Back from New York!
Mar. 21st, 2022 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI have returned from my New York City sojourn! Had an absolutely lovely time! On my first full day I circumnavigated Central Park and had a picnic in the Shakespeare Garden; on the second, with my friend Elena I saw my first ever Broadway show (The Music Man with Hugh Jackman), and afterward we had dinner at Mari Vanna, blini with smoked salmon and three kinds of pirozhki (meat and cabbage and potato, and I can't decide which was my favorite) and honey cake, a rich layered cake made, I'm almost sure, with buckwheat, that wonderful underutilized flavor.
On the third day (St. Patrick's Day) it rained, so I devoured the impressionist exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Okay, technically that wing is 19th century European art in general, but I was MOSTLY there for the impressionists... although TBH I have a sneaking fondness for the Salon art that is now relegated to a single "look at this UNCOOL, NON-REBELLIOUS 19th century art!" room. I also attempted to take in the American Wing as well, only the aforesaid circumnavigation of Central Park had left my feet in a bad way, which did not stop me from crossing Central Park to hit up the Columbus Avenue branch of the Strand once again. I had been there on Tuesday, and left behind a book that I decided I absolutely HAD to have, except I could only remember it's position on the display and not the title. (Out of the Shadows: Reimagining Gay Men's Lives. I think it's going to be super useful for Sleeping Beauty).
That evening, to further our Hugh Jackman appreciation, we watched The Greatest Showman, during which my nose, like the rain earlier that day, began to drip gently but insistently.
This kicked off a fun two-day game of "is it a cold or is it Covid, and if it's Covid how the fuck long am I going to be stuck in New York?" as we waited for the results of the PCR test, which I withstood with an unexpected level of sangfroid. "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it," I said, and watched Ammonite with attention and enjoyment.
I did feel VERY relieved when the negative PCR test at last came back. And the experience has left me leery about future trips plans - especially overseas. One could get VERY stuck.
Fortunately the PCR test results came back in time for a banger of a last day. We went on the Heart and Soul of Greenwich Village Food Tour (the tour company was SO nice about switching us to this later tour when I explained the situation), and ate lots of delicious food; I particularly liked the empanadas at the beginning and the toffee at the end. And then we had a wonderful final dinner at La Mancha, a new tapas bar in Williamsburg, where we had croquetas and mushrooms in white wine and garlic (with a wonderful seared flavor, like you get sometimes on steak) and best of all anchovies, fresh delicate-fleshed deeply savory anchovies.
On the third day (St. Patrick's Day) it rained, so I devoured the impressionist exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Okay, technically that wing is 19th century European art in general, but I was MOSTLY there for the impressionists... although TBH I have a sneaking fondness for the Salon art that is now relegated to a single "look at this UNCOOL, NON-REBELLIOUS 19th century art!" room. I also attempted to take in the American Wing as well, only the aforesaid circumnavigation of Central Park had left my feet in a bad way, which did not stop me from crossing Central Park to hit up the Columbus Avenue branch of the Strand once again. I had been there on Tuesday, and left behind a book that I decided I absolutely HAD to have, except I could only remember it's position on the display and not the title. (Out of the Shadows: Reimagining Gay Men's Lives. I think it's going to be super useful for Sleeping Beauty).
That evening, to further our Hugh Jackman appreciation, we watched The Greatest Showman, during which my nose, like the rain earlier that day, began to drip gently but insistently.
This kicked off a fun two-day game of "is it a cold or is it Covid, and if it's Covid how the fuck long am I going to be stuck in New York?" as we waited for the results of the PCR test, which I withstood with an unexpected level of sangfroid. "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it," I said, and watched Ammonite with attention and enjoyment.
I did feel VERY relieved when the negative PCR test at last came back. And the experience has left me leery about future trips plans - especially overseas. One could get VERY stuck.
Fortunately the PCR test results came back in time for a banger of a last day. We went on the Heart and Soul of Greenwich Village Food Tour (the tour company was SO nice about switching us to this later tour when I explained the situation), and ate lots of delicious food; I particularly liked the empanadas at the beginning and the toffee at the end. And then we had a wonderful final dinner at La Mancha, a new tapas bar in Williamsburg, where we had croquetas and mushrooms in white wine and garlic (with a wonderful seared flavor, like you get sometimes on steak) and best of all anchovies, fresh delicate-fleshed deeply savory anchovies.
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Date: 2022-03-22 08:08 pm (UTC)The Met has a painting by Courbet that apparently Shocked the Academy, even though stylistically (to my untutored modern eyes) it looks just like the Salon paintings in the next room over - but they were appalled that he painted a genre scene (pretty country girls out for a walk) on the scale of a monumental history painting.
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Date: 2022-03-22 10:52 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2022-03-22 11:12 am (UTC)afterward we had dinner at Mari Vanna
Oh, hey, I've been there! Not there there, exactly, but they have a restaurant in DC.
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Date: 2022-03-23 02:10 pm (UTC)I have never managed to visit NYC without coming down with something; it's a beautiful petri dish. Glad you didn't get stuck in a quarantel!
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Date: 2022-03-24 01:05 am (UTC)That sounds fantastic! And yay for no covid.
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Date: 2022-03-24 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-03-24 09:37 pm (UTC)And I’m so glad your PCR test came back negative, though sorry it stole two anxious days of the trip that could better have been spent eating more pirozhki. God, the whole “is this a severe health crisis or a common cold” dance has never stopped sucking, has it?
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Date: 2022-03-25 03:02 pm (UTC)Eastern European restaurants aren't thick on the ground, are they? My friend and I were actually discussing this over dinner at Mari Vanna - our wild hypothesis is that maybe it's a hangover from the Cold War, but I don't know really.
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Date: 2022-03-28 08:54 am (UTC)