Happy #60 Paul: A Parisian in the Big Apple

A view of Manhattan from the South end of the island

“One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years”. Tom Wolfe.

If you know anything about my husband, you know he likes music, food, wine and walking a lot. Oh, and definitely staying in fine hotels. So that said, where else for his 60th birthday but the Big Apple? It fits EVERY bill.  (And after cancelling his local celebration due to concerns about COVID-19, I really wanted to do something special for him.)

On the Highline

We arrived on Monday night, dumped our bags at the Langham Hotel (chosen for location and because it has a view of Paul's favorite NYC edifice, The Chrysler Building)  and we were off to Gramercy Tavern in mid-town. This is a perennial favorite of Paul's always leading to a story about seeing CREAM at Madison Square Garden with his buddies Ashley and Cy. This was a tasting menu with wine pairings and way too much food, but definitely NOT a disappointment. 

The Empire State Building at night from Madison Square Park

The following day, we went to Fotografiska to see some very good photography. There is eponomously-named museum in Stockholm and I highly recommend both. In addition to striking photos, we were treated to a short film by Maya Lin explaining the impetus her current exhibit in Madison Square Park-- Ghost Forest. Appropriate for Hallowe'en for sure, but it is actually about climate change and what is happening to forests. She used trees that were destroyed by flood waters from Hurricane Sandy. It takes a while for the trees to die once salt water soaks them, but eventually, they become quite barren. These were installed in Madison Square Park with some information about the native animals and people, most of which have been driven out of the area by human operations. There is a recording you can listen to on the phone while you sit in the park and observe the installation as well as the remaining denizen--squirrels, birds and non-native people. We even saw two little mice playing tag in the bushes, but the recording reminded us that bears, wolves, elk, deer and many other species once lived on Manhattan and called it home. It was a  reminder of the damage done and our current responsibility to take stewardship of our planet. 

Maya Linn's Ghost Forest exhibition

Fittingly, I suppose, we had our next birthday Michelin starred meal at Aquavit. I will have to say of all our dining experiences, this was the most unique and delicious. For Paul's birthday dessert, he got a concoction made to look like a bird's nest and eggs. I know people in some cultures do eat actual bird's nests, but I am going to wholeheartedly recommend this one instead. YUM and beautiful to boot. 

Paul's bird's nest dessert at Aquavit

We discovered the following day that the New York Architectural Society offers a circumnavigation tour of Manhattan Island from Chelsea Pier. This was a real find. The Chelsea Pier has plenty of history on its own. It launched the Lusitania. It received the remnants of the Titanic passengers and crew (and was supposed to receive the Titanic itself.) There are old photos scattered about and they are worth looking at no matter what reason you find yourself at the pier. 

On Chelsea Pier

On the day we took the cruise, there had been heavy rains and there was no passage under the Broadway Bridge, so we did a "horseshoe tour" instead. We had spectacular views of most of the iconic bridges (and passed under many) such as the Brooklyn Bridge, the 59th Street Bridge (made famous by Simon and Garfunkel), the Williamsburg Bridge and more. There was an on-site live narrator, himself an architect, who spoke and answered questions for the three solid hours of the tour. We got a gander at the Jersey burbs, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, parts of Brooklyn, Queens, Randall Island, Governor's Island, Roosevelt Island and all major buildings visible from both Hudson and East Rivers. We learned a lot (for instance, there is a high school on Governor's Island and a smallpox hospital in ruins on Roosevelt Island)  and got a very different perspective of Manhattan, the many bridges and the role the rivers play there. We came and went along the highline, an abandoned railway path that NYC has turned into a great walking destination. 

The Lady

Brooklyn Bridge from the water

From the East side

The Ledge. Notice the folks suspended over New York!

This recently constructed walking path was closed due to people jumping off of it and committing suicide

We had to do lots of walking everyday, because we did lots of eating every day!  And this was no exception. We ate at Jean George's. This tasting menu was "the classics" of the restaurant, and surprisingly manageable sized portions. 

T

The "tuna rose" at Jean-Georges

Happy #60 Paul

For Thursday, we discovered that Tours By Locals (one of our favorite purveyors of day tours and YES, it is a local person who will guide you) has a tour of Roosevelt Island. I had developed an interest in this before going because not only is there an old smallpox hospital there sitting in ruins, but there is the Octagon House---formerly known as the New York Lunatic asylum---which has been restored. Additionally, Cornell has opened a relatively new research campus there and a new hotel, the Graduate. It's not crowded and walking from one end of the island to the other is a four mile roundtrip with goodies on each end (sculptures and an old lighthouse in the process of restoration on the north end and a park dedicated to Franklin Roosevelt on the south). And if this wasn't enough to get me out there---The Roosevelt Island Tramway. To my knowledge, this is the only tram on the metro subway system. You get to cross the river with a great view of the city. We had a wonderful guide, Margaret, who worked in marketing (but now works as a volunteer at a senior city in Jersey) who has lived on the island and knew everything there was to know. For instance, they regulated the rent and she bought a co-op apartment for $20,000 and sold it for not much more than that. She says they also allowed only one grocery store, one dry cleaner, etc. There is a fairly good sized artist community. You can drive onto the island, but there are few roads and it is meant to be a walkable small city. We really enjoyed going there. For evening entertainment, we went to the Lincoln Center Jazz club, Dizzy's Coca Cola Lounge, and saw trumpeter, Jeremy Pelt and his excellent and  entertaining band. He recently wrote a book, Griot, in which he visited and interviewed "modern jazz artists" and then composed songs based and named by their comments. Then after three nights of Michelin starred dining, we went to the simple Osteria del Bianco and got sphagetti. I think it was Paul's favorite meal of the trip!

Under the Roosevelt Island Tram and 59th Street Bridge

Sculptures and Lighthouse under repair at the North end of Roosevelt Island

Now defunct (thankfully) Smallpox Hospital

Looking back on Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn from Roosevelt Island

Friday, we declared a museum day. We saw Jasper Johns exhibit at the Whitney (and there's a complementary exhibit of his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art if you don't mind a train ride to complete the thought process), a fractal art show at the Arctechouse and a native son, Beauford Delaney, exhibit of 23 portraits at the Michael Rosenfeld gallery.

Fractal exhibit from Archetechouse

Paul admires the work of native Knoxvillian, Beaufort Delaney

 That made for quite  a day already, but Paul is never one to miss jazz. Evening was filled with Small's Jazz Club seeing percussionist Billy Drummond and his band playing with a "great vibe" as Paul would say in this very tiny, intimate space. All jazz musicians seemed ecstatic to back on stage with live audiences! Dinner was at Vestry. This is a seafood forward restaurant with great food, wine and bar treats. We didn't like it as well as the others we visited because of the overall "hipster quality" and loudness. Probably just means we are old fogies. Look who's 60 after all, maybe? There was a real honest to God gale going on outside with rain and wind turning people's umbrellas inside out. There was no getting a cab either. Surge UBER and LYFT prices were a pain in the wallet, but we got back to the Langham safe and sound after quite a bit of waiting and whining. But it was a sight to see all that wind!

Saturday was our finale....and none too shabby either. Paul had to get a COVID19 so we explored the world of obtaining a PCR test in NYC which is way better than trying to get one in Knoxville! I walked about and snapped shots of Halloween decor NYC brownstone style!  

Halloween decor Manhattan brownstone style

Halloween decor Manhattan brownstone style. Note the bleach and syringes in the skeleton on the upper far right 

Then we were off to see WICKED. This play is so colorful and the music is great. Please see this if you can. We were there on WICKED DAY. Unbeknownst to us, Wicked premiered 18 years ago on October 30. Happy birthday, Wicked (and Paul.) From here, we had an early dinner (for us) at Ai Fiori. Really, if you are in Manhattan, give this restaurant a try. It never disappoints. Housemade pasta al dente. What's not to like?

A cheesecake complete with fruity mouse

 To top off our Paul-Parris-Turns-60 extravaganza, we went to see David Byrne's production, American Utopia, at the St. James Theater. This was an outstanding both musical and visual experience. He threw a few Talking Head numbers in for good measure. The band was very heavy on percussion which added a great deal to the performance and had a variety of choreographic innovations as well. There was nothing on the stage except band members, instruments and bare feet. It was not only entertaining, but also cast a ray of hope on the overall American landscape (something known for bleakness at time of late!)

Whoo! What a birthday week. I hope we walked enough to keep from showing it on our waistlines.

“New York is not a city – it’s a world.” — Iman

Paul's Ponderings: What a great time in NYC.  A little bit of everything: music, art, architecture, outdoors, dining.  What's not to like as they say!