New York City. This was the first time I’d been in New York in seven years. The last time I was there was in the spring, right before 9/11. I was very aware of the absence of those towers in the skyline; it made me sad, but I’d hesitate to say that to a native New Yorker; it just seems like for them it must be so much deeper of a wound. I’m took it all in; the shops, the streets, the taxis, the subways. I did a lot of comparing to Hong Kong too, which seemed inevitable, since in my fantasies Hong Kong is the Asian New York. Hong Kong is cleaner! Safer! Cheaper! Prettier! I need to stop.
I arrived on Friday June 13th. Sarah had already been there for a business thing since Wednesday night. I met Sarah and Eugenie at the hotel and we took the subway to dinner. Again with the comparisons…Octopus cards are so much more convenient than Metro Cards. So it goes. Sarah said that watching me and Eugenie interact, she could see we had some history. I found myself talking about Hong Kong and then just feeling like I needed to stop. It was actually a good lesson in the fact that most people aren’t going to care that much about my overseas experiences.
Saturday Sarah and I walked over to the theatre to get our student rush tickets for that night. We then proceeded to walk to Bryant Park, pet the lions in front of the public library, and look at beautiful vintage and designer clothes in the east village. We took the subway back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and the theatre. When we emerged from the subway it was POURING and we got soaked running back to the hotel. However once we dried off and changed clothes we were fine. We took a taxi to Momofuku and had an early dinner of yummy noodles. I felt like a foodie-groupie, since I’ve read so much about this place in my New York fantasy reading.
We ate our dinner in plenty of time to grab a taxi and make it to the theatre to see Spring Awakening, an unusual musical based on a radical play from the 1890's. After the play we wandered the streets of New York, trying to find a place that would serve us drinks and dessert. This shouldn’t have been so difficult but it was late we really didn’t know where to look. We finally found an Irish pub with seriously great cake, but it took awhile. At one point we tried the bar at The Library, a highly recommended hotel, but they didn't have food. It looked like a cool hotel though, maybe someplace to stay another time when we’re feeling more flush.
The rest of our time together Sarah and I had a lot of conversations about Spring Awakening, the confusion and innocence of early puberty, how standards of what children should be told and when have changed dramatically in the past 50 years…I was always pretty open with my kids about the facts of life, but I tried to stay age-appropriate, since if you give kids TOO much information too early they just tune it out. Sarah told me some of her friends were very shocked and impressed that I gave her a copy of “Our Bodies Ourselves” when she was around 13. It just seemed like a good book to have around the house, because it had the answers to so many questions that kids are curious about but feel too awkward to ask their parents.
Sunday morning we went running in Central Park. It was really fun. I ran past the Central Park zoo and started heading toward the reservoir, but it was too far for the run I had in mind that day, so I turned back. I thought I was going back more-or-less the direction I came, but I got SO lost. It’s a rectangular park so it wouldn't seem possible but I was on a road that twisted more than I thought I guess. I ran past a merry-go-round and some ball fields and emerged from the park at 65th St WEST, when I was looking for 57th St East! I eventually figured it out, and I did get a better understanding of NYC streets in the end. They’re really very logical.
Then we had breakfast at a bagel place with those quintessential New York rude countermen. When they barked at me I snapped right back at them. Sarah whispered “mom, they’re supposed to do that”. I knew that, I just hadn’t had my coffee yet. So he gave me my coffee right away, while I was waiting for our bagels. Ha, maybe I just discovered a nifty trick.
After breakfast we walked up Central Park West to the Robert Maplethorpe Polaroid exhibit at the Whitney. They were early Maplethorpe and had a kinder, less kinky feel to them. The one I remember in particular was a little portrait of Patti Smith. It looked like one of my friend Cynthia's photos from the series she was doing with her face partially hidden. Marplethorpe photographed Patti Smith’s face partially behind a scarf. It looked like she was wearing some kind of erotically charged hajib.
I wanted to see the Guggenheim but it was wreathed in plywood and plastic. Disappointed, we strolled back along 3rd St and enjoyed the little shops until it was time to catch a cab to our pedicure. The pedicure was my belated mother's day present from Sarah and Daniel, and I received it on Father's day!
That evening we went to a provincial French restaurant. Again it was wildly expensive. It helped me a little to deal with the prices if I converted them to Hong Kong dollars. I had a Manhattan, then asparagus and morel soup that was simply amazing. The 2nd course of black cod was very good; the 3rd course of pork loin was tasty but somewhat tough. I had an expensive zinfandel and it was good but not worth the $$.
Monday we hit a pastry shop for breakfast, and then hopped on the subway, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and back, and walked through Chinatown. Chinatown was a hoot! They're speaking Cantonese, answering their phones with "wei?" and selling the same stuff you'd buy in the Wan Chai market.
THEN we walked back into the Soho/NYU neighborhood and had Middle Eastern salad stuff for lunch. My daughter made me feel old this trip. She wore me out with all that walking. By the time we were through with lunch I really was ready to just sit somewhere and put my feet up. Hard traveling with old people sometimes…!
By 2 pm it was time for us to say goodbye. I hugged Sarah and took a taxi to Penn station. I was on my way up the Hudson River Valley on Amtrak to visit Eugenie, and her husband Ken. I couldn't find my reservation # so I had to stand in line. Turns out my train was at 2:20 pm not 4:20 pm, so the kind-hearted ticket lady put me on the 4:40 pm train instead. Right after I got my ticket I got a call from Sarah. Her flight had been cancelled and the earliest flight they could put her on was the next day at 6:30 am. Poor thing. They wouldn’t pay for her hotel either, because the cancellation was weather-related. Too bad to end such a fun trip with a chicken Caesar salad in a sketchy hotel out by LaGuardia.
No comments:
Post a Comment