Life Imitates Art

When I looked through the almost 1400 photos I took of New York City I noticed that some of the art we saw in the galleries reminded me of some of the scenes we saw around the city.
This red, blue, and yellow painting by Mondrian that we saw at the MOMA reminded me of ...

MOMA

this picture taken out the window of the MOMA with the red, blue, and yellow vehicles. 

This moody painting of Westminster by Monet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art reminded me of ...

Metropolitan Museum of Art

the soft moody view we had of the Manhattan skyline from the Staten Island ferry.

And this gorgeous floor mosaic at the Met reminded me of ...

the Imagine mosaic at Strawberry Fields in Central Park.

And this Egyptian tile at the Met reminded me of ...

the skyscrapers reflected in the windows of other skyscrapers.

Wowzer!  I know the last week has been New York City overload on this little blog, but I just couldn't help myself.  It was such a fun trip for all of us and I enjoyed re-living it.  I appreciate your indulgence.  In case you missed any of the posts you can check them out here, here, and here.

And one last New York tidbit: 

When William and I were on the Staten Island Ferry we were debating whether there are any marine mammals living in the New York harbour.  So I Googled it when we got home and was pleased to discover that there are.  In fact we just missed seeing a dolphin as you can read about here on the blog called Nature on the Edge of New York.  I wanted to tell you about this blog because it is such an interesting read. I spent one evening reading back through his posts about all the birds and marine creatures he has found in and around New York City.  Who knew?  If you live anywhere near New York you might find this a really interesting blog to read.

Linked to Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now

New York City - Hotel, Food, and Packing Suggestions

I've been asked by several people where we stayed in New York and I'm always happy to tell them about the great hotel we found.  We have stayed at the Salisbury Hotel three times now and have never been disappointed.  By the way, this is not a sponsored post - just a helpful tip in case you are looking for a good place to stay in New York City.

The Salisbury Hotel is on 57th Street in midtown Manhattan just across the street and down a bit from Carnegie Hall.  It was built in the 1930s as a church-hotel complex with the adjoining Calvary Baptist Church. The rooms are adequately sized, but even more importantly are modestly priced. If you love fancy shmancy hotel rooms then you may not love the bathrooms as they seemed a bit dated, but apart from that the rooms were spotlessly clean and well cared for. In addition, most rooms have a small kitchenette so you can get your own meals and snacks as desired. There are many small grocery stores in the area (the nearest one being just a few doors down the street) to get some fruit, yogurt, bread, soups etc or even a take-out meal. 

Small kitchenette in our room with a sink, microwave, and a bar fridge below

I love the location of the Salisbury Hotel as it is central and a good walking distance to all the major museums, Central Park, the Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. And I felt completely safe on 57th street and didn't hesitate to walk around the area even at night.  I really didn't want to be in an area that felt unsafe so I would hesitate to go out in the evening.  Also the Salisbury Hotel is well served by transit as it is very near several of the subway lines.
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As for food, we were pretty frugal which will come as no surprise if you know me. We brought granola from home and bought milk in New York and had that with coffee and tea made in our hotel room every morning for breakfast (we brought four plastic nesting bowls and plastic spoons to use for our cereal).  Our breakfast was basic, but quick and easy.  
If we had been visiting when it was warmer we might have picnicked for lunch, but that was out of the question in March so we mostly ate in different cafes and delis. M-T, from the blog French Touch, lives near New York and she recommended the cafe Le Pain Quotidien which was wonderful and very near our hotel.  The food is healthy, organic, and really delicious.

We also ate at the cafes in several of the museums like this one at the Guggenheim.

On one of the days we had lunch at Katz's, a venerable old Jewish deli in the Lower East Side that was established in 1888. The walls are covered with photos of celebrities that have eaten there. Katz's is famous for their mile-high corned beef and Reuben sandwiches. We ordered Reuben sandwiches that were tasty, but man were they hard to eat. They definitely took the prize for the messiest food I have eaten in public.

And one day we ate street food ... in the snow (I think the snow had stopped by the time I took this photo, but you can see us eating in the snow in this post.)

Several times we were rushed at dinner time because we were going out again in the evening so we bought some tinned soups, mini pitas, hummus, and carrot sticks to eat in the hotel room. Just down the street was a lovely Italian restaurant  called Angelo's (sorry I didn't get a photo of it).  We bought take-out pizza there one evening and another we ate there.  The food was great, but we chose the restaurant mostly because it was two doors down from our hotel and the thought of walking any further wasn't appealing to us.
I know that regime doesn't appeal to some people as they love to eat out, but we were happy with the arrangement as it saved money and was faster than eating in a restaurant every evening so we could be off doing other things.
Are you a minimalist packer?  I know a lot of people would like to be, but end up taking too many things that they don't end up using. We only took carry-on bags with us for the five days. I was pretty happy with the amount I brought as I felt like there was enough variety so I didn't feel like I was wearing the same thing every day, but it was all easy to carry. 
I was actually forethoughtful enough to get some photos of what I packed before I left (I should have taken the photo on something that wasn't red so my rust t-shirt showed up better, but laying everything on the bed seemed the easiest thing) and you can read about what we did each day here.  Here's my list:

• jeans
• black pants
• black cardigan
• navy cardigan
• navy and cream striped long-sleeved t-shirt
• rust coloured long-sleeved t-shirt
• black long-sleeved t-shirt
• cream camisole
• black camisole
• green scarf
• navy and cream scarf
• necklace
• sneakers
• black flats
• socks, unmentionables, pajamas
• winter coat, gloves, hat, scarf (natch)

Day 1 I wore jeans, my striped shirt, navy sweater and navy and cream scarf on the first and last days.

Day 2  I wore jeans, my rust shirt, navy cardigan, and navy and cream scarf.

And that evening I wore my black pants, black shirt, black cardigan, and necklace with the black flats to the opera (sorry - not a very good photo, but my 18 year old just didn't get how to make a photo flattering and believe me it is hard to be both in the photo and giving instructions on how to take the photo.)

Day 3  It was very cold on this day and we were going to be outside a lot so I doubled up on my shirts.  I wore jeans, a camisole, rust t-shirt, black t-shirt, and black cardigan, with my winter scarf, coat, hat, and gloves when I was outside.

Day 4  I wore jeans, my black camisole, black t-shirt, and black cardigan with my green scarf.  I had to include my green scarf given that the St. Patrick's Day parade was going on.

And outdoors I wore my winter coat and usually my gloves and hat.  I always wore my sneakers (which you can see in the photo above) unless I was going out, in which case I wore black flats and I carried my yellow cross-body bag and camera everywhere.  It all worked well.  I always wore my jeans during the day, but my black pants were my back-up in case I spilled something on my jeans. I had enough variety of tops and two cardigans so again I was fine if one top or sweater got dirty.

Since we took granola and almonds and a few snacks with us we had some room to bring a few things home. We are not big shoppers (well I have the potential to be, but not with the three people I was with) so only bought a few souvenirs.  The three things I bought were a silk neckerchief in a William Morris print from the Met,

a small plate for $1 from a Goodwill in Greenwich Village,

and a book on the different art movements (which we studied at night before going to the next art gallery - I know, what a bunch of egg heads, eh?).  

William bought a few other souvenirs and we had a few things for the rest of the family, but we managed to cram them all in.
Do you love to shop when you go on vacation?  Although I love a good shopping expedition, I rarely do a lot of shopping while on holiday - mostly because I'm with people who would not be interested. 
Anyone have other suggestions of places to stay or eat in New York.  It is such an expensive city that I'm always interested to hear about other people's finds.
If you want to see what we did while we were in New York read this, and if you want to see what March looks like with both flowers and snow in Central Park, read this.

Linked to Open House at No Minimalist Here

Mid-March in Manhattan

I'm back and am happy to report that we all had a wonderful time in New York.  Turns out New York is my Mom's second favourite city (after Amsterdam) - who knew?  
Given that New York is a little further south and closer to the ocean, spring is slightly further ahead there.  So although most of Central Park looked like this,

if you looked closely you could see some spring flowers blooming.  Do you know how exciting that is for someone from frozen snowy Toronto.

The weather wasn't very warm and we actually got snow on our second to last day.  I was just happy it wasn't rain as a little snow is a lot easier to deal with than getting wet with rain - and the snow was so pretty in Central Park. 

Early spring is a funny time of contrasts with spring flowers for sale in outdoor shops

and bouquets of spring blossoms in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

along with skating rinks in Central Park still being used.

It was St. Patrick's Day when we were in New York.  People were decked out in green hats and necklaces,

and bleachers were set up along 5th Avenue for the St. Patrick's Day parade,

and rows of buses lined side streets to drive the parade participants home.

And we saw a glimpse of the parade itself (from a window at the Met as we were more interested in seeing the museum than the parade).

We enjoyed the flowers and St. Patrick's day fun and didn't let any mere snowflakes get in our way of us enjoying ourselves - including eating street vendor food in the snow on the steps of the Met.

I'm sorting through the loads of photos I took and will have some more posts soon.  I love the freedom and creativity that using a digital camera allows so I can take endless amounts of photos (and I do), but it sure does make a big editing job when you come home.

Peck Slip and Pirates

The Brooklyn Bridge holds a special place in my heart, because immediately south of it in Manhattan is a street called Peck Slip. My mother has done some genealogical research on our ancestors and traced them back to the family that this street was named after. 

Photo taken by Kate in December 2010

My ancestors Johannes Peck (also called Jan) and his wife Maria met and married in New Amsterdam after emigrating from the Netherlands some time before 1650.  The family name has also been spelled Pake, Peek and Peake - amazing how that quirky spelling gene has gone down through the generations.   

 Malcolm on Peck Slip with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background (February 2006)

As you can see the street is quite broad.  It used to have a wide bay down the centre of the street where ships could be moored.  Peck Slip was once the heart of a busy maritime seaport and was even mentioned in the novel Moby Dick.  What was once a busy seaport, later became a fish market, and is now a parking lot with restaurants and businesses on either side. The street is slated to be redeveloped in the next year or so and be turned into a sea-inspired park. 

The ship's mooring posts still evident along Peck Slip (photo taken by Kate December 2010)

Me on Peck Slip with the ramp up to the Brooklyn Bridge in the background (February 2006)

 Peck Slip (you can see the Brooklyn Bridge reflected in the lower left-hand window).  Photo taken by Kate.

Looking toward Peck Slip from the Brooklyn Bridge (photo taken by Kate)

Detail taken from above photo of the buildings along Peck Slip

Postcard showing shops along Lower Hudson Street c. 1865.  Notice the name on the shop in the middle of the photo - John Peake

My ancestors Jan and Maria Peek were quite the colourful couple.  They were the owners of Peek's Tavern and on more than one occasion they lost their licence due to serving liquor after-hours and on Sundays as you can read in this account:

JAN PEEK LOST HIS LICENSE TO TAP AND HAD TO PAY A FINE BECAUSE HE WAS TAPPING ON SUNDAY DURING PREACHING AND ALLOWING DANCING, JUMPING AND THE ENTERTAINMENT OF DISORDERLY PEOPLE AT HIS HOUSE. THE DRUNKARDS MADE SO MUCH NOISE ON A SUNDAY THAT THE SHERIFF HAD TO TAKE ONE OF THEM AWAY IN A CART.

Finally, in 1664 Maria was "accused of selling liquor to the Indians, fined 500 guilders, and banished from New Amsterdam".    My Mother told me that they moved to Peekskill in upper New York State - a town that was also named after them ("kill" meaning stream in Dutch).  Eventually one of their descendants came to Ontario with the United Empire Loyalists.
 

Gravestone of Samuel Pake taken last summer in Prince Edward County, Ontario

In  writing this post, I decided to look up some of the dates and spelling of names on the internet because my parents are away in Arizona so I couldn't check with my Mother.  I found this article online and discovered that Jan had many different jobs.  Not only was he a tavern-keeper, but he was a trader, an explorer, a broker (due to his fluency in both Dutch and English), a hunter, and even once was described as a PIRATE.  That was something I had never known, but was pretty excited to find out.  I mean who wouldn't want to know they had some pirate blood in their past.  My kids figure they are much cooler now!

Painting by Naima Rauam of the South Street Seaport and Peck Slip

All I can say is that I'm from a wicked lot - serving liquor on Sundays and a pirate.  What more can I say me mateys!