We have been lucky to stay in the apartment of friends of friends - thank you Nikki! Shawn and Steve are a lovely couple and live in a 2 bedroom penthouse in Murray Hill which is in mid town on the east side of Manhattan. 4 blocks from Grand Central Station. They rent a room to visitors through word of mouth. It is about half the price of a hotel and much nicer. I can give anyone who wants it the details and more information about staying here. Shawn is a designer of high end ties and travels often to Italy to source fabrics. She has contributed some lovely ones for the males in our family. She works very long hours and our conversations have been late at night into the early morning. Who cares with jet lag anyway! Steve is in finance and travels a lot. They have 2 terraces - not grand Australian size but much prized in NY. So they have tables and chairs set amongst pipes and air conditioning outlets etc but they can see the Chrysler Centre and the Empire State Building which are really close.
New York has changed so much over recent years. It is still high energy but people have been really kind and welcoming. We've started talking to people at bus stops etc. including a policeman who worked through Sept 11 and a lady who owns a restaurant in East village that we went back to for breakfast.
There seems so much we didn't do but we have done a lot - 2 organised walks. One a food and culture tour of Greenwich Village which is a foodies mecca and quite trendy. And two a tour of Harlem which is becoming gentrified. We ate at a soul food restaurant called Sylvia's. She died last year at 86 but was a pioneer black women who started cooking from her kitchen. Her family still run the business. I had fried chicken, collared greens and candied yams -delicious. We ate early and sat on the pavement near a train station exit with lots of people returning from work I guess. It struck me there was no such thing as "normal" with every colour, dress, age, size of person imaginable - truly cosmopolitan and you never have to worry about being normal again!
We were told the boroughs off Manhattan are the new trendy places so we went to Brooklyn and then Williamsburg and bohemian and trendy it was! Lots of young mobile people again of all persuasions. We went to a restaurant called Sweet Chick and although we're not their target demographic I think we got a table at the window and saw the world go by. We shared a delicious asparagus salad and then had chicken with (bet you didn't guess) waffles! Mine were herb and mushroom flavoured. We then shared a pecan and bourbon pie which was delicious. Meals are very reasonable. This meal cost $88 with a beer and 2 wines included.
I went to the Metropolitan Museum today and saw an exhibition of how impressionist artists chose the clothes their models should wear. It was an era n the late 19th century when ready made clothes were becoming available. They thought it was important to show the latest trends. They even had some clothes from the era to illustrate. there were beautiful fans - some with silver thread and lovely shawls and hats beside the paintings they were similar to.
This made an interesting contrast to the punk costume exhibitionI saw earlier in the week.
Now for the big sighting.
Look at the picture above right of the model boat lake at Central Park with some very expensive real estate on Fifth Avenue behind. Now look at the closer photo of the apartment block - in particular above the top arched middle window. Now look left and see these red tail hawk eyeasses (babies) in their nest. I've been following the movements of their father Pale Male who is a New York identity for some time on line - and yes you can say I'm obsessed by his style. He's been in New York since the early 90's.Red tail hawks mate for life but his mates have died of various causes and he's now with his 8th - called Octavia - can you guess why! He's fathered 30 - 40 chicks many who now populate New York. When the birds first nested there the building owners cleaned it away and installed spikes to stop them coming back. There was an outcry from nature lovers, including Mary Tyler Moore who lives in the building and they are now tolerated. Pale Male has his own website and a filmand books written about him. As said I admire his style.
Bob was able to get these pictures with his zoom lens. So now I've seen one of my idols and, as said I like his style!
MORE PHOTOS OF CENTRAL PARK
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2 comments:
Hi honey, Lovely to have shared all of this with you. Looks GREAT. Love, Bob
Couldn't wait to get a coffee from the corner store this morning and then hop online to pour over your new posts. New York Spring looks absolutely gorgeous and you definitely seem to be making the most of it. Makes me nostalgic for my New York years. If you have a chance, you must check out my favorite restaurant in the East Village. It's Cuban, Cafe Cortadito (E 3rd between B & C.) Lots of love from chilly Melbourne.
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