I’m back from a long day in the city. Yesterday was sunny, in the mid to high fifties, and all New York seemed to be out and about on a Saturday. Since I got in early – better early than late when taking the bus – I strolled down 40th Street toward the Main Library and Bryant Park. (I avoid 42nd Street like the plague as it is always crowded with tourists.)
The day was clearly about Scotland because I saw kilts and tartans everywhere. (I’m part Scottish, but I have no idea if it was a specific day being celebrated or just Scotland itself.)
See? Bagpipers.
I had no idea there was a Whole Foods in this location. It was a lovely surprise, so I grabbed some lunch there. I don’t walk through this area as much as I used to. When we lived in our rental cottage, we lived very close to the Metro North commuter train line so I arrived at Grand Central Station, which is just a few blocks from here. Now that we live where we do, the bus is often the best mode of transportation and our buses go in and out of Port Authority, which is on the other end of 42nd Street.
For those of you less than familiar with NYC, Bryant Park is behind the Main Branch of the New York Public Library. It’s very European in feel, with little bistro tables and chairs all along the green, a small carousel, and elegant food kiosks.
I walked through the park toward the entrance to the Main Library.
If it’s possible to have a favorite building in NYC, this one is mine: The Chrysler Building in all its Art Deco glory.
The entrance to the Library. They don’t make them like this anymore.
This group of people had gathered on the steps to watch:
These lovely highland dancers.
Takes me back to my high school production of Brigadoon. A shout out to the McLeod sisters and my dear friend Jerry who did the highland dancing in that production.
I went into the Kinokuniya Bookstore – my first time there – and was amazed! It’s the largest chain bookstore in Japan. Lots of books, both in English and Japanese and wonderful craft books, by the way, though I didn’t buy any. Paper, pens, stationery, wonderful gifts – the store is on three floors and it’s extraordinary.
I bought a couple of neat pens and this pretty pencil pouch:
After digging in the depths of my bag one too many times, I thought it was time to corral everything together in one place. Isn’t this lovely?
After lunch, I headed over to the theater.
I had a chance to chat with Christy – our Anastasia – before the show as well as a few of the other cast members. The matinee was lovely, all of the cuts and rewrites have made it a tighter show. I took notes, of course, but it’s in very good shape.
They are recording the original cast album today and tomorrow. So exciting!
After the show, I hightailed it to Port Authority, where I managed to catch the 5:00 bus. It’s Spring Break time, so both of the buses I traveled on yesterday were packed.
Today…I’m going to start cleaning up the property and the garden beds. Huzzah!
Happy Sunday.
I have never been to NY but it is on my bucket list! Your photos and descriptions of your visits enthrall me and I may need to plan a trip soon!
You need to visit, Carolyn Marie!
Oh, it just looks like a magical NYC day! I miss it sooooo much.
NYC in Spring is pretty hard to beat, Shanna!
I love Bryant Park! My husband and I used to go to the movies on the lawn in the summer time. I think we saw “Laura” there many years ago. I am determined to take my not so little kids in to do it again this summer!
You should, Corinne! It’s such a beautiful gathering place!
Oh, to be only a bus ride away from one of the most vibrant cities….lucky you!
With our work, we have to live near the either the West Coast (did that) or East Coast – Los Angeles or NYC.
New York is so breathtaking! I googled why all of the Scottish were out celebrating. It was Tartan Day, celebrating the Declaration of Arbroath that was signed in 1320. The Kinokuniya bookstore has 12 branches in the US alone. ( also looked that up) Every time you share New York it is a wonderful lesson, whether it is geography, architecture or just a coffee shop!
The library is something that would take me days to go through. The outside of the building is spectacular!
Glad the play is going well. Hope you have a nice day gardening.
Well there were a lot of tartans! I guess mine would be Drummond, but there are other Scottish strains in my lineage, so I might be wrong about that.
Looks like it was a spectacular day in the city! I think Friday was National Tartan Day…maybe that’s why is it seemed like everything was coming up Scottish. Enjoy the clean-up! ;)
It was. Everywhere I turned I saw a tartan!
Thank you for the big stroll. I feel like you took me along in a way..and you are so right; that library is a beauty from another era..wowzers.
I can see how the city gets in the blood of many people.
Alas…I think I remain a Raleigh size city person….although I would love to visit NY with someone who knew it like you do!
Thank you, Claudia
I wouldn’t want to live in NYC – at least not at this point in my life, but having access to it is a wonderful thing.
One of these days I’m coming to New York and I’m going to get you to be my tour guide!! Glad it was a good day. We had a children’s event at church and it was fun but oh my aching back. I just can’t do all that bending over anymore. I’m doing some painting today and my taxes. Ugh!
My aching back, too, after my initial two hours working outside. I’m not used to bending over and I just came in and called it a day!
Hi Claudia! Your blog is one that I discovered about a month ago and I feel as if we are old friends. I love your chatty way of taking us along with you on your trips to NYC.And we are in full agreement when it comes to the Chrysler Building. Enjoy your day in the garden.xo
Thank you so much for your kind words Annette!
Thanks for the beautiful tour of NYC, I hope to go there someday. Have never been.
Have a great week!
Judy
You love to travel, my friend, so you should definitely go there!
You may think it’s nothing…but, to me, being by yourself and walking about the megalopolis which is NYC is pretty darned impressive; and, ooohhh, the envy and yearning to be able to do the same; a dream of mine. Thank you so much for all the wonderful photos; so interesting and so many things I notice to which I’m entirely unaccustomed, such as walking beneath tall buildings which block out the sun, or ones which are so massive that their very foundations sit so much higher than a person’s head. I remember from movies…which is all I have, as I’ve never been to NYC…how those ‘brownstones’ (lovely residences, sometimes actually on a tree-lined street, and I’m thinking it could be Manhattan as well as, say, Brooklyn?) have big sets of ‘stairs’/steps leading up from the street to their actual front doors, so that the residences are sort of ‘way above ‘the masses’ (must be basement apartments underneath[?] and I’ve always wondered if they flood!).
I’m reminded that why there are so many New Yorkers who flood every outdoor space when the weather gets better is because so many of them do not have any means to BE outdoors and the closest thing to it might be a potted plant in a window high above the ground. It’s just such a different way of life which many of us can really not imagine. And you’ve gotta really love people, to be among so many but, gosh, NYC seems to have such a pounding heartbeat; just so alive.
Myself, on the other hand? We got stuck on the Ventura Freeway (U.S. 101) a couple of days ago, just out of the San Fernando Valley and, yes, it was only eight lanes of stop & go traffic but I was ‘climbing the wall’ wanting out of it sooner than later. And I don’t even know what that means because I’ve traveled in and out of Los Angeles all my life…but I ‘m getting to the point where I’ll go out of my way and take more time for a side road, if it’s possible, rather than be on those freeways in SoCalif. We’ve had such a huge influx of people since the 1950s and 1960s when these freeways were first built and they just can’t handle the flow of so many cars, some sixty years later.
Claudia, an aside: The English Roses book. You’d said in the (April 1) post that you’d pick a winner ‘on Tuesday night’ – do you mean April 11? Or did I miss the giveaway result in subsequent posts?
I just got way too busy last week and never got around to picking a winner. I picked a winner yesterday and the name is posted today.
Oh, goodie; I’ll go look right now! Had started here first. Thanks. Really wonderful of you to do such a nice giveaway; it’s a really pricey book and so beautiful.
It is a gorgeous book.
Brownstones are in Manhattan and in Brooklyn. I dare say there are probably brownstones in Queens as well. The basements were often apartments or kitchens.
In the eight years I lived in San Diego, it went from being more of a small city to a much more populated one and San Diego County just grew and grew until urban sprawl stretched into Orange County and beyond. Don, who lived there much of his life, now finds it to be just too crowded and he’s never been a fan of LA’s freeways. Too many people. Too long of a commute. I don’t have patience for that sort of delay either.
I couldn’t even tell you when I’ve last been down to San Diego from here in the northern suburbs/counties of the L.A. basin. Wicked traffic between L.A. and San Diego; just intimidating (everybody talks about it; not just me!). I love it down there, but the love is from my memories of being a kid, going to the zoo, etc. And that was a L.O.N.G time ago, when the freeways were less congested. I don’t know if they’re still having ‘water issues’ (this was ‘way before drought, like 30 years ago; weren’t they having to truck in drinking water [?] to San Diego; don’t know if I’m remembering that correctly or not). It’s a little too warm for me in SD although that’s just me; I’m weird that way and prefer a cooler clime. I’m thinking it could be fun to take Amtrak there; stay overnight; just rent a car for a mini-vacation. Lots of things to see and do in SD! I think they call that part of the rail line the Pacific Surfliner and I’d rather be L.A. to SD three hours on the train than three hours on the freeway in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I hear it’s a great way, conversely, for people in San Diego to go to L.A.; at one of the station stops, L.A.’s beautiful Union Station, you’re near a lot of ‘great’ L.A. Again, if I was a tourist to the state, I think I’d park the car!
I’m sure Don has noticed a difference in SD, of course, over the course of his lifetime so far. I’d be interested to know his opinions once the dust settles a bit for him; like, what kinds of things he’s doing on the rare days off or what you want to be doing with him when you get out here, besides spending every minute by his side, yes. Does he have an off-the-beaten fave place? Ocean Beach, with all its gorgeous Craftsman bungalows? Pacific Beach with those street names all named after ‘jewels’ like Turquoise, Agate, Emerald and Diamond?
I want to go down that way to check out Crystal Cove, nearer to Newport (actually Laguna, about 90 mins from SD, north on PCH [Pacific Coast Highway]), which is a state park known for its stretch of historical beach houses, seriously retro{!!} from the early part of the 20th century, like 1930s era; have you ever read about it? I think there’s 40 or 50 of the charming little houses (totally restored) spread out over some amount of acreage and I remember there’s a long wait list but you can RENT them which I think would be SOOO fun. (Painters flock to the whole scenic area, in fact.)
Anyway, will be interested in your impressions, Claudia. How long has it been since you were (yourself) in San Diego to visit?
The temps were perfect when I was living there – 70s to low 80s. But when I went back there to work about 8 years ago, it was much warmer. Truly I lived there in an ideal time, not too crowded yet, not at all too warm, very temperate. No water issues when I lived there.
We met at a party in Ocean Beach. He also lived there when he was younger. So Ocean Beach is very special to us. And it has the best antique shops. But the town itself gets very crowded. We lived in a Craftsman in the Kensington neighborhood in San Diego. I don’t know if he has a favorite area – after his parents divorced, his mother moved them around a lot as they got poorer and poorer. So a lot of the neighborhoods don’t bring back happy memories. We love Balboa Park, of course, because that’s where the theater is, but even that has changed too much for our taste. It’s like Thomas Wolfe said, “You Can’t Go Home Again.” It’s never the same. I think that’s why he’s enjoying LaJolla – a place we both know fairly well – because it isn’t San Diego.
I have heard of Crystal Cove. The last time I was in SD was in 2010, so it’s been six years. Don is pretty tired at the moment, but this is his day off so he drove out to Borrego to catch the end of the bloom in the desert.
I know we’re going to be spending time at the beach in LaJolla, because, just as you feel, walking on the beach and watching the sunset is one of our favorite things to do. We’ll go to Ocean Beach, of course. Other than that, we’ll have to see.
Oh, you know I do remember you met at a party…loved the pix…but I forgot or missed that it was indeed Ocean Beach. And I tend to forget Don’s actually in La Jolla and not San Diego proper (although La Jolla is still actually part of San Diego, isn’t it[?]; I get confused over that ‘geographic’!). La Jolly is hilly; I bet he’s seen a few wildflowers right there in the local environment, too. (If this heat continues, it’s gonna kill ’em fast, delicate little things.)
I just remember the feeling that La Jolla is so ‘well tended’ overall, with the various beach spots being very, very nice; but you’ve gotta have a lot of bucks to live there and the prices for homes are outtasight. Actually, between the beaches and shops in La Jolla, you’ll have enough to do with Don without actually leaving to go anywhere else!
I was supposed to pick up my new glasses today but I got too hot doing errands so I put it off til tomorrow but, man, do I need that new prescription; I’m catching typos all over the place…now, with me, La Jolla becomes La Jolly. Gracious.
xo
Yes, LaJolla is part of San Diego but its the only neighborhood where the mailing address is the neighborhood name, LaJolla, rather than San Diego, as for example, Ocean Beach’s mail. LaJolla is very wealthy overall – not someplace we could have afforded when we were on the West Coast. But the beaches are free and beautiful and I can watch the seals, which always makes me happy.
Thanks for sharing your lovely adventure I enjoyed it. You have a lot of courage traveling around. NY intimidates me.
You just need to visit and you’ll no longer be intimidated. It’s very safe and friendly.
Thanks for taking us on the walk! Fun…. we have had a lovely weekend. Quite warm today. Glad you had the chance to spend some time in the garden. We were at a concert this afternoon, but it was quite good, so it was worth the time spent indoors on such a lovely day.
Enjoy the remainder of your Sunday!!
Very warm today and tomorrow, then back down to more normal temps.
What wonderful pictures of the city…I’ve always loved the Chrysler building and it’s Art Deco style too..I was so thrilled when I saw it in person..the lights at night are beautiful!..today’s buildings are so boring …steel and glass…I hope you had a safe trip home…
It’s such a gorgeous building – I’m a sucker for anything Art Deco.
Great photos. I heard someone say April 6 was a special day in Scotland. Thanks for sharing your stroll in Manhattan.
Marilyn
I think someone commented that it was Tartan Day, Marilyn.