my favorite city with a favorite friend (s).. a look back

On Feb. 27, 2005, I was lucky to be included on a day trip to the big city, Manhattan. I have a not so secret love affair with this city. As a small girl i have fond memories of traveling on a Bieber bus with my dad and step mom for a day in the city. These trips were sponsored by their workplace and always around the holidays. a usual trip would consist of walking the city, seeing the skaters at Rockefeller Center, going to the top of the Empire State bldg., seeing a show (usually the Radio City Christmas Special, ala Rockettes) and having a nice meal. then back on the bus and home. i now know that i never truly appreciated the city as a child, all the greatness it has to offer. the museums, the street life, the diversity. i just knew it was a fun place i got to go to every now and then. that all changed 9-11-01. the day that changed so many, i would like to say "us all" there, but i am not so sure now. i think too many have forgotten that day already. i remember it vividly, sitting on my couch in ME and watching it live on tv, thinking how horrible, and then it happened. "it fell... yeah i saw it. no really it fell! " i was on the phone with my husband , being confused and saddened by what i saw, and in utter disbelief that the blgds. fell and with them so many lives gone in an instant. it still brings a lump to my throat. ok getting off topic here, this is not a post of a sad day, but a great day in NYC. but i appreciate it even more now after. it survived, my city of good memories. and i took a trip there with my daughter and husband in spring of 02. they had never been there before, they had never seen the twin towers standing . that is sad. the sight of the site was raw, the posters still hung of the lost, the firefighters and work crews still walked the blocks of posted photos, i think to give them the resolve to go on, that what they were doing was for them, the lost. my fondness swelled on that trip for NYC. so when asked to come along on another Bieber bus trip to see The Gates, a living art exhibit through the paths of Central Park, i said YES PLEASE! i was a new mom second time around then, and my friend amy was an even newer first time mom, so it was a much needed break away. the day was sunny and cold. i stepped out of the bus terminal and felt the excitement of being back where i loved, Manhattan. i love it all there. the sights and sounds and smells, an all out friendly assault on my senses. here are a few pics of the beauty of the exhibit... along with this we went inside MOMA had lunch , walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral, saw Strawberry Fields, went to Serendipity to get a frozen hot chocolate (they were packed so we took the mix to go) and then hoofed it back to the terminal to take our bus home. it was great fun, i wish i could do it again today... thank you Mrs. H and Amy for including me that day!

Mrs.H , Amy and I...3 ladies on the town

amy and me in walking the park

a little history...

artists
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates, Central Park, New York City

The 7,503 gates, 16 feet (4,87 meters) tall varied in width from 5 feet 6 inches to 18 feet (1,68 to 5,48 meters) according to the 25 different widths of walkways, on 23 miles (37 kilometers) of walkways in Central Park. Free-hanging saffron colored fabric panels, suspended from the horizontal top part of the gates, came down to approximately 7 feet (2,13 meters) above the ground. The gates were spaced at 12 foot (3,65 meter) intervals, except where low branches extended above the walkways. The gates and the fabric panels were seen from far away through the leafless branches of the trees. The work of art remained for 16 days, then the gates were removed and the materials industrially recycled.



this shot gives you a feeling of the size of the flags and the weight and sound of them. it was a cold and windy day. at the beginning of the exhibition there was no snow in NYC, but it had snowed the day before we got there. the whiteness of the snow, the starkness of it, really added to the beauty of the gates. they just gleamed in the bright sun with the back drop of the fresh white snow. and the material was a think heavy material that snapped in the wind. the sounds were really part of the whole experience for me. walking underneath the gates through the park and listening to them crack in the wind was gorgeous.



ahhh yes and cannot blog about this fun trip without including a picture of our unexpected, but most infamous lunch guest. the 3 of us were quietly dining in the lunch hall at MOMA when right outside the huge glass walls, a woman dropped her overcoat to reveal ner "assests" while onlookers (like us) gasped, giggled, reached for our cell phones and cameras. i will never know if our mystery stripper realized she was bearing it for a full lunch crowd at the museum, but all i can say is ....only in Manhattan! she had a few "professional" shots taken by her accomplice, then she quickly rerobed and high tailed it out of there before security could nab her. but thankfully i got it all on film so it wasn't just some tall tale to tell, i actually had proof. and yes it was COLD that day, so she was more than brave she was freezing! true meaning to the saying "it's a bit nipple out."