New York and New Jersey

My first few days in New York City were beautiful! Sunny and warm! Perfect weather for starting on a trip around the world.

I spent a day or so hanging out with my friend Suzy in New Jersey. We went to the art museum at Rutgers on Friday and the she, Kevin and I watched Flashdance! Wow. Neither he, nor I had ever seen it. I think it is one of those movies where if you don't see it when you're 18 or younger, it just doesn't have the same impact. We noticed several things that would seem fine and romantic to a teenager, but made us all shiver a bit as adults (such at a 30-something boss, pursuing and dating his 18-year old employee!). Suzy and I visited the Princeton art museum the next day (lots of beautiful art, and great stories that I did not know, or had forgotten about the subjects or artists -- including the rather gruesome story of Artemisia and her brother/husban Mosolus) and then made a mad dash across the state of New Jersey so I could catch the train to New York City! (all because I did not buy a return ticket! -- I'll know better next time).

On Saturday night, my friend Srabani and I spent way more money than we should have on dinner and desert and got caught up on the three years she has been living in Napal! Incidentally, she lives just down the street from where my brother, Jon, lived when he was in NY! Very exciting for me to recognize his neighborhood!

Then on Sunday, I spent my first real day in the city -- joining the rest of New York for a lazy day in Central Park. What to say about Central Park? It is beautiful, of course. Metamorphic rocks, folded and deformed and flecked with Mica, poke out from the lush green lawns. Designed by Olmsfield (I think). Who (according to my brother, if I remember it correctly) imported the rocks for artistic effect! And they are very effective. And great places to sit or take a nap!

I witnessed lots of dancing in the park, though I did not participate in any of it. There were a bunch of folk dancers -- mostly in their 50's to 70's I'd guess -- dancing on a little bricked patio (that's not the right word, but I can't think of a better one). The highlight was when a small group of teens joined the dance. First a boy, about 16 or 17 joined in, acting, I'd guess, on a dare or at least the teasing prodding of one of the girls. The women in the circle were thrilled and smiled big smiles at him as he stumbled through the dance. I think his giant, untied shoes didn't help. One by one, the girls ran over to join, giggling and smiling at their own daring for doing something so uncool, as folk dancing. But they seemed to have fun! Everyone was grinning and laughing, the dancers were very patient and welcoming to the teens and the teens actually seemed to have fun dancing! Everyone applauded and bowed to each other at the end of the dance. And then, when a new dance started the teens left.

Later, in the south end of the park (an area I've never really seen until Sunday), there was a Huge (!) shell with tiny little people playing swing music, and dancers out on the plaza below the stage. It reminded me of Summer dance in Chicago, but with only a tiny fraction of the dancers. There might have been more people dancing, if there hadn't been a roller disco (or is it not a disco if they don't have a ball and play disco music?) not more than 50 feet away! The skaters were fantastic, bouncing and swaying and gliding in a way that I could never hope to achieve! I tried taking a picture but it was too dark and they move too quickly, but I stood and watched and envied their skill for a while (they were there the next day, too! some of the same people even!).

Then, home, through the very south end of the park where I found a sculpture of Rober Burns! I'm hoping that the picture I took of him will contribute a tiny bit to the festivities of Meg and Jonathan's Burns Supper! He looks very Romantic and Poetic. I can just see him composing the lines, "My love is like a red, red rose..." or something equally heartfelt.

Monday was much like Sunday. I wandered through Central Park again. It was such a beautiful day it was hard to be indoors. Though I did spend several hours in the American Museum of Natural History. Absolutely fantastic museum! The dioramas by Achley (?sp) are unbelievably life like (I think the Chicago Academy of Sciences reworked a few of his displays when they created the new Nature Museum). It's stunning to look at the detail of each scene -- birds seem to hop in and out of the grass around an antelope's feet as it reaches up to eat the leaves off a low branch. Down a hill an alligator and a rhino watch each other warily. I expected, at any moment for one of the animals to move. The geology stuff is amazing as well! A room full of gems 10 times the size of that at the Field Museum (though without the Tiffany glass). And the geologic processes and explorations described in such a way that I kept thinking, "Why didn't I bring my students here?!" I also really enjoyed the powers of 10 model -- though I thought it was much more effective going down than up! Their planetarium, a sphere the size of a medium sized room, was the basis for comparison of scale between things like a Red Blood Cell (the planetarium) and a virus (about the size of a base ball). Very powerful to see it in front of you that way.

Now to the rest of the city. Times square is unbelievable! There are so many lights even when the sky is pitch black, that my camera did not need a flash! And even the police station and subway have to have big bright flashing lights to be seen! I can't even begin to imagine the electric bill! It's very exciting in a Las Vegas/consumerist sort of way!

OK, this entry has gone on long enough. I'll leave you while you are (hopefully) still conscious and wanting more!

R