Almost like going home but not quite…

Last week we went to New York for five days. Watching the local news one night I flashed back to growing up in New Jersey and seeing the same places during the weather report. I’ve been back to “the city” since moving away some – dare I say it – fifty years ago, but I’d always gone in for day trips so this was different.

Our hotel was in the same block as Carnegie Hall. As a teenager, I went there to see Judy Collins with some friends. After the concert we went to the Russian Tea Room hoping to see her. On the way there we ran into Ms Collins and got her autograph. So for old times sake I suggested we have dinner there.

Going to a Broadway Show topped our list of things to do. Scrolling through the list of shows and the times Moulin Rouge fit the bill. What a delight! It was funny, sad, with toe tapping music, and amazing scenery which they invited the audience to photograph before the show.

I enjoyed a solitary visit to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). Tim preferred to watch the races at Saratoga on TV that Saturday. Going to a museum alone is a particular treat. I wandered about in a most haphazard fashion, seeing only what I wanted while also avoiding crowded areas.

Of course it wouldn’t be a proper trip to N.Y. without a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have been going there ever since I was a child. My parents fervently believed in exposing my brothers and I to as much culture as three boys and an antsy little girl would tolerate. I guess it stuck. Tim and I arrived at the museum by way of the Hop On Hop Off bus. Tim wasn’t interested in yet another museum so he stayed aboard. Another museum alone, and my favorite one at that, filled me with inspiration.

In keeping with my desire to paint pictures from our travels, paintings in the museums of ruins and scenes from different parts of the world have me anxious to start a new painting. I may even try a city scape.

Between museums and my own walking tour I covered quite a bit of ground; Rockefeller Center, Radio City, Central Park, Columbus Circle.