Central Park and NYC walkabout...

Good thing we went last week. That town would be decidedly unfun if you couldn't get around...

So who gets up early in the morning on a weekday to go and walk in Central Park, when the air is about 10 degrees and a brisk little breeze is kicking up on a bright sunny day? Why, you intrepid ponderer of course!

I was a week late, but needed to go there to stand in memory of John Lennon. K needed to see the park. The night before from high about it showed as a huge dimly lit blank space in the middle of brightly lit chaos. On the ground there is nothing like it. You know its contrived, but so what? Green space in all that asphalt and concrete is really something, and it feels so huge.

We got off near the Dakota and walked in the opposite direction to enter the park and walk back. Lots of snow and ice on the ground, and it was COLD. But we were bundled up like weebles, and waddled long and far. Ending back up across from the Dakota at the Lennon "Imagine" mosaic with a few other people, quite sobering. I've read his biography, and of course listened to his music (Beatles and solo). I rather like him as a singer/songwriter, but understand he could be a difficult character. But who knows? I do know this: in the early 90's i went to a show of his artwork (drawings and paintings) put together boy Yoko and touring the US. I distinctly remembering standing amid them and realizing with no doubt, this was a man who completely loved his wife and son. No matter what else was going on with him, that was clear and definite. There was no mistaking; you could not make art with that much heart if you didn't. So I've respected him ever since.

We ended our Central Park walk and headed back to the sub, and rode down to Greenwich Village. I love the history and idea of the Village as a center of artistic progression. It was good to see it in all its funkiness. We dove into a little diner out of the cold, and ate. I had a big honkin' yummy New York Pastrami sammie with gobs of hot brown mustard, and fresh cut real potatoe french fries. Big time yums! We left there and wandered around the Village, making a big circle around Washington Square, MacDougal Street, Bleecker Street, it was very cold, not many people out. I would love to come back in the spring or fall when more would be happening, and weave in and out of the little shops, restaurants, bars and coffee houses. It seemed neighborly, and I hope to get back before it gets too gentrified.

Back down to the sub and stopped at the Chelsea neighborhood. Chelsea has over 200 galleries in a 4 block radius...I was immersed and saturated and happy as a clam when I went there in Feb and couldn't wait to get back. Chelsea is when I understood why NYC was (is?) the center of the art world. You could see anything and everything in every possible media all in one small easily walkable area. You could spend days there, and these galleries go from little temporary shoebox places to gigantic spaces hosting a 20' Calder mobile suspended over a David Smith sculpture.

Imagine my disappointment at finding most galleries closed for the holidays or in between shows. Oh well, it'll be something to look forward to on the next trip. So duck into a place for big lattes and warming up, then to the sub again, before rush hour. Next stop, Grand Central Station.

I find this place amazing in its hugeness and grandeur. It is the center of the train travel universe. (I can't imagine what it must be like now with the subways on strike!) Huge open galleries with vaulted ceilings, people scurrying all about, coming and going- pure energy of motion. Within the halls are store after store, and in one of the wings rows of vendor booths selling endless bright, shiny, or warm things. Hat and scarf booths were doing a booming business.

Next, for effect, down to the sub again, only to pop up a short time later in Times Square at night. Truly a spectacle. How do they turn a side of a 20 story building into a giant tv??? Crazy. Walked past many theaters, lines out of most of them; at $100 each for cheap tickets, those places are like gold mines. We went down and out a few streets to the edge of Hell's Kitchen and found a great burrito shop with giant yummy burritos for cheap, sat and ate and warmed up yet again, and left with leftovers wrapped for an impromptu breakfast. Strolled back in the cold night to Times Square, and then why not? walked up Broadway to the Radio City Music Hall and a second visit to the Rockefeller Center skating rink, where we had coffee and hot chocolate and watched the skaters go round. Clearly, I am a cheap date.

After that, back to the lux accomodations, crash into bed, and snore lightly into the night, for tomorrow we go to MOMA.

Hope everyone is well and that these posts are helping you all fall asleep easily....