Re; New York

Re: New York, 8th September

New York is only city that we know where having a perspective on things is a literal truth. If you look uptown or downtown you immediately see the effects of foreshortening. New

York also puts every other city on the planet into perspective. There can be no other city like it for sheer plenitude. It is also a very young city, and for that reason, seems to be very sexy and prurient. The torrid temperatures seemed to have induced an undress sense. There might be more people in other cities, but New York seems to have more of everything else: more beautiful paintings, more beautiful objects, galleries and museums, libraries, apartment blocks, more famous people, and just so much to see and do. Two weeks is simply not long enough to ‘do’ New York. You need a lifetime; and if you had a lifetime here you’d be tempted to stay here; why go anywhere else when the city has the best of everything, is the best of all possible metropolitan worlds. The only thing it does not seem to have is classical CD shops, which like bookshops have been decimated by downloading, Amazon, chains like Borders, and high rents. It also seems to be a city in which, save Harlem and some of lower Eastside, gentrification is endemic. It has certainly infected SoHo where our micro-apartment (micro because it is actually smaller than the cabin we occupied on the Utrillo and whose paintings are remarkably thin on the ground in US galleries) is located. The area is filled with boutiques, boutique bars and restaurants, antique shops, galleries, markets and it pulsates with life 24/7. It is refreshing to go to coffee shops other than the ubiquitous Starbucks. We feel quite old staying here because its demographic is by and large between twenty and twenty-five and a quarter. The GFC certainly seems to have by-passed this area.

When the whole of New York is one big highlight it is hard to pinpoint our special highlights. On emerging from the cavernous Penn Station, Colin was overwhelmed by the pace and frenetic pace, which after Chicago and Boston was up two or three notches. How could people possibly remain sane in such a maelstrom of humanity and traffic. Well, they’d probably go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) and spend the rest of their lives in front of a Degas ballet painting or take a spin around the Guggenheim or sit in the sculpture courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and bask in the sun beside the Maillol sculpture or, best of all, go the Neue Galerie and have a coffee in the Café Sabarsky after enjoying the Egon Schiele portraits. Alternatively, after having done the Magnificent Mile of Museums one could go to Central Park, and sit beside one of the lakes and watch, as we did, men who would be boys sail radio-controlled yachts. And while on nature, one of the unexpected pleasures is the High Line, which is a kilometre of ‘greened’ and naturalised freight line, in the heart of the Meatpackers’ District.

We have also been on a ferry trip around Manhattan and to Brooklyn, which affords magnificent views of Manhattan and offers something of a refuge from Manhattan close-up. Not surprisingly it was attracted to writers such as O’Henry, Arthur Miller, and, at one stage, W. H. Auden whose apartment we managed to discover. We also had a quiet afternoon and evening with friends Fran and Charlie on Long Island where their charming home is situated amid dense greenery and is the quietest neighbourhood we’ve been in thus far. How nice to be spoiled with real home cooking for the first time in ten weeks (not our apartment version).

Lastly, Governors Island, just a few minutes by ferry ride from Downtown, offers yet another perspective on New York. It provides a respite from the madness of Manhattan. In many respects it is an island version of Central Park. It is a top spot for those wearied by the internal combustion engine that is NY. Best of all, it is a cycle friendly island.

We are going to be sad to move on from here especially as our next adventure has us embarking on our second voyage—this time on the Queen Mary 2 between here and Southampton.

Our New York Top Five

Colin’s: Governors Island; Pierre Bonnard’s “Basket with Bananas” (MET); the Chrysler Building; the fire escapes draping the Brown Stones; Mulberry Street, SoHo.

Claire’s top five: Brooklyn Heights; High Line; MoMA sculpture garden; view of water towers from the Circle Line Ferry; Central Park (“The Ramble”)