so, the last couple of days in new york were super-busy but fun! i found out that there was some ballet on at lincoln center so i booked a ticket and headed down there for the matinee. the last time i was at lincoln center was in 2010 to see q-tip do one song at some free event that was going on... it was summer then and hot! i headed across town on the bus and then walked down broadway for a bit, then caught the bus down as i was running out of time! lincoln center was celebrating the chinese new year so there were two massive gold and red horses up in the portico and some huge chinese lanterns strung around the square. it was cold, so i didn't hang around outside... i picked up my ticket and headed inside the theatre - much different than the royal opera house - more modern, a bit 70s style actually! found my seat and was slightly dismayed to find that i was sat next to someone in sweat pants who quite obviously hadn't washed for a while... luckily i ended up having two spare seats next to me, so i slid over - phew!
the ballet was a mixed programme, all three pieces choreographed by balanchine though - which is all good! the first piece was lovely, called 'concerto barocco' with music by bach. the second piece was quite angular and spiky - called 'kammermusik no. 2' with music by paul hindemith. then there was an intermission before the second half which was called 'who cares?' with all the music by gershwin - i was in absolute heaven! it was perfect, gorgeous costumes, glorious dancing and wonderful music - the score was 16 gershwin songs smushed together - there was one section called 'the man i love' which was danced so incredibly beautifully - i was spellbound.
after the ballet i had a couple of hours to kill, so went off to get my nails done - well, it is new york!!! so i went and finally got a shellac manicure - and i love it! i still haven't got any chips... it's a miracle!
then i wandered down broadway for a bit, before jumping on the subway without looking and getting on an express by mistake!!! next thing i was up at 125 street and supposed to be at 74th... grrrr! found the non-express going back the other way, but it meant i was a bit late to meet ashley, a volunteer who i'd met at sundance who lives over on the west side, for dinner. she took me to this super-cool restaurant/bar called jacob's pickles... full of west-side hipsters with a line out of the door. but we got a great table and the food was amazing... so were the cocktails! highly recommended!!! so we had a fun evening in there - then ashley insisted on waiting with me for the cross-town bus, despite the fact that it was freezing cold!!!
i was up and about at a reasonable time on sunday, packing my bag and generally sorting myself out... don't want to leave - i stupidly thought that four days in new york would be enough... who was i kidding? my airbnb host let me leave my suitcase in the apartment for a few hours... my flight isn't until 9pm, so i have loads of time...
so, i had tried to make some appointments with a couple of my old clients, but without my phone and no phone in the apartment, i had to use public phones (yuck!) to try and organise some visits... i didn't manage to get hold of elona, but did make an appointment to see margaret at 11.15 on sunday morning. i took her some coffee and it was great to see her. i started off by finding the classical station on her radio before we sat down and had a good catch-up, then a discussion about film and art. she's lonely, but her mind is as sharp as a tack!
after i left her, i walked over to the neue galerie, a beautiful little museum a couple of blocks away which specialises in german and austrian art from the early twentieth century. it's pretty small in there, but there was an exhibition of modern german posters which was all in one room, but there were some gorgeous examples in there... there was also a kandinsky exhibition on, which was good - some great and not so great pieces in there.
then it was time to go and get my super-heavy bag and think about leaving... but i had a load of time left so i dragged my bag down the many stairs and off to my favourite neighbourhood place - the corner cafe - and had a leisurely lunch before heading downtown on the bus and then over to jfk... now the last time i did this journey was with pneumonia in a blizzard - this time was SO MUCH better! pootled around the airport with loads of time to kill - i was early for a change! so, i fired up the laptop to check email/facebook... only to find out that my very favourite actor, philip seymour hoffman had died... oh, what tragic news... he had been at sundance with two films (i only saw one - god's pocket) and he had been at eccles when i was working there, unfortunately i missed him. i'm just so incredibly sad that he will no longer be on the cinema screen. this event really marred the end to my amazingly brilliant trip...
over and out for now...
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