Saturday, October 26, 2019: Goodbye NYC, Hello Philly

Today we check out of our NYC flat, take a 90 minute Amtrak to Philadelphia and check into our final Airbnb of this trip. We will be in Philly for three nights and then fly to St. Louis.

We got everything packed and left our luggage at the flat while we got a bagel for breakfast and walked over to the High Line. The High Line is a 1.45-mile-long elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan in New York City. https://www.thehighline.org/.

It was Saturday, so there were quite a few people walking the High Line.

 

There were, of course, vendors as well. We passed one which had acrylics on canvas. It was obvious to me that Maria was interested in the sky line paintings. So, I inquired and the price was reasonable, so Maria consented to my getting one for her. As we were about to leave, she noticed a partially hidden painting of a giraffe. Maria loves giraffes, so we added this to the purchase. She says she will have them framed for hanging in her home.

There were works of art along the walkway.

 

 

Before heading back to the flat to collect our luggage, we visited the Whitney Museum of American Art. The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as the "Whitney", is an art museum in Manhattan. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a wealthy and prominent American socialite and art patron after whom it is named. The Whitney focuses on 20th- and 21st-century American art. https://whitney.org/

 

 

 

Newark NJ across the river.

 

Some of this art was difficult for either of us to understand.

OK, we caught an Uber back to the flat. The cleaning lady was there and we picked up our luggage and hailed another Uber to take us to Pennsylvania Station.

Traffic was heavy and it took awhile to get to the station. Our original train was to leave at 1:00 pm. When we arrived at the station, we had time to stop for a light lunch and a drink. While fumbling around, I noticed I no longer in possession of my iPhone. I had left it in the Uber. It had only been about 10 or 15 minutes since we had been dropped off and Maria was able to contact the driver. He had my phone and said he would be able to meet me at the same spot he had dropped us off in about 20 minutes. Maria rescheduled our train for 2:05 pm. I finally met the driver and got my phone before we boarded the train. That was a close call!

We were riding in Business Class on the train. No assigned seats, but it wasn't that busy.

Got to Philly, caught a cab to our flat at 331 South Street. It took three security codes and three flights of stairs to get into our flat. It is a three bedroom and three bath flat. We unpacked and walked less than a block to try our first philly cheesesteak sandwich at MilkBoy who gets their sandwiches from Jim's across the street. It was good, but Maria says there are much better.

Friday, October 25, 2019: New York City, museums, Time Square, Korean for dinner

Started this morning with breakfast at Friedman's on W 31st. It was a busy place. Maria had eggs and I tried the morning's special, pancakes. First pancakes I've had in years. Didn't like them much.

After breakfast, Maria had a teleconference so I walked back over to the Madison Square Park to read the paper and people-watch. It was a nice cool morning.

Maria later learned that our flat in this building is the ONLY residential flat in the whole building. Everything else in the building are businesses.

Before going back to the flat, I hit the corner grocery and got some coffee beans and some sunflowers for Maria.

Then we were off. Our first stop was the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (modern art), often referred to as The Guggenheim. It is located at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan. https://www.guggenheim.org/

We found it to be delightful. Well laid out with a spiral walkway. Not cluttered and easy to appreciate.

I found myself starting to like the "drop cloth" works. Like starring at the clouds, you can see all kinds of things.

Next we walked over to the Frick Museum. It was about a 30 minute hike along Central Park. We passed The Met on the way.

The Frick Collection (https://www.frick.org/) is an art museum located in the Henry Clay Frick House on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, New York City at 1 East 70th Street, located at the northeast corner with Fifth Avenue. It houses the collection of industrialist Henry Clay Frick. 

The house is beautiful with a large central enclosed courtyard with fountain. The woodwork throughout the house was spectacular (no photos allowed except in central courtyard). The art work throughout was great.

While no photos were allowed, somehow I mistakenly came away with a couple.

Maria had made reservartions for us at the Tavern on the Green for a 3:15 pm late lunch. We crossed through Central Park and took a break to watch a sidewalk jazz quartet. They were good.

We made it a bit after 3:00 pm.

We have dinner reservations for 8:00 pm, so we didn't want a heavy lunch.

Yep, more oysters...but only a dozen each. Maria had a crab cake and I had fish and chips.

It was time to head back to the flat. Our dinner reservations were for two, but we really wanted to have Maria's brother, Ani, join us. Maria called the restaurant several times, but they were booked. Finally, they called her and told her they could squeeze one more in with our party.

On the way back, we drove through Times Square (https://www.timessquarenyc.org/). I did not realize it yesterday morning when I took my walk, but the Hard Rock Cafe that I walked to on W 42nd is just a block from the iconic billboards and lights.

S

We dined at the Korean Jungsik (http://jungsik.com/) described as an innovative, high-end Korean fare served in elegant, contemporary digs with an extensive wine list. It is located at 2 Harrison St, New York, NY. It was truly a unique experience. We opted to go with the five course seasonal menu as opposed to the nine course signature tasting menu. There was only a couple of selections to be made. 

Ani and Maria

Both Ani and I chose the urchin. The waiter assured us we would never have urchin of this quality and flavor anywhere else. While he said that the flavor was intense, neither Ani or I thought there was much flavor at all. It was good. What surprised me the most was the texture, creamy or even mushy.

Urchin

Black Cod

Desert

It was a good dinner and quite the experience. The service was stellar, the food very good and satisfying and my dining company very pleasant.

Got back to the flat around 11:00 pm, exhausted. I took a couple of photos of the Empire State Building all lit up.