Our last notes on the Filter Press trip to New York include the city itself. We had time for exploring and found NYC crowded, busy, noisy, dirty, exhausting - but wonderful - as expected.
We had a long walk from PMA University at the Park Central Hotel through Central Park to the Met Museum. The park is a lovely oasis amid the noise and bustle, particularly pleasant on this late spring visit. The picture is “The Pond” in southeast corner of the park. The newly re-opened Greek and Roman galleries were highlights of the Met Museum stop.
Later, we enjoyed Bryant Park (between 40th and 42nd Streets on Sixth Avenue) very much: reminding us during the day of Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, but cranked up on Wednesday night for a big screen showing of the Yankees game. Tom was thrilled to see Whitey Ford in the autograph tent.
Bryant Park is behind the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue.
(There are Whitey and Joe Girardi.)
On a trip north to Morningside Heights, we visited St. John’s Cathedral, severely damaged by fire in 2001, but with renovation in
progress. The cathedral is larger than Chartres and Notre Dame combined, and the Statue of Liberty could fit nicely beneath the dome.
Nearby, we stopped at Columbia University, Morningside and Riverside Parks, Riverside Church, and Grant’s Tomb (never finding out who is actually buried there).
Later in the week, we walked around in Greenwich Village, checking out sites familiar from the 60’s: Washington Square and the coffee houses on Bleeker and McDougal Streets. All seemed quite tame these days, but a fun and nostalgic trip. Our tour of the West Village was capped by an excellent meal at “The Grotto” (100 Forsyth Street) in Little Italy.
Just hours before leaving Manhatten, we took the subway to Ground Zero. We thought the quiet churchyard at St Paul’s just across the street from where the towers stood was a moving spot to contemplate that awful day.
You can see a few of the other pictures on Flickr.
We spent most of Friday and Saturday (June 1-2) wandering the aisles at Book Expo America. BEA was held at the Javits Center and featured over 1500 exhibits on two floors. Yep, two kids in a candy store.
