finally, some photos from the trip mom and i took to new york. it started inauspiciously…on Monday dec. 9th we drove down to Lambert airport in St. Louis and our plane was delayed for three hours. we sat around for a very long while and both felt crazed by the time we finally boarded.
the Southwest flight was full, so i sat in the middle next to mom, who was at the window. luckily the girl who sat on the aisle was skinny, but i still felt hemmed in.
when we arrived at La Guardia we then had to walk approximately 4.5 million miles to what we thought was a taxi stand, but no. they’ve been revamping the airport for three years and have two left til completion. So instead of walking out the door getting into a taxi, we finally walked to a long line, which we stood in for about a half hour. they then herded us onto a bus and piled our suitcases in a giant mountain on the racks in the middle of the bus. we had to stand up which was ok because we’d been sitting down for so long, but when the bus arrived at the out-of-airport taxi place, nobody was there to help us get our suitcases down and a woman bonked me in the head with hers. didn’t apologize.
welcome to new york.
but we finally got a taxi and it was a painless journey to our air b&b in Brooklyn.
It was a lovely place, an apartment in a four-plex, and i don’t know why i didn’t take any photos. The landlords met us to let us in and were lovely and gracious. It had two bedrooms, a big kitchen, nice living room with comfy furniture and a giant TV.
And the thing is, in all the times i’ve visited new york, either staying in Manhattan or Brooklyn with Bev’s daughter Erin, there was always noise at night. Sirens, traffic, hubbub. City noise. But this place was totally silent. really great.
We got up late and walked three short blocks to the subway. here’s mom, about to get on her one of many, many subway rides.
We took the subway to the South Street Seaport and got half-price tickets to see the Rockettes at the 5:00 show.
We got on another subway to go to the Whitney Museum because we’d both seen a fabulous photo of some beaded exhibit.
There weren’t a lot of people in the neighborhood on the lower west side and we walked and walked…and the Whitney was closed.
Damn.
How did I not look that up? I figured that museums are closed on monday.
Oh well, we did find a nice little diner called Hector’s Cafe nearby to have lunch. I got rice & beans and mom had lentil soup, and we shared a giant roast beef sandwich.
We were right at the start of the High Line par, so we decided to walk on it. I’d only been there in summer when it was boiling hot and crowded with tourists. It had been raining that day but the weather wasn’t bad, and there weren’t nearly as many other people.
This is the spot where Keenan Thompson on Saturday Night Live was standing in the opening credits. I realized this the first time I was on the High Line, and i tried to look at the opening so i could see him there again but i there’s a different opening now. Oh well, it was neat to be there except we couldn’t sit on the steps because they were covered with water.
It was still so green! and there were many new buildings.
This apartment looks like it’s straight out of the Jetsons. Totally new since i was there before. The sculptures are by some famous artist who mom knew all about.
And that crazy building in the center, which mom said reminds her of giant pillows, is called The Shed and just opened in April. There’s lots and lots of info on it on wikipedia and i got tired of reading it all. basically, it’s a “cultural center,” but the building is called the Bloomberg building because Bloomberg donated $75 million for the construction of the $550 million place. The man has lots of money.
And this is the crazy tower just north of the Bloomberg building; it’s just for walking up! It’s called the Vessel. i really wanted to walk up it but we’d already walked a lot. you go up stairs and then back down a little, on and on til you get to the top and i’m sure the view is fantastic. maybe next time. Again, lots of web info about it if you’re interested. You have to get a free ticket in order to walk up. their website says it has “almost” 2,500 steps, but i feel that somebody who was walking all the way up anyway could have counted to see exactly how many. i’m just saying.
More photos to come…
ok then,
mrs. xmas is really coming right up, isn’t it? hughes.