Midtown East

I took a relaxing morning to sit out in the tiny back yard to do a little reading with my French press coffee and yogurt and blueberries. I don’t think I have ever stayed anyplace that had such a beautiful little garden with seating and fireplace in New York City. It was quiet except for the birds chirping!!!! What a treat!

I met Gordon Price and his husband Len at the 2nd Ave Deli. Both locations of this place are not on 2nd Avenue. Go figure. 2nd Ave Deli has the best pastrami sandwiches in New York - outrageously expensive but perfect rye bread, fall-apart pastrami that was not greasy, fatty, or stringy. Kenny and Zuke’s have nothing on these guys. We took our sandwiches to Roosevelt Island - in the middle of the East River - to walk to the Louis Kahn Park dedicated to Franklin D Roosevelt. They added some “wild” space too with a warning. The park is modern and sleek and was part of the original concept for the whole island. Most all of the buildings on this sliver of an island were completed by 1975. Cornell is constructing a new facility here. It is beautiful.

Gordon and I talked up a storm. Gordon does a blog of sorts called aptly “Price Tags”. He is a former Vancouver BC City Councilmember and professor at UBC who studies and explores urban design from an architectural and human perspective. He articulates what the urban design and development mean and what it says about the times they are built in. Wonderful and timely stuff these days with the pressures on cities. Len was patient with our discussions. In our stroll, we discovered that the island now has a ferry boat landing that will take you to Wall Street and other parts of the City. It is a nice addition to the transit system - Not sure why this hadn't happened sooner. Brilliant.

It was also blistering hot. I was planning on heading up to the Met Cloister, but I just could bear to be outside. I sweat through my shirt. I never do that... Gordon, who had taken his shirt off in the heat wanted to play outside at Governor’s Island, so we parted ways. I took the tram over to 59th right outside of Bloomingdales and took the subway up to the Met (again).

The Met is gigantic. I had only gone to a small part of the museum the other day - and a ticket is good for three days! This time I thought I would visit the European paintings and sculpture - loved it. I bought an audio tour thing so I could learn more about the art and artists. What just slays me is the curation of the place. Every painting and series of paintings finds themes, similar subjects, landscapes, facial expressions - paintings that respond to each other as inspiration and opposition. Every piece in every room is carefully chosen and displayed to tell their stories singly and together. It was 2.5 hours just in that section before it was closing time. I was punch drunk on the art and freezing. They air condition for the crowds. The wall of heat I ran into while leaving the building was stifling.

I did some searches to find a good restaurant nearby and found this amazing Turkish place. Crab cakes, hummus and spinach with yogurt sauce and a lovely glass of rose. Took a CitiBike back to my place. Life is good.Read more