Amateur travelogue

[dickieC]

So here's a resume of my trip to the Big Apple...

I'm not a big city person, but I <3 NYC. It's amazing.

I did manage in six days to see most of the infamous sights, but that was just Manhattan (sorry Ze, I only admired Brooklyn from across the water). I saw the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Central Park, Ground Zero, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (European Painting sections only), Chinatown, Brooklyn Bridge, the UN building, Macy's, Grand Central Station, and Times Square. I'm sure you're all familiar enough with them not to need me to describe them.

So instead I'll just offer some random mutterings about the less famous sights I saw. On my first day I went to the Frick Collection near the Met, as several friends had said it was amazing. They were right. It is the single most impressive art gallery I've been to (and I'm a gallery vulture - my CV includes London, Ottawa and Washington national galleries, the Louvre, the Uffizi, Palazzo Pubblico and many others in Florence, Siena, Turin, Padua, Mantua, Venice, Avignon, Arles, Nimes and so on). In those places you usually need to wade through some beautiful dross which helps you appreciate the masterpieces. In the Frick everything is a masterpiece. Everyone should see this gallery. My personal favourite is Holbein's portrait of Sir Thomas More. Unbelievable, especially given that across the room is Bellini's picture of St Francis receiving the stigmata. And to have three Vermeers!!! In combination with the stuff in the Met, it all made me rather cross that the American robber barons of the late nineteenth century came to Europe and bought so many of 'our' nice pictures. Especially the Rembrandts and Van Dycks and Gainsboroughs which belong in the UK (I'm coming over all Elgin Marbles).

Another place I went to is the Ellis Island immigration museum. This is also a splendid place and everyone should go there. An interesting story of all the millions who came from Eastern Europe and indeed all over the world. But more fascinating to me was what the museum revealed about American attitudes to national heritage. Only part of the island has actually been restored as a museum - there are a dozen buildings needing to be repaired after decades of neglect. In Britain such a place would have been converted into a tourist attraction pretty much as soon as it had closed (see what happened to British coal mines, shipyards, docklands etc.). In the USA it seems to take longer and rely on public money much less.

As I was staying with a friend on Long Island I got to see a bit of that too. It's amazingly rural considering it's so near a major metropolis. I went to the Palmer vineyard on the North Shore (in the snow). Had a nice chat with the woman there about the aftermath of 9/11 - apparently they were overwhelmed by people wanting to get out of the city (understandably enough) and get drunk. But what struck me was how scared people were that someone was going to drop a nuclear bomb - that was something I hadn't picked up on over here.

Ground Zero was paradoxical, it didn't move me as much as I expected it to. Perhaps it's because it's slightly familiar from news reports. Perhaps it's because there's nothing really to see there, just a hole in the ground now. The apparent damage to the surrounding buildings is now minimal (though I'm sure there's much destruction left unseen). But what did leave me choked was a small exhibit on Ellis Island with photographs of the experience of museum employees on September 11th. I got so emotional I couldn't finish walking round and had to go to another room. And it struck me that the way those events have entered the public memory is slightly curious. Around Ground Zero, none of the pictures for sale were of the towers falling down; they all were of the towers when they were still standing. And in general it seems rare now to see those pictures anywhere. (Of course they're there, but you have to go looking for them). I don't know what to make of that.

Anyway, to conclude on an upbeat note, it's a wonderful place for a holiday, and I got to have syrup pankcakes and coffee in a chrome diner with a flip-chart jukebox in the booth. How much fun is that?

[chuckie egg]

W O W !

That sounds incredible, I would LOVE to visit New York one day. I must make it a priority.

[Eiggam]

We just booked our tickets last night! We will be there from February 13-February 18.

My boyfriend is a native New Yorker, so I am excited that I will not have to worry about finding my way around. We can just "GO".

I have never been, but it is a life-long dream of mine.

In fact, I have never been east of Missouri (although, I have been to every state west of here)

My boyfriends mother has secured tickets to "The Producers", which I am tickled about!

I know we will take in all the "usual" tourist traps. I understand we are going to some place on Times Square that is a hotel with a revolving restaurant....

As you can tell, I am overly excited!

[bealeblues]

have a blast eiggam.... i've lived in the US my whole life and still haven't been to nyc, although i'm threatening to go sometime after the spring thaw.....

like i always say, i won't go up north until the red cross is asking for box fans because the elderly are dying in their apartments due to heat stroke... then, and only then, do i know that it is safe to travel up north without risk of snow....

call me snow-phobic, i don't care....

[Eiggam]

We still haven't had any snow here. It has hit all around my area, but has skipped, by-passed, rumbled right past or over us! I am kind of excited to actually see some of the white stuff (and I mean more than a dusting!)

[Red Princess]

i was in NYC years ago, went to clubs instead of museums, a big regret now. I am jealous of all those cool museums you have seen in Europe. I went last year to the Getty Museum in LA. It was wonderful, the light there is different than any other museums I have been in. I was especially delighted with the Illuminated manuscripts.The Cleveland Museum of Art is another favorite. cool building too.