floor, bare wood tables room with lots of glass and a lively (somewhat noisy) vibe. The food is what I’d call rustic Italian and there were some different (read not ordinary) dishes on the menu. Especially lovely was the linguine with preserved lemon, Parmesan, and a bit of chili; the lemon really provided some zing.  Also good was the shrimp starter with jalapeno, mint and breadcrumbs. Our waiter was a very pleasant young man from Minnesota.

We also sampled the Brazilian cuisine at Berimbau, a tiny, very casual restaurant that makes up in friendliness what it lacks in space.  The Chief Penguin is a fan of caipirinhas, the de facto national drink of Brazil, and immediately ordered one which he pronounced most satisfactory!  We had the fried calamari (not exactly Brazilian) and the chicken stroganoff (apparently stroganoff with poultry is more popular than the traditional beef) and the tropical salmon served with rice with diced vegetables.  Both were very good.

We also went back to Omar’s, Santina, and Frankie’s, all restaurants we’d enjoyed previously. Omar’s was quiet and lovely, Santina a very happening loud, but delicious, venue in the Meatpacking District, and Frankie’s, also very popular, where I had some of the lightest and best gnocchi I’ve ever had anywhere!  Given the demographics of this neighborhood, we are becoming accustomed to being the oldest folks in the dining room.

G NOTES

One of the joys of this stage of life is spending time with grandchildren. We are now blessed with two girls, one almost 4 and the other a mere 6 weeks old. There is nothing quite so soothing as sitting with a small baby snug against your chest, her heart beating against yours as she snoozes, occasionally emitting little squeaks. F. spent two hours asleep like this as I sank deeper into the couch.

E. can be a motion machine, but lately she has been content to sit close to me or her grandfather, always in physical contact, for a story or conversation.  She is also drawn to Grandpa’s shirt pocket from which she can pluck a few Cheerios. This week I got to see her and about seven other girls and one little boy in action at their ballet class. The girls all in leotards or tutus, still one moment, twirling or jumping the next. There is a mirror so the parents can watch the proceedings without being seen.  Fun.

 

Photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved)