Final Day in NY

Our Final Day

After I chose the title, I realize it sounds like the Apocolypse! Dan says he’ll be happy if he never sets foot in another museum, but I’m disappointed to have missed a number on my list like the Whitney and the American Folk Museum. We’ll just have to plan another trip.

We did finish up with two outstanding museums. First, we visited the Guggenheim, which is celebrating its 50^th anniversary with a Kadinsky exhibit. I never really cared for Kadinsky until I saw this exhibit. He was a prolific painter with a wide variety of styles.

I liked his early realistic paintings and his final paintings which were influenced by Miro….very whimsical with a lot of color. Off in a separate section were a number of Impressionists—two incredible Cezanne landscapes. I suggested Dan distract the guard while I put them in my purse, but unfortunately they were too big.

We had seen a lot of Degas at previous museums, but the Guggenheim had one in particular that I loved. The ballerinas’ skirts sparkled. Have you figured out that I’m an art junky?

Our final museum (only because I couldn’t Dan into any more) was the Jewish Museum, which I think houses the best collection of Judaica outside of Israel. The highlight for me was the menorah collection. I own about 13 or more menorahs and have seen countless others, but these were historical and beautiful, each one reflecting the country of origin. An amazing one from Germany was done in silver with many tiers and a clock! A whimsical one consisted of eight souvenir Statues of Liberty with birthday candle holders instead of torches. Four faced one way; four faced another. One interpretation is that America welcomed some immigrants but not others. Who knows?

In the evening we took the subway to Chinatown and Little Italy. After walking by a zillion restaurants, each with a man outside trying to get us to enter, we decided on one after talking to some New Yorkers who were eating there. It was a beautiful evening so we were able to sit outside and had a delicious dinner. I made a good donation to the tzatzke shops: 2 wool scarfs, a hat, and a genuine fake watch.

Additional thoughts on NY: Everyone owns a dog. It is better to own a small dog in NY than a big dog because they have to be walked, and people have to clean up after them. I rather clean up after a small dog…..Also many of the trees have cute little skirts to “protect” them from the dogs.

I know I mentioned how clean the subways are. While they are generally clean, some are cleaner than others. All-in-all, we saw very little litter and graffiti…I think I already mentioned this.

Tuesday

We took off in a very comfortable hybrid rental car and drove along the Hudson to West Point, where we went on an excellent tour. What is most remarkable about WP is its setting—absolutely glorious view of the Hudson River, large green expanse of lawns, beautiful colored trees. Then we headed to Hyde Park, where we toured Roosevelt’s home and library. Dan used his GPS to go from Hyde Park to Greater Barrington, MA. We think the GPS took us the long way on a scenic backroad of charming farms, churches, lakes and, green fields; but it was so beautiful we didn’t care. A number of people had told us we were too early for fall foliage. Fortunately they were wrong. The colors (oranges, reds, yellows, browns, greens are magnificent. Our room at the B & B is large and very comfortable. The owner was wearing a c’hai, hamsa, and Star of David. She said there is a synagogue in Greater Barrington with a membership of 400. Who would have thought it! Dan and I are exhausted so I don’t feel very witty. Goodnight