New York City - Day 4 - back 2 MoMA & dinner with friends

Friday, December 4, 2009

Had the full breakfast at the Leo House. All of it was quite good. Equaled what was available at most of the restaurants nearby. It is quite diverse in what is offered. Quiche, scrabbled eggs, pancakes, corned beef hash, bacon, sausage, bagels, croissants, various pastries, toast, juices, fresh fruit cup, creme cheese, coffee, espresso, tea, and probably a few items I have forgotten. Cost is only $9.

We took the bus in front of the hotel on 23rd street to 6th Avenue and a bus uptown to 53rd street. We then walked half a block east to the Museum of Modern Art. We spent full day from 11am till 4:30pm there. I went through the Bauhaus exhibit a second time. We both were impressed with the tasteful objects and craftmanship Marianne Brandt coffee and tea sets as well as her ink pot with a pen holder.

Then we went through the two floors of the modern collection starting with Cezanne forward. My goodness they seem to have almost every single important modern painting of the twentieth century! I've seen them in many of the books I've consulted. LOL! It was good to re-acquaint myself with many of my favorite and influential paintings (and the few sculptures) that I felt are like old friends! Susan and I had some vigorous conversations!

The museum had a special exhibit of the water Lillie's series by Monet in their collection. One is three huge canvases that creates a long panoramic image that stretched across an entire wall. It is similar to the ones in the Orangerie in Paris. I shot a poignant image of a older woman in furs in a wheel chair viewing the painting from approximately the center. Offset, standing to her left, and silhouetted, is a young woman nearer the painting tilted a bit with her legs crossed. A profound contrast.

The museum had lots of folks visiting. There were a number of guided tours with loud docents that unfortunately seemed to follow our every move!

I shot a few nice shots of the surrounding architecture out some of the large windows of the new wing looking uptown. One is of a narrow townhouse directly across the street that looks like it was inserted from the Baron Haussmann's reconstruction of Paris! It was only three or four stories high and had that tilted greenish roof with three attic garret bay windows. We wonder who lives there! In front of that apartment was a trailer with four gorgeous black motor cycles.

A few blocks further uptown, directly behind the townhouse was a glass facade building that reflected approaching back lit storm clouds. The windows appeared like ceramic tiles which changed their patina as the clouds moved and the light varied.

That evening Debbie Hecht and Sean O’Neil met us at out hotel. We then walked two blocks to an Bombay Talkie at 189 Ninth Ave just south of 23rd St. Attractive interior, fine wait staff and tasty food. We shared a selection of appetizers I don't recall. Susan had Okra baked with tomato and onions. I had chicken tandori, but it tasted different that what I have had in the past. Then we strode across 9th Avenue to a cup cake emporium. It was packed to the gills! I took shots of the lady icing the cup cakes through the window. She was part of the attraction. We brought our goodies back to the Leo House because there were only two tiny tables in the tiny joint which were unavailable.

Great conversation.