New York, New York!
May. 16th, 2019 06:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smokingbootWell, that was a blast.
New York was a surprise booked by R as a necessary treat for us, his first trip to the States, my second, though said earlier run was to the West Coast. LA was a monster in the 80s, and I couldn't wait to leave, to escape to Yosemite and hide there. I love Yosemite so much I am afraid to go back in case it is less beautiful than memory assures me.
New York though.
Easy for a Londoner to adjust to, foreign but just familiar enough, with the subways and long wide straight roads (we forgot that habit after the Romans left) the logical street names, and a horizon changing through time, a layer cake landscape that grows and grows. One good night's sleep there and I was bursting with ideas. I think I could write there, in fact I know the title and point of the book I should be writing in that city. I have been in London a long time. NYC felt fresh, a place of Art.
We did the tourist stuff of course, and it was wonderful, but however breathless the city's impossible skyline, however incredible its history, the highlight of our trip had to be meeting Patrizia. R had raised an eyebrow when I said we were meeting a friend I met online. I said 'trust me,' and he did. The result was two days spent in her sparkling company, sharp, wise, funny, and basically the business. Patrizia decided to dispense with the usual NY wonders and take us to Coney Island, a place which in season must be a whirl of fairground rides and beach parties, and right now looks like the set of a Stephen King movie.
The whole thing was gloriously eerie, with freak show signs promising Strange Men and Weird Women and a private party of Hassidic schoolgirls enjoying a private function. I say 'enjoy...' If I was a schoolgirl there, I would have imagined myself into a fit of terror. The same weird logo kept turning up everywhere, a gurning face so reminiscent of the Joker I wondered if Batman writers/artists had used it. Turns out they had. The eerie face made its first appearance on Coney Island in 1897 (https://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/37/22/24-steeplechase-face-2014-05-30-bk_37_22.html) and the creators of the Joker claimed the Face of Steeplechase Park alongside Conrad Veidt's depiction of 'The Man Who Laughed' inspired the visuals for the famous villain, all less alarming than our encounter with a robot waitress, the legend of a man who ate 74 hotdogs, and my realisation that Zoltar the Fortune Teller is in fact Sterling Archer.
Next came a beautiful day at Brooklyn Botanicals among rain washed peonies and violets that had real scent (not so easy to find in GB anymore) and after many conversations and only one Margarita, saying goodbye to our guide/hostess as she made her way back to the Hudson Valley. Then - again, courtesy of Patrizia - we found ourselves at the Met which was so glorious I only wish we had longer. This is my one regret about NYC; I haven't spent nearly long enough in its galleries and museums.
Still, this just means more to come back to. Bye Bye New York...For now.
New York was a surprise booked by R as a necessary treat for us, his first trip to the States, my second, though said earlier run was to the West Coast. LA was a monster in the 80s, and I couldn't wait to leave, to escape to Yosemite and hide there. I love Yosemite so much I am afraid to go back in case it is less beautiful than memory assures me.
New York though.
Easy for a Londoner to adjust to, foreign but just familiar enough, with the subways and long wide straight roads (we forgot that habit after the Romans left) the logical street names, and a horizon changing through time, a layer cake landscape that grows and grows. One good night's sleep there and I was bursting with ideas. I think I could write there, in fact I know the title and point of the book I should be writing in that city. I have been in London a long time. NYC felt fresh, a place of Art.
We did the tourist stuff of course, and it was wonderful, but however breathless the city's impossible skyline, however incredible its history, the highlight of our trip had to be meeting Patrizia. R had raised an eyebrow when I said we were meeting a friend I met online. I said 'trust me,' and he did. The result was two days spent in her sparkling company, sharp, wise, funny, and basically the business. Patrizia decided to dispense with the usual NY wonders and take us to Coney Island, a place which in season must be a whirl of fairground rides and beach parties, and right now looks like the set of a Stephen King movie.
The whole thing was gloriously eerie, with freak show signs promising Strange Men and Weird Women and a private party of Hassidic schoolgirls enjoying a private function. I say 'enjoy...' If I was a schoolgirl there, I would have imagined myself into a fit of terror. The same weird logo kept turning up everywhere, a gurning face so reminiscent of the Joker I wondered if Batman writers/artists had used it. Turns out they had. The eerie face made its first appearance on Coney Island in 1897 (https://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/37/22/24-steeplechase-face-2014-05-30-bk_37_22.html) and the creators of the Joker claimed the Face of Steeplechase Park alongside Conrad Veidt's depiction of 'The Man Who Laughed' inspired the visuals for the famous villain, all less alarming than our encounter with a robot waitress, the legend of a man who ate 74 hotdogs, and my realisation that Zoltar the Fortune Teller is in fact Sterling Archer.
Next came a beautiful day at Brooklyn Botanicals among rain washed peonies and violets that had real scent (not so easy to find in GB anymore) and after many conversations and only one Margarita, saying goodbye to our guide/hostess as she made her way back to the Hudson Valley. Then - again, courtesy of Patrizia - we found ourselves at the Met which was so glorious I only wish we had longer. This is my one regret about NYC; I haven't spent nearly long enough in its galleries and museums.
Still, this just means more to come back to. Bye Bye New York...For now.
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no subject
Date: 2019-05-17 02:49 pm (UTC)Coming back to the London Underground felt like switching to iPhone after two weeks of Android phones. Really glad you enjoyed it!
no subject
Date: 2019-05-19 06:52 am (UTC)Looking forward to hearing about your adventures :-)