NEW YORK CITY – FEBRUARY 2005

 

 

Continental Airlines has a new upgrade policy. The earlier you check in, the better your chance at an upgrade, especially if you are Gold Elite or Silver. So I checked in as soon as I possibly could before our latest trip to New York. This meant that I was online at exactly 9:25 on February 9^th. As I checked us in, I was asked if I was interested in an upgrade. Of course! And then – BLING – I got two first class seats. 3E and 3F, which was a bonus because that meant that I had the window and Doreen had the aisle. What with her alleged bad ear and all. So we happily had our outbound flights ready to go.

 

Doreen at the President’s Club

 

This trip originated at Christmas. I asked Doreen what she wanted for her birthday (which is 25 Dec – the poor kid) and she said she wanted to go to New York City to see the Christo Gates and Brian Stokes Mitchell. That is, a $21 million urban art installation that was to be installed in Central Park, and some Broadway singer who used to play a part in Trapper John, MD who now sings in a cabaret. Of course, by asking, I had to say yes. The good thing was that I didn’t have to do all the work. Yes, I DID get the apartment (on 64^th street between Broadway and Central Park West) but the tickets to everything else sort of mysteriously appeared.

 

Our friend Lynn Lethcoe (also our designer) was generous enough to offer to take us to the airport and to pick us up, and he appeared right on time Thursday morning. After an uneventful ride to the airport, we had an uneventful wait in the President’s Club and an uneventful flight to LaGuardia airport in NYC. We got out luggage (uneventfully) and took a cab to the Upper West Side.

 

The doorman at the building was expecting us, and we took the elevator up to the 30^th floor. 30V was just off the elevator, with a southerly view (very sunny) and a nice layout. I believe that the owners of the apartment spend most of their time in California, but the place that they have in Manhattan is nice and well lived in. We always like apartments that people use as homes more than ones that are strictly for rental. They have things like reading lights near the beds that make them easier to use.

 

View from Our Apartment

 

After we unpacked and booted up the computer (at least 12 unprotected wireless networks nearby) we walked down to see the Christo and Jean-Claude (C&J-C) Gates. They were all still furled, but I think that they were all installed by this time. (Thursday, two days before the official opening of the project.) IT was sort of odd walking through Central Park with all these orange arches lining the pathways. They are all about 16’ high. And as wide as the path they span (between 9 and 15 feet or so). The cab driver said he thought they looked like dominos (“This is why people hate us!”) and he wanted to push them over. I thought they looked cool, and was eager to see what they would look like come Saturday.

Doreen at a furled gate

 

 

We then went back to the apartment, after buying baked goods, coffee, wine, and cheese for our larder. We had tickets (thanks to Doreen’s friend Jack, who is a Broadway producer – and has the hat to prove it) to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a musical in previews that stars John Lithgow and some other people that you, dear reader, would probably know, but I don’t.

 

We met Jack and his partner Bruce at a new restaurant called Etcetera, Etcetera. Mediterranean, food, perhaps not so obviously. I started off with a ham wrapped melon, Doreen with marinated anchovies. Both were great. I ordered a Gruner Veltliner for the wine, a smooth white wine from Austria. Nice stuff. For my main course I had Crispy Cornish Game Hen and Doreen had Roasted Baby Goat. The food was great, the service was great, and the conversation was the best of all. I think that meeting with Doreen’s New York friends is always the highlight of the trip for me.

 

Anyway, after dinner we ambled over to the theatre for the show. It was about the funniest thing I have seen since, well, our LAST trip to New York when we saw Avenue Q. The show is based on the movie, which is based on I don’t know what. But it was very much fun.

 

We then walked home, in the freezing cold.

 

Did I mention that New York was freezing cold? I don’t think that it got above 35° for the bulk of the trip. The good thing was that it was sunny most of the time (except for the last day). But MAN!  That is COLD! I had on my leather coat, a sweater, my red scarf and my real French beret. It was STILL cold!

 

The next day we walked, and walked, and walked. We started at the apartment and again walked through the park. We ended up on Park Avenue and started walking south. We walked south past 59^th street, we walked south past 42^nd street, we walked south past the Empire State Building (beautiful thing that it is) and we walked south past J&J hats (where they were quite rude to me, even though I OWN three Borsalinos!).

 

We had read on the trip up that former governor of Texas Ann Richards was in NYC volunteering on the C&JC Gates. Doreen told me to keep my eyes out for her, and what do you know! We run into her (and her posse of young ‘uns) walking down Madison Avenue! I had to physically turn Doreen around to see her, but when she did, she stuck out her hand and said “Governor Richards! We are from Houston! We are so proud that you volunteered for the Gates!” We shook hands and introduced ourselves. It was quite the scene. Then Doreen said “I just want you to know that we are some of The Few, The Proud, the Texas Democrats” The Governor said “Of course you are!” and we parted ways. It was quite entertaining.

 

We kept walking south until we couldn’t walk anymore. It was about a four mile walk (twenty short New York blocks to the mile, five long ones). We went into a number of stores on Park and Madison Avenues (Pierre Deux, Thomas Moser, Eddie Bauer) and generally enjoyed the day. We finally decided we had had enough walking, and flagged a cab down to take us to Nobu (we couldn’t remember the address, so we looked it up on my phone using Google Text Messaging. What did we do before Google?)

 

We had eaten at Nobu at least three times before. And we were turned away once (because they had stopped serving lunch) The food, is great (if expensive) and the place is really beautiful. It is worth visiting if you have the chance. We always order the “Feed Me” menu, where the chef decides what to give us. I ordered a Sancerre wine (great with Japanese food) and we had at it. I can’t really remember what we had (some were complicated, some were simple) but it was all fantastic. I don’t think that I could ever make it as a food writer, because I love everything (you always need to find fault with something) and I am too busy eating to take notes. The best I ever did was when we were in Paris for our anniversary, and I was able to write down everything we ate.

 

We then jumped the subway back to the apartment, and took a nice long nap. We had tickets to Democracy, Michael Frayn’s new play (thanks Jack!) that evening.

 

We walked to the theatre that night and ate at a sandwich shop called Carve. It lets you put together whatever combination of stuff you want, on whatever bread you want. I had roast pork and Doreen had tomato, mozzarella and basil, and Mac & Cheese. It was good, fast, and almost cheap. It was also close to the theatre. We finished, and walked to the play.

 

The play was interesting, but not really that interesting. I mean, really. How many of you have sat awake at nights and wondered “What the heck was going on in West Germany in 1969? How did Willy Brandt get to be so popular?” I thought so. But John Boy Walton was in it. (He plays an East German Spy) SO I guess that was something.

 

We walked back home again and went to bed.

 

The next day was Saturday. The unfurling of the C&JC Gates. We got to the park about 8:00 AM, just at Mayor Bloomberg was getting there. We happened upon the “Conservancy Pen” and were able to watch all the proceedings up close and personal. The mayor was being interviewed, and then we say C&JC come by in person! I tell you what. That Jean-Claude has some RED hair. They wandered around and were being followed every which way by the press. The TV folks tried to push us around (“Move! You are in the camera angle!”) but we didn’t let them. I mean really – if the mayor’s bodyguard (a strapping 300 lb fellow with a trench coat and a gun) told me to move, I would move. Some scrawny little camera man for a local TV station? Ha!

 

The time got closer and we talked to all the folks around us (hundreds!) who were as eager as we were. An Art professor, a couple from Los Angeles. A local from the Upper West Side. It was all a blast. Then, the mayor finally ripped the Velcro off the first gate. The orange fabric rolled out into the sunlight, and was picked up by the stiff breeze. It was very, very nice. We watched as he undid several more, and then started to wander around the park to see the Gates being unfurled one by one.

 

First Gate Unfurled

 

Unfurling a Gate

 

Some Gates Unfurled

 

SP by Gates

 

SP by gates

 

Sunlight through the gates

 

We wanted a souvenir, of course, so we walked to the tent where they were selling books, t-shirts, and hats. There we ran into a friend from Houston and his SO! We had no idea that they were there. What fate! We laughed about it and moved on.

 

From there we walked over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, since we knew that their roof was open to see the Gates. We paid the “suggested” donation and walked in. It was sort of a wait to get to the roof, and quite frankly, was not worth it. You didn’t get a good sense of the gates from on high as the trees blocked most of the views. C&JC were right, you needed to experience these Gates by walking through them, not looking at them from above. We looked at other stuff in the museum until we got Stendhal’s Syndrome, and then went to meet another of Doreen’s NYC friends for lunch.

 

He is a playwright and an actor. You would recognize some of the roles he has played but we may want to conceal this to protect the innocent. We had a great lunch while he expouned on the various vilanies of New York and the Nation as a whole, with George Bush in particular being a target. He was questioned by the FBI for carrying a sign during the Republican convention that read “Where is John Hinckley when you need him?” He plead ignorance and the First Amendment, which is, I believe, still in effect.

 

After this wonderfully entertaining lunch we headed home for a nap, and then met another for Doreen’s actor friends for dinner. This one is on the opposite side of the political spectrum, even though she went to the same high school as the first, and pursues the same career. I guess that is what makes politics work.

 

We had dinner at Patsy’s Pizza, a real NYC Pizza Parlor. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy that Pizza, and the company as well! What fun.

 

Then comes Sunday. Luckily we had purchased a NYTimes the night before, and laid about the house all Sunday morning. We took the subway down to SoHo and poked around the shops. We had brunch at a small neighborhood place called La Palette, which seems to have had a split personality between being a Brazilian coffee shop and a Creperie. Oh! The things you see in SoHo. It was a fun day.

 

That night we went to Anthony Bourdain’s brasserie Las Halles. The food was good, but not great. We had to eat there, though, as his book is so entertaining.

 

For starters, I had smoked herring, and Doreen had Fois Gras. She then followed with a Hanger Steak (typical French Bistro fare) and I had a roast chicken. The food was delightful, but not transcendent. But it was not really all that expensive, either. It seems like it should be a nice neighborhood place, and I think it should probably be judges as such.

 

We woke up Monday to a very rainy day. We had decided that we were going to go to the new Museum of Modern Art that day, as most other museums were closed. We walked (in the rain! Luckily, Doreen had an umbrella) and when we got to the museum, there must have been 1,000 people in line! We didn’t wait. We wandered in the rain for a while, and then decided to have lunch.

 

We were very close to Carnegie Hall (How do you get to Carnegie Hall?) but decided NOT to eat at the world famous Carnegie Deli. We opted instead for the slightly less famous Molyvos Fancy Greek Place. We got there right at Noon as they opened, but we didn’t have reservations. They made us sit in the “café” which gave us a window view onto Broadway. Not so bad! I stated with a Long Island Blue Pilsner – a locally made beer. Doreen has a Greek wine (not a Restina) and we started with Sampling of Traditional Greek Spreads. This would have been enough food for most mortals (there were three: Eggplant Salad, “Caviar” Mousse & Cucumber Yogurt with Garlic, and all delicious.) but we also ordered Gigante Stew with Sausage and Lamb. We practically had to roll out the door.

 

Rainy Gates

 

Then we went to the MoMA. No line this time, but I have to say that the place was PACKED! We wandered about, enjoying the art (all but the Cy Twombly) and then went home and took a nap.

 

For St Valentine’s night, we went to see Brian Stokes Mitchell at Feinstein’s at the Regency. It was a very nice Lounge act. Not very louche, though.

 

Then we came home. We were upgraded on the way home, too. Our friend Lynn was there to meet us, which makes the trip that much nicer.