Five Days in New York

It was a busy five days in New York, but we managed to pack in a lot of fun things. I came up with an itinerary before we left so we could work from that and modify as needed depending on the weather and timing. We are a museum and art gallery loving family so a large chunk of our time was spent visiting some of the world's best. In addition, William loves poetry and music so Greenwich Village was top of his list and my parent's were keen on seeing Peck Slip, a small street just south of Brooklyn Bridge that is named for our ancestors. If you've been to New York then you probably have your own ideas for things to do, but if not then our itinerary might inspire you - that is, if you love museums and are up for long walks.
Day 1 We arrived in New York about noon so had time to hit the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in the afternoon.  The MOMA consists of six floors of modern paintings, photography, and sculpture.  One of the floors had art that is a bit out there, but the rest were one famous painting after another.  

  And then we visited Times Square in the evening.

It was on a news feed in Times Square that we learned that Mario Bergoglio would be the next pope (couldn't have been a more incongruous setting for such news.)

Day 2 The next day we walked through Central Park and then visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is an enormous museum with the most amazing collection of both art and artifacts.  It really has something for everyone.  We toured the Egyptian section together and then split up so everyone could go to their favourite galleries.  I spent most of the day in the Period Rooms and the Impressionist Paintings. Heaven!  Do you split up when you go to museums and art galleries?  We find it keeps everyone happy and then we share our highlights with each other afterward.

We had tickets to the opera, La Traviata, that evening at the Lincoln Centre.  We were on the fifth balcony up and still had a great view and could hear everything.  It was our good fortune to be able to be there for the opening night of La Traviata with Plácido Domingo singing. The opera was wonderful and even though I was initially disappointed that the sets were going to be modern and minimalist, I found them really interesting in the end.

La Traviata (Source)

Day 3

The next day we took the subway down to the South Street Seaport Historic District in lower Manhattan as we wanted to visit the street named after our ancestors, Peck Slip (you can read more about it here), and see Brooklyn Bridge.  The area was badly hit by Hurricane Sandy and was a shell of its former self with many of the stores and restaurants still closed. Nevertheless, we enjoyed seeing the beautiful old ships against the skyscrapers.  

And we saw Peck Slip the street where our ancestors had a tavern back when it was New Amsterdam.

As you can see they are working on upgrading the infrastructure on Peck Slip so the middle of the street is a construction site.  Peck Slip is wedge-shaped because the centre used to be open water where the ships were moored.  About 1810 the centre got filled in and was used as a market space and eventually became a parking lot and walkway. There was some talk of making it a nautical-themed park, but I'm not sure if that is still in the works.

The photo below shows the oldest building on Peck Slip (from 1807) with one of the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge just peaking over the elevated roadway on the right side of the photo. Although this is not from the same time period that our relatives lived there, which was back in the 1660s, it is the building that has the most historic ambiance so I was drawn to it.

We then walked through Chinatown and the Lower East Side to get to the Tenement Museum.

Since time was moving on, we decided to split up and my parents toured the Tenement Museum and William and I went to Greenwich Village.  Splitting up was a good decision as we both loved what we saw.  

William had printed off a very interesting walking tour of Greenwich Village that we followed (which he found here). It featured lots of the place Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg and other lovelies hung out/lived/wrote poetry/played music/threw up/got into trouble etc.  Great fun!

In the photo below you can see a close up of a poster on the door of Cafe Wha? that was part of our tour.  I'm not really much into music, but even I've heard of almost every one of the musicians that got their start at Cafe Wha?.  It still is a live music venue although it has a very run-down appearance, but really this place should be a museum.  

That evening William and I went to hear some quartets play at the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall.  Isn't that the most beautiful hall - just loved those empire chandeliers and the blue curtains.

Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall

Day 4 In the morning everyone except me visited the Frick Collection (I'm saving it to go to with Jonathan.  We didn't have time to visit the Frick when we were in New York for our 5th anniversary and we haven't been back to New York with each other since.)  Then we all went back to the Met again as we had more to see and we all adored it.

That evening William and I took the Staten Island Ferry so we could get a view of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty at twilight.  Truth be told that was my reason, but William wanted to ride the Staten Island Ferry because it was mentioned in Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl ("and the Staten Island ferry also wailed").

Day 5 William and I walked through Central Park to find Strawberry Fields - a memorial to John Lennon (which was much smaller than I thought it would be).

And then we visited the Guggenheim Museum - the building is as beautiful as the paintings.  I always feel I should strap on roller skates and start at the top and work my way down - what fun that would be!

The long tubes across the centre hall of the Guggenheim were one of the art installations.  It wasn't until we got up close that we realized those coloured parts were liquid. It must have been difficult to install across the great open space. They looked really beautiful with the light shining through the coloured sections.

And then it was time to go.  Sniff.  Sniff.  

Isn't that a great photo we got out of the airplane window.  Amazing to think we had been walking through Central Park and right past that big reservoir just hours before.

It was a fabulous five days.  We saw lots. We did lots.  We walked lots!  My mother wore a pedometer and according to it she walked over 40 kms and William and I walked further.  There is so much to see and do in New York that you never feel like you have enough time.  Mind you that was all the energy I had as we got home on Sunday evening and it was right back to work the next morning, which meant I dragged myself around all week.

For those of you who have been to New York, what were your favourite things to do (I'll add them to my list for my next visit)?  We loved visiting the places we did, but it might have been a little museum/art gallery heavy for some.  Do you visit museums and art galleries when you travel?
I'm working on a post to show you where we stayed (it is a fantastic hotel), how we got away with only carry-on luggage, and how we saw New York on a budget (although that is a bit of an oxymoron).

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.

March Break

I'm so happy that it is the March Break. For once I have big plans that include both going to the cottage (yay!) and travel (double yay!). My all time worst March Break was spent toilet training one child and teaching the times tables to another. Thankfully that was years ago and things have been looking up since then!  
William and I went to the cottage for the weekend.  It was nice to get away and have one last bit of fun in the snow before we say goodbye to winter (or am I being wishful). 
I was struck by the gorgeous blues made by the shadows on the snow.

The temperatures were above freezing every day so the snow got progressively wetter and mushier as our weekend progressed.  If you stayed on the plowed road then the walking was good, but in the forest there was up to three feet of snow and you sunk down over your knees with every step.  Needless to say I mostly stayed on the road.

We were able to walk on the frozen lake which is always fun.  All that unmarked snow was just waiting to be used as a giant slate and covered in Chinese characters.

The chipmunks were out and about in great numbers.  They were sleepy and adorable sitting on the snow trying to wake up.

I'm not sure what creature made these trails in the snow, but I loved how they looked like ancient writings.

Does this last photo look 3-D?  Because it is.  My new camera creates 3-D photos.  Of course, I hadn't figured that out, but within about one minute of playing with my camera William had found that feature and mastered how to make them.

As for the rest of the March Break ... tomorrow morning bright and early William, and my parents, and I are going to New York City for four days.  We have in mind to spend lots of time in museums and art galleries which are right up our alley.  We also want to walk across (or halfway at least) the Brooklyn Bridge and visit Peck Slip to see the street named after our ancestors (which you can read about here).  
We will be in New York for St. Patrick's day.  It will be interesting to see how it is celebrated.  I doubt we will watch the parade as we have too much else to do, but I'm sure we will see evidence of the luck of the Irish everywhere. 

Kate's photo of the Brooklyn Bridge (I'm going to try a 3-D version when we are there)

Anyone else having a spring break?  Do you have big plans or restful stay-at-home plans?  Happy St. Patrick's Day my friends.

Persian Curry

We've cooked our way across North Africa and Israel and have finally made it to Persia in our quest to cook our way around the world.  I'm slow in getting these posts written and I have a lot of catching up to do as we just cooked Thai food tonight and that is at least four countries removed from Persia.  

This Persian curry recipe was suggested to me by our eldest son Malcolm.  Malcolm is an eclectic reader and one of the books he has enjoyed recently was a book of poetry by Rumi, who is a 13th century Persian poet, theologian, and mystic. At the back of the book was this recipe for Persian curry.  The original recipe was obviously meant to feed a crowd as it was four times as large as the one I have printed below.  Malcolm cut the recipe down, but it still makes a big pot full.  Malcolm also recommended this curry as a good recipe to take on a canoe trip - you just have to pre-soak the split peas (and chickpeas if you aren't using canned) in a Nalgene water bottle during the day so they don't take too long to cook at dinner time.  Good to know.  I wonder if Rumi ever thought this curry would be enjoyed by people canoeing through the wilds of Canada.  Well it was and it was also enjoyed by us here at home.

PERSIAN CURRY 
Ingredients:
1/4 cup split peas
1/4 cup lentils
I can chickpeas, drained
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 large carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 can of diced tomatoes
optional: cauliflower, leeks, spinach, cabbage, green peppers
pinch of cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Method:
1. Soak the split peas for about 3 hours.
2. Bring the lentils and split peas to a boil and cook for about 1 hour.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and enough water to cover.  Continue cooking until the vegetables are soft.  The recipe doesn't specify the quantity of each spice so I have included a minimum amount and you can add more to taste.
4.  Serve the curry with rice.  

We also felt that flat bread and pomegranate for dessert fit with the Persian theme - as did a colourful tablecloth and sitting on cushions on the floor around our low table in what we assumed was an ancient Persian style.

And since this recipe is from a book by Rumi, I will leave you with some chickpea inspiration that he wrote.

Linked to Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm