On day two in the big city, I started off doing non-touristy things and then ventured into the heart of tourist-y New York.
Meaning that I started off with a walk around the reservoir in Central Park, one loop on the reservoir path, and another on the Bridle Path, which despite its name, was free of both horses and manure. Jenny and her friend Pam ran two loops on the Bridle Path.
Jenny didn’t have to go to work until noon, so we both showered and dressed and hung out and chatted. She got me on the guest lists at the MoMA, but I decided to try to hike up to the Bronx for Frida Kahlo at the Botanical Gardens first, because MoMA was open till 8:00, and the Gardens only till 6:00. It got to be 11:45, and I decided to start with lunch, at a place on the Upper East Side, sort of on the way to Gardens, anyhow.
Google maps said San Matteo Pizza was a half hour walk from Jenny’s, through Central Park, but I went too far north and came out of the Park at 5th Ave. and 105th St., instead of 5th Ave. and 90th St., where I was supposed to be. I got pretty hot and tired on my way, but for the last few blocks of my walk, I was following a guy who was carrying an air conditioner, so at least I felt better off than him.
The restaurant was not air conditioned, or else the wood fired oven was cancelling out the AC, and of course I ordered enough food for two, because I wanted an appetizer and a sandwich. I bagged my plans to go to the Frida, because I didn’t get cooled off very much, and could get my leftovers boxed to take home.
I braved the cross town bus, another non-touristy experience – surrounded by exasperated New Yorkers, and I was equally exasperated, because the driver kept stopping for more passengers even though the bus was stuffed and there was another empty one behind us. I got off at Columbus instead of Amsterdam, feeling smug because I knew where I was, and could tell the guy standing next to me, “no, not Amsterdam this is Columbus”, when he asked. I walked the block back to the apartment to regroup.
Where I got to sit and chat a bit with Jenny’s boyfriend Jared, since he had only worked until 3:00 that afternoon. We both had our laptops on the dining table. He went off to run errands, and I took the subway downtown. I got my comeuppance for my bus smugness – didn’t realize that at the 86th St. stop for the 1 train, you have to go down on the correct side of the street depending on which direction you are going, and had to go out and pay again to go downtown. MoMA was ridiculously crowded, but I looked at some permanent collection, and some Yoko – I liked the Maysles film of her Cut Piece the best. One of her sky ladders to watch the moon was there, what attracted John Lennon to her in the first place, according to legend, but in 2015, unlike the 1960s, we were not allowed to climb it. After I got tired of fighting the crowds, I went to the sculpture garden and bought a bottle of San Pellgrino.
And made it back uptown to meet Jenny and head to Brooklyn for the Arthur Russell concert, based on this tribute album to Russell, which was also a lot of fun, even though the theater was freezing. I knew Russell was eclectic, but didn’t know about the gay dance party aspect to his music. There was so much great stuff – everything from classical avant garde to folk rock to rock to disco – with 4 mirror balls! Russell’s boyfriend, and self appointed curator of his legacy was there, and sat behind us, not talking the whole time, as Jenny said, but definitely whenever I really wanted to hear something on stage. The song stuck in my head the next day was Sam Amidon doing Lucky Cloud, with Richard Reed Parry on stand up bass, even though later I figured out I had been mixing Parry up with Win Butler; Parry’s the other really tall guy in Arcade Fire – Butler is the lead.
We took the subway home, and I ate a few handfuls of Cheesits from the box Jenny had brought to the show in her bag for dinner – still full from my big lunch.
