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Published: January 14th 2019
My request to see
St John the Divinegave both of us a new experience. We took the bus past the north end of Central Park, past housing projects, into a pleasant district with businesses and restaurants. The showers forecasted brought out our umbrellas, which were needed for the rest of the day.
At first I thought a relatively large church structure was the Cathedral, until Karen pointed to the huge Neo-gothic structure that soared through trees into the sky. Barely noticeable behind was the original Byzantine structure that forms the altar; one architect started the project but died before its completion, and another continued the project in his favoured design. The tour leader later told us that it took two years of fully manual labour to dig to bedrock and that the great pillars were twice as deep underground as they were tall aboveground.
In keeping with the book of
Revelation, written by
St John, the cathedral based its design on “seven”: seven side chapels and seven stained glass windows on each side, seven medallions in the floor, seven candles in the two menorah on the altar (donated by a man grateful for the church’s ecumenicism), and so on. A display of international
flags high above the central aisle added attractive colour to the otherwise gloomy stone interior. The altar however was ablaze with light focused on what our guide called “The Magna Carta Table” made of brilliant white marble, and apparently holding an original copy of the Magna Carta. On special display were the Barberini Tapestries, made in the 17 century and acquired early in the church's history. The long-time volunteer guide spoke slowly and clearly, narrating stories about the magnificent attributes of the nave, altar and chapels. She was somewhat disrupted by the setting up of banquet tables in the nave for a fundraising gala in the evening. Her recognition of several big donors had already indicated that the Cathedral has been and still is well-supported by the wealthy.
The small gift shop had some exquisite items for sale, including hand-made glass-fused crosses, which I thought would make a memorable souvenir of New York. Unfortunately, they were out of stock and wouldn’t sell the display items. Regretfully, their candles were all large, in glass, sold in the gift shop, and cost almost $4.00, which in my experience is odd for a place of worship.
Outside we looked around the
children’s garden, filled with greenery and small works designed by children and cast in bronze. In the centre a large sculpture of intertwined fantastical figures invited our imagination to play.
We decided to have lunch near the
Frick Museum, our next destination, and took the bus down to the “Museum Mile”. The rain was quite determined by this time, but we both had umbrellas. Unfortunately, the Frick was closed on Monday, and restaurants were non-existent on Fifth Avenue, so we walked to Lexington and found a “typical” New York café, of which I have seen no others. Neil’s Coffee Shop was old and still traditional, from the neon sign to the old wooden booths and diner tables. The big menu offered everything a diner diner could want; I had one of their Monday specials – a lamb gyro (similar to donair) that came with a cup of excellent lentil soup and very sad fries.
Out into the rain again, we walked several blocks to the Guggenheim Museum, where great crowds were given specially designed plastic bags for their umbrellas even before going through security or buying tickets. Inside and out, the Museum presents itself as a continuous distorted curl
of white ribbon. Inside, the extraordinary
Frank Lloyd Wright design leads the visitor up a wide ramp to view paintings hung on the exterior curved walls, not only close up but also from across the building and from other floors. There are no interior walls. Most of the paintings indeed looked much better from the far distance, a view unafforded by buildings with regular floors and walls.
As everyone else, we walked gradually along admiring (mainly) the permanent collection. Karen called my attention to her favourite
Picasso, “Woman Ironing”, which shows strength through the angularity of her body and the weight she is applying to the iron. My search for their major collection of
Jackson Pollock took us to the very top and to the basement. The single painting hanging was relatively small, and the emotional effect that can be had from almost walking into his paintings was muted.
Peggy Guggenheim was the sponsor and principle collector of Pollock, which made me wonder why they don’t show all their collection at one time or if much of it is on loan elsewhere. In the basement was a special exhibit on his painting, “Alchemy” – not showing the painting but explaining the conservation work
done to restore it. Since his paintings are three dimensional with the thickness of his media and not glazed, they accumulate dust and grime and the paints fade.
Out in the rain again, we walked back to the apartment to prepare for our next and very different venture. First we had to have tea and a good rest. Then we put on layers of clothes to ward off the damp chill at a Yankees baseball game. We took the subway, with only one connection, to the grand new stadium. Fans were pouring off trains and buses into the very efficient ticket area and up wide ramps to one of four tiers. We stopped on the second tier to buy hotdogs and a beer for me. Winding back and forth, the ramps between the tiers probably extended for the distance of a couple of blocks. Emerging into the steeply raked seating was like encountering day again! Throughout the night, the high-powered stadium lights lit the field in a wash of brilliance.
Although fortunately the rain had stopped, the seats were wet. As we stood a bit stunned, three guys on a night out gave Karen their big supply napkins
Yankee Stadium
Who needs day with LCD lights!?from their hot dogs. I used my cotton handkerchief, an always useful item to have when travelling. We were right on time. The game started off rather slowly, with Kansas City going ahead first. Our disappointment dissolved when the Yankees caught up and went ahead, and they got the insurance run on a home run. Gradually the crowd grew, although the stadium was never more than half full. Mostly young people were up in our area, and for the first innings they kept popping up to buy (very expensive) food and drinks, or to move because they were sitting in other people’s seats. Even the middle-aged guys behind us left presumably to do the same. Our seats just beyond the third base line gave a really good view in spite of the distance.
The Yankee closing pitcher did a great job of dismissing the final KC batters in rapid succession. To Karen’s relief, the exit of happy fan was made easy by the design and organization of the stadium, including having the road closed in front to let the thousands across to the buses and subway.
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Vivian Brennen
non-member comment
Big Cities - New York, Monday 2017 May 22
Have really enjoyed your blog of the 'big cities - New York, St. John's cathedral, Yankee stadium. Everything you describe is so colorful & realistic! Enjoy reading all of them and wish I was there is person! Keep travelling! Vivian