In the fall of 2015 we traveled to New York. We had been there a couple of times before this but never as just pure tourists. As usual, before we left, we made a plan. There would be Theatre, museums and art galleries, a walk through Central Park and we were planning to go up to the top of the Empire state building, but as the line was so long, we substituted the top of the Rockerfeller Centre ( Top Of The Rock). Tourists in New York.
So lets start at the top...(Top of the Rock)
The view
and sightlines are amazing up here.
Central Park is very cool.
And could almost seem like a European park.
We spent 1/2 a day seeing and visiting the Statue of Liberty
But if you know us, I'm sure you know we spent most of our time visiting Museums and Art Galleries. The Guggenheim does not necessarily carry my kind of art, but it is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed building and definitely worth seeing.
It is eye popping to say the least.
We also went to the Museum of Modern Art which housed art closer to my tastes and two of my favourite paintings.
Salvador Dali's " Persistence of Memory "
And Van Gogh's " Starry Night "
There also happened to be a visiting Picasso exhibition, so even though I'm not a Picasso fan we went to see it as Joani does like him. I will admit that I do like Picasso's early work, particularly when he was in his blue period, but by the time he got into cubism he lost me. Which is why it makes no sense for me to say that I actually liked this piece.
From my perspective this was early on in his cubism, and he was being more geometric than freestyle. It struck me that it could almost be something where he painted on glass, a woman playing an instrument, shattered the glass and then reassembled it wherever the pieces fell. Later on in his cubism it just started looking like children's scribbles to me.
The other Museum we went to see was the Metropolitan and for my money this was the best. Room after room of impressionist art and an extremely large Van Gogh collection. Can't go wrong.
I Have no idea why, but I loved these workman's shoes
Van Gogh just creates images that speak to me.
Two Seurat's that caught my eye.
This one
And this smaller copy of the original in Chicago
With explanation
A truly great place for art lovers to visit.
Our hotel was in Brooklyn which has a high Mexican population, and I would feel remiss if I didn't mention that the best Mexican food I've ever eaten was within 3 or 4 blocks of our hotel. At dinner time we just walked out and tried a different restaurant each night, In both instances the staff all spoke only Spanish which was fine for ordering food as we understood enough of what was written on the menu, but for any other conversation (like asking directions to a bakery) we needed a translator. If you're partial to Mexican food, as Joani and I are, take a chance. You won't regret it.
If the Museums and Art Galleries weren't the highlight of our trip then the theatre might have been. We caught two Broadway productions. First we saw " Finding Neverland " with Matthew Morrison from the TV show Glee in the lead role. It was great.
But my Favourite without a doubt was seeing "Wicked". It wasn't my first time seeing "Wicked", I am an addict and see it every time it comes to Toronto. But it was the first time seeing it on Broadway and it didn't disappoint. Of course it didn't hurt that Joani won us tickets in the lottery draw.
If you have a chance, be it Toronto or New York, see this show. It is terrific in every way. If you go to New York take a chance and try to win your seats for next to nothing. We did.
New York was a blast and I can't wait to go back.
Garry
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