Saturday. Last day in New York. Breakfast in the diner, pack the bag, check out and leave the bag at the hotel.
It’s pleasantly warm and sunny. We set off walking to the United Nations building which is on our street all the way East. We get almost there to find the roads blocked by temporary fencing guarded by lots of NYPD. One of the friendly cops guides us to where we can get a better view of the building, but we still ca
n’t get very near. The problem is the climate conference, we think, with added lots and lots of foreign dignitaries. There are lots of flash cars all over the place with diplomatic plates.
We head for our next stop – the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This involves a trip uptown on the subway. We catch the subway at Grand Central Station but it is absolutely packed! People are friendly and helpful, but still more squeeze on at each stop! We pop out of the carriage at our stop and walk across Park Avenue to the Met.
The Met has a huge neoclassical facade with rows of massive columns. This is in dramatic contrast to the rows of tacky concession stands on the sidewalk outside selling all sorts of food – pizza, pretzels, hotdogs, gyros, bagels, fajitas, knishes, cornbread, chicken on rice – plus other stuff we’ve never heard of!
First stop is the new roof garden for a beer. It’s a lovely spot, covered in AstroTurf with some wisteria trailing over a pergola. The view over Central Park is great and the beer (Brooklyn Lager) very good. Refreshed, we tackle some of the interior. The place is massive, you could spend weeks here and still not see it all. Jan heads for the Pre-Raphaelites and I go for the arms and armour – just for a change from all those bloody pictures!
The collections are staggering – not just any old flintlocks, but Catherine the Great’s pearl inlaid pistols. Suits of armour belonging to European nobles, Mr Colt’s gold inlaid revolver he displayed at exhibitions, more swords than you could poke a stick at.
There’s stained glass from cathedrals from all over Europe, amazing statues and carvings. It looks like all the fabulously wealthy New Yorkers bought up all of Europe’s most precious art and gave it to the museum.
We also see some art in action – a display of lively and colourful Mexican traditional dancing in one of the massive open spaces.
We take the bus back down 5th avenue to the Algonquin to collect our bag and catch the shuttle to Newark airport. NY gridlock, a slow grind into and through the Lincoln Tunnel to the New Jersey Turnpike. The usual airport horror – queues for the check-in, queues for the security check. I have a full-body scan and get told off for leaving my wallet in my back pocket. The guy says “I’m sorry, I’m gonna have to pat down your butt.” And he does.
We sleep on the flight, grab a hire car at Heathrow and head off to Higham Ferrers. Merry England is lovely and sunny!
I see from the EXIF data in your photos that they were taken with your new E-M10 camera, with its 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II R lens!