Last weekend we took a quick trip up to New York City, just Saturday and Sunday. I had free train tickets and free hotel, owing to my points, so we figured why not. Getting any place warm for the weekend had proved to be very tricky, with high airfares and cumbersome travel schedules. While not Greg's ideal trip, it was a break, and we did enjoy it.
Our first stop was the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Part of the Smithsonian, it's up on the east side in Museum Mile territory, in the old Carnegie Mansion. Greg had been there before, but I hadn't, and it's one he really likes. They are doing a lot of renovation work, so the exhibition area was rather small. What I liked was that it was a cross between two of my favorite museums in Washington, the National Building Museum (architecture) and the Textile Museum (fabrics).
The Cooper-Hewitt and the sign for Museum Mile outside of Central Park.
Being us, we opted to walk for a while. We didn't visit this time, but I just think the Guggenheim is fun, and I do love the Metropolitan Museum of Art--always makes me think of the book when I was a kid, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Then I decided to detour into Central Park. I've never explored here as much as I've wanted, and I greatly admire Frederick Law Olmsted and the work he did. It was a lovely day, much nicer than we had expected to have--40s with clear skies and no wind. So not a huge walk in the park, but about an hour of wonder.
See, we figured out the timer on the camera! And it's not too bad. Below, horse and buggy rides through the park. I love the green space and the paths, the places to explore and wander, and yet seeing the buildings through the winter trees was just remarkable.
One of the many lakes in the park. Below, we found the Children's Zoo! Too bad it was closed, but I'll just have to go back. Especially now that I know.
We still had some time before dinner, so wandered over to Rockefeller Center. We thought about going up to the observation tower, but at $40 for a few photos, decided instead to just want people ice skate.
Dinner was at Vong, one of Jean-Georges Vongerichten's places in the city. It was lovely, including our funny table that appeared to be on the floor but had a hidden leg compartment carved out underneath it. We love Asian, which was in part why we were there.
We were staying in Brooklyn, so the next morning headed to the Brooklyn Museum, another place I'd heard much about but had not yet visited. It's wonderful! We only had about 2.5 hours, and that was no where near enough time. They are huge and have quite an extensive collection. We'll just have to go back.
The Brooklyn Museum.
We didn't have longer because we had late lunch reservations at one of Mario Batali's restaurants, Otto Enoteca, a pizza/pasta place near Union Square. Simpler fare, but lovely. We enjoyed ourselves greatly, and certainly had no need for dinner on the train home!
One of the things I love about the NYC subway is the tile work. Each station has its own (for instance, lots of animals and plants line the walls by the stop for the American Museum of Natural History), although you do find the M in many stations. The gargoyles are from the Brooklyn Museum stop.
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