A bit of culture in One day at a time

A few specks of rain this morning, so our plan to visit the Guggenheim seemed perfect. We had plotted out our route on the subway (we also wanted to see the Alice in Wonderland fountain at Central park), and had thought about visiting the Frick gallery as well. Because of the rain we re-routed slightly, and got a bus (super easy as it left from across the road, and accepted our metro pass). The bus route hugged the edge of Central Park, so it was very picturesque if a bit soggy.

We arrived at the Guggenheim right on 10.00am and there was a bit of a queue.
Unfortunately the walkway down through the gallery was closed (they were installing a new collection), so it was all a bit disorganised (they were selling tickets cheaply at- $14.00 because of that). I enjoyed the classics (Monet, Cezanne, etc) but I just didn’t get the super modern stuff. One exhibition was two fans (Susan walked straight past it thinking it was, well two fans). I stopped to read the blurb and it represented the eternal conflict – one fan was going up and down (no) and the other was moving from side to side (yes). The pleb in me thought “I wonder what the artist got paid for that??”.

When we came outside the rain had stopped, and there was some watery sunshine. We crossed the road and discovered the fountain easily. There was nobody else there, so we got some great pics. Then it was on to the boat house for some lemonade (my budget didn’t stretch to lunch there a la Carrie and Big). We continued to explore Central Park. There was a policeman on one of the paths standing with two horses. My parents owned race horses and I am very wary of them. I gave the little group a wide berth, but he called out to me “Where are you from?” I told him New Zealand and he said “ah Zena Warrior Princess”. Um yeah, I’m 5ft 1, dumpy and had a huge rain jacket on. Only our mothers could tell us apart.

Then it was time, I had decided not to do the Frick gallery so I was let loose on my own. I really wanted to head down to the Ed Sullivan theatre (where Letterman is filmed). Hopstop (the public transport app) let me down badly on this one. I couldn’t find the subway station they said (turns out it closed a while ago). Anyway I finished up walking. and walking. and walking. It was a great way to see things though. I went into Barneys (very frou frou) to use the bathroom. Then continued on people watching and window shopping. I had lunch in a diner, then finally made it to the theatre. DL was on hiatus (I knew this) but I thought there would be a gift shop there – there wasn’t. I had a browse around Whole foods – it’s so much fun seeing all the different produce and products and then went to the American museum of folk art, which I really enjoyed. We rendezvoused at Century 21 which was a kick arse store – Calvin Klein tops $20.00 yes please.

After a couple of pleasant hours there we were back on the subway to home base. We were all tired, so it was pasta from our friendly local and a couple of hours of HGVN ? that Canadian network with all the cool house renovation shows. Big day tomorrow coming up.