When we got married 25 years ago, Mari and I postponed our "honeymoon" until later in the summer, when we flew to London and then to St. Petersburg, where we took a series of trains that would take us to China. After celebrating our 25th anniversary with our kids in Chicago in May of this year, we waited until mid-July to make this celebratory trip to New York City that was made possible because I had an unused plane ticket that I had to use before the end of the year.
This photo of the 59th Street (Queensboro) Bridge, taken from our taxi, was the first photo of the city I texted to the kids.
We asked the taxi driver to let us out near 30 Rock, and we walked from there to an Argentine restaurant in the Theatre District.
Times Square. That's a statue of George M. Cohan, the "Yankee Doodle Boy," behind Mari's left shoulder.
We took a bus to the Jane Hotel.
Our room was small. We slept in bunk beds and shared a bathroom with the other guests on our floor. But the price was right!
The southern end of the High Line was very close to our hotel.
Brazilian street artist Eduardo Kobra painted this mural: "Mount Rushmore with Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring and Basquiat," in 2018. It is one of five murals he painted in the city over the course of five months.The north end of the High Line is at Hudson Yards.
"I Was Here" by Lara Schnitger (and me).
Our free entry passes to "Vessel" were timed for 5:20. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, "Vessel" opened on March 15th of this year.
"Vessel" is 16 stories high, and we climbed to the top. It looks like Mari is on floor six in the photo above.
Some people call "Vessel" the "Big Shawarma."
I like the fact that "Vessel" serves no practical purpose. It is a monument to whimsy and a stimulus to exercise. The structure reminded me of a beehive. I have also read that the stairs resemble Indian stepwells.
We visited the Avant Gallery in Hudson Yards before heading to "Snark Park," an interactive installation by Snarkitecture studio. All the photos below were taken in their current exhibition, titled "Lost and Found."
After leaving Hudson Yards, we headed to Izakaya MEW, a Japanese "groghouse," where we met up with Sujata Kandel and her husband Arun Dahal, whose traditional Nepalese wedding I had the honor of attending in Dallas on Mother's Day earlier this spring. Sujata graduated with Departmental Honors from ECU in May. In January, she joined the Honors Journey to New Orleans, and in April, she was one of four students I accompanied to the Great Plains Honors Conference in Tyler, Texas. Arun and Sujata live in Queens. Arun drives an Uber and is studying Computer Science; Sujata graduated with a degree in nursing and is hoping to get a nursing license in New York.
Everything we ate was delicious.
Sujata and Arun paid for our meal--the first time a student has ever done that for me. I wanted to pay, but they insisted. I was honored.And then Arun drove us back to the Jane.
This meal was one of the highlights of the summer for me.
