Christmas in NYC

So-this is the third time I'm trying this blog but this time I'm in Firefox instead of IE-I hope that makes a difference.

My mom and I went to NY for a couple days last weekend; we left Philly early Friday morning and arrived back Saturday about 6 PM-a busy 36 hours. My mom grew up in NY and is the one who introduced me to its charms; the theater and shopping in Midtown, Central Park, and the museums. (I discovered downtown on my own and took her there-in her day Soho was not a place you wanted to go!). We've traveled to NY together many times over the years, but in the past couple years we started a new tradition-the Christmastime visit. Manhattan has that extra special something around Christmas, and I hope to bring some of that right here to Myspace.
First, the Christmas tree at 30th Street Station




We arrived in NY about 10AM, and after dropping our bags at the hotel, we hit the street to start the day. One of those quirky store windows I'm always on the lookout for



We headed towards the Morgan Library to see an exhibit of original drawings from the Babar books and have lunch in their atrium. We also stopped in their museum shop to look for a mini-calendar for Mom's kitchen. (No luck, and we were unsuccessful in the other museum shops we went in. Luckily I was able to find about 15 to choose from on the internet when I got home-one of these days we'll take the sheets off that beautiful Apple she got for Christmas last year.)On the way there we stopped at Lord and Taylor to check out the windows; the place was beautiful, inside and out.








Next stop-MOMA-for the Van Gogh at Night exhibit and a little early dinner. Unfortunately the timed tickets for the Van Gogh were sold out for the evening; Friday night is free and the place was mobbed. We did stumble on this amazing littleexhibit of 20's movie posters that we spent some time looking at-I love to find those little gems, and this one sparkled!
We went to dinner at the Modern Bar Room, which is the casual side of the Modern restaurant; the same great food for less money, and the Friday night happy hour scene is always interesting.

By the time we finished dinner we were done in more ways than one-it was time to officially check in at the hotel and relax in the room.
Some shots on the way back to the hotel








The next morning we slept in a bit and had breakfast (eggs benedict with smoked salmon-yum) at the hotel restaurant Serafina. The idea was to get started on the day at MOMA for the Van Gogh exhibit we missed the night before, so after breakfast we headed out again.



A shot of mom on the stairs at MOMA-I'm so glad I asked her to pose for this!



The Van Gogh exhibit was incredible, unfortunately no pictures were allowed, so you'll just have to go yourself, or you can just follow the link and visit it online-I promise you won't regret it.

After we left MOMA we hopped in a cab uptown to the Met-so much art, so little time. We had to prioritize the exhibits; we'd start with the ones closing first. That meant the Morandi, which is already gone-he was not my cup of tea but mom enjoyed it. Next we went to the enormousexhibit commemorating Philippe de Montebello, who is retiring after many years at the museum. The exhibit displayed some highlights of the acquisitions during his tenure there.
















I'll leave you with some parting shots of the city at Christmas-Cartier tied up with a bow



and of course the iconic




Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a happy new year to all!

Thanks for reading.

Stumbling on a Soho shoot, May 2008

I love New York! You never know what you'll find around the next corner.

I went for dinner at a casual bar/restaurant type place called Lucky Strike, on Grand St by Wooster. It's owned by the guy who owns Balthazar, a popular French bistro, so I thought it would be worth checking out.

Dinner was lovely-a couple glasses of Malbec and the first soft shells of the season-yummy. Walking down Grand St on the way to the restaurant I went by the trailers that are the hallmark of a location shoot,

but not a lot of activity, so I went to dinner.

When I came out, I noticed a couple of cranes lined up on Wooster St, and, since cranes always catch my atttention after our house-lift experience

I decided to hang around to see what would happen, if anything. From what I know about location shoots, or any shoot for that matter, it's a lot of hurry up and wait, but it was a beautiful evening and I had nothing better to do. (I must admit that the film industry is one of my roads not taken-I've learned a lot about how much pre- and post-production work is involved and sometimes wonder what if... But I'm digressing.)

So, the cranes went up, and the lights on them focused on their target-a window on the fourth floor of the corner building.

I guess they got the shots they needed, because even though I couldn't see any cameras, eventually the cranes came down and a bunch of crew came out of the building.

As I walked back to the hotel along Grand St, I got a shot of the No Parking stickers on the telephone pole-

I looked "When In Rome" up on IMDB when I got back to the room. It sounds like a really silly Touchstone Pictures flick with Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel-scheduled to shoot in Rome and NY. I'll probably never see it but enjoyed my little peek behind the curtain.

NYC May 2008

So-after much procrastination and hang-wringing-I now present the whole NY blog.

I had the opportunity to work in NYC for a couple weeks this month; I won't bore you with the details except to say that when I get a chance to stay in NY for free, I always take advantage of it and try not to let work get in the way of my fun. (You've probably noticed that I tend to wring every bit of fun out of all my trips-I promise you I do get some work done too LOL).

There are too many pictures in this blog; I tried to pick out the best, and I must apologize if it's boring, but they all have something to say.

The first shot above is of Broadway in Soho; I stayed on the outskirts of this area and spent a lot of time around the Soho, Nolita, Chinatown, Little Italy areas this trip.Some Soho and Nolita architectural details:

9/11/01-we will never forget

Pearl River-great store for all things Chinese

More Soho cast iron architecture

Rambling around the West Village

My last full day here, some of us went out for lunch at South Street Seaport-what a beautiful day and a beautiful view.

That night, I wandered around looking for a restaurant; finally found Ed's Lobster Bar. After dinner I saw this incongruous sight-a limo in front of a burned out building!

Believe it or not, this pile of stone is a police station!

Little Italy-St Anthony's festival was in full swing

Friday

I worked til about 1 PM, and then I was out of there. The original plan called for some museums (many stay open late on Friday night), but it was still so beautiful and I was itching to be on the water-so I took a boat ride on the Staten Island Ferry!

The hole in the sky-never forget...

Lady Liberty from the water-she's so majestic holding her torch

Manhattan from the Staten Island ferry dock

On to the museums-first the Neue Galerie-a mansion full of 19th and 20th century German and Austrian art.

No pictures inside, so this was taken surreptiously in the cafe.

From the website-a piece of the Wiener Werkstatte jewelry on display right now.

Next, the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. This is a Smithsonian museum, and the Rococo exhibit was interesting, but the real attraction here is the Carnegie mansion! Again no pictures are allowed but I promise you the inside is a feast of craftsmanship and artistry the likes of which only the turn-of-the-century rich could afford. Amazing!

After I left the Cooper-Hewitt, I ambled through Central Park all the way to the southern tip (that's from 91st St to 59th!) The sun was setting over the Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir just in time for a photo op.

By the time I reached 59th Street and the Plaza there, it was dark-the picture's a little blurry but not too bad.

Saturday morning-the Metropolitan Museum. Here's my favorite Klimt-Mada Primavesi-I've used her as my default before and will again.

Close-up detail of Sargent's Madame X

The architectural detail in this place is incredible-some shots that just don't do it justice-

The Temple of Dundur-there are no leaves on the trees outside because this was taken over the winter-I cheated a bit.

My favorite Monet-The Bodmer Oak

Van Gogh's Irises

Hope you enjoyed my trip-I love New York!

:)