The Closing Scenes in New York

Back in New York and ready to wind down really after all the running around I did in Washington.

Weather held up in New York until Thursday when at last it started to cool down, I had in fact put the cooler on in the hotel room can you imagine? It was still sunny on Thursday but refreshingly cool. The first sign of anything other than sun came on Friday morning with fog shrouding some of the larger buildings and bridges and a few showers for good measure easing to  drizzle, a taste of London weather as if to tease me.

Another journey to the theatre, this time to see the musical ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’ with Nick Jonas and Beau Bridges. The Jonas boy (is he Delta’s squeeze?) was very good acting wise although a bit limited with some of the brassier numbers. I found the dancers a bit restrained and not the sassiness and oomph we tend to see in Australian productions. Big set in a nice theatre, although I have to say the leg room was cramp making. Nice to chat briefly to an Aussie guy who was serving at the food bar. We laughed at the lack of 'lemon' drinks - they assume you want a lemonade rather than something like Solo or Lift. A fun show not stunning and certainly not worth the (obligatory)standing ovation - the show stopper number 'Brotherhood of Man' was terrific. I felt it was all style and pizazz with little substance in terms of stand out performances, except for the Miss Jones and mistress roles.

The three days back in New York were a lot of walking around, a few of the places I was planning to visit not really ideal for getting to, especially as I was starting to flag a bit and needed to take some of the activity down a peg. So I had planned to go to the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens but really it was too much of a hike to get to from my place. The other was the Lower East Side Tenement Museum which I really wanted to go to but it turns out to be a ‘living museum’ in that you are taken around the area with a guide and frankly I just wanted to move at my own pace and learn at my own speed rather than listen to someone.

Notwithstanding that I did go to the Museum of the City of New York which had a great video on the history of New York and an interesting exhibit about the different plans over the years for the Manhattan ‘Grid’, also a very insightful photographic display on New York Cops (it cracks me up to hear the news readers refer to ‘cops’ rather than the police).

Another interesting spot was the Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Radio, Television and Film. Named after the man who formed CBS, it is a resource centre for film, tv and radio archives and great for students of the media and people wanting to research it all. There was a film in the theatre on TV comedy which was great and then we had a 90 minute access to the library and could watch anything we wanted to in their catalogue.I watched an Edward R Murrow show with Marlon Brando and another with Marilyn Monroe and then a Barbra Walters interview with Barbra when she was living with Jon Peters. Great spot and I think if I lived in NY I’d be a regular visitor.

It was amazing to visit the 9/11 site and imagine what had gone before and what was to come. There are two stunning waterfall sculptures roughly aligning to the twin towers and have the names of the people lost on 9/11 in New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania as well as those who died in the attack on the WTC in 1993. To see all those names and know there was a life behind each one is heartbreaking. I nearly lost it when I read one woman’s name with the addition ‘and her unborn child’. I do feel a bit of ‘theme park’ to it all as there is a lot of people running around but hey would I want everyone to be drear and sad if I had died there? Quite a distance from where you get your pass to visit the site and where the site actually is.

Popped into Liberty Church and park after the visit, service on but looked a lovely church. The graveyard had some very old headstones so quite interesting. It is thought provoking too see all the massive buildings and activity around where this horror happened and without diminishing the immensity of the death toll, it is nothing less than a-mazing that the damage wasn’t even greater.

Maintaining a bit of a 'Presidents theme' I went out to Grants Tomb, large and a good view of the Hudson and near the George Washington Uni which had some gorgeous buildings. Watched a bit of filming being done for a new ABC TV series, took over a lot of streets but everyone sort of goes on their merry way, buses and taxis ducking in and out so they must all be used to it. Fun to watch the streets being hosed down to look like rain had fallen.

Found my way to the famous Strand Bookshop near Union Square, just like a real bookshop should be, wooden shelves and timber floorboards, staff who know books and second hand books, old editions next to new ones. Needless to say I made a few purchases which I'm sure I'll regret when packing my bags.

Jackie O's apartment block on Fifth

Marilyn's apartment block on east 57th

Lex, not to mention Fifth, Greenwich and Downtown before ending up at Washington Square. What had me on the move? I was wanting to see the places where Streisand, Monroe, Garbo, Monty Clift

Washington Square is a nice park with a faux Arc De Triomph. Quite a lot of ‘street people’ but I think would be a happenin' place on a summer’s day because the University is right nearby. This was the park that featured in play/film 'Barefoot in the Park' which made stars of two actors Jane Fonda and Robert Redford (they kicked on didn't they?). Also some interesting architecture in the area and went past the house Mark Twain lived in for a time, cute.

Footsore and ready to just drop I returned to the hotel and started to think about the day ahead and my final hotel change before the looooong and dreaded flight home. I am looking forward to my own bed, and shower and food and a long sleep.