Tuesday, April 17, 2012

MoMA on Monday

There is a shop in the next block – deli in the front and café in the back that opened 3 weeks ago. I went there for breakfast this morning. I had what was described as ‘Sweet Potato Biscuit Sandwich’ . Sweet potato bits had been put in the bread dough for the bun that was cut in half sandwiching scrambled esggs, nice cheese and turkey bacon. I had asked about turkey bacon and was told it was very thin slices of turkey, but it tasted like bacon. ??

Several days ago I saw a fancy shop only selling Ugg boots from Australia. This morning I saw a sign in a dry cleaners saying they specialised in cleaning Ugg Boots. Who cleans their ugg boots? I also saw a sign in the subway today which I copied into my little notebook because I knew I would not be able to remember it all. It was an advertisement for a legal firm that specialised in children’s injuries ( their word). Then it listed the following : cerebral palsy, development delay, autism, premature birth, seizure disorder, erbs palsy, lead paint poisoning and brain damage. I did not write the rest down, but it was something like ‘ We will help you get as much money as we can to help your child’ . From whom? I hate to think of how high doctor’s insurance must be.

I spent the morning in MoMA, the museum of modern Art. It is a lovely building – you can see different levels from vantage points in each level. My favourite paintings were Gustav Klimpt’s Hope II., and Marc Chagall ‘s I and the village. I remember being quite taken by a painting by him in the museum of Modern Art in Venice called A wandering Jew ( I now know why I put effort into this blog – I have just looked that name up) . I also liked a wall mural done by Diego Rivera, the Mexican painter when he was in NY from 1931 to 1932. That was at the height of the Great Depression when the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. It is in 3 levels – the top skyscrpers, the middle a large glass shed with sleeping workers side-byside squashed in on the floor and the bottom a vault with a few rich people counting their money. Quite a statement.

I had morning tea in one of the cafes. They added 10% to the bill, which I asked about. They said it was standard practice because many tourists did not know about tipping. The fine print on the docket said something that this gratuity was shared amongst all of the staff and you could always change the amount at any time before or upon final payment – but you donot get to read that till after you have paid.

After a few hours back in my studio I went to the West Village and walked through thee to Chelsea , pottered around a few streets and had a look at Chelsea market. In an old disused biscuit factory there are a whole lot of small specialty food shops. I was amused at the advertising of 1 cake shop. Apparently all their cakes and cupcakes are 3D. Do they think everyone else’s cakes are flat 2D?

I met, as arranged, the partner of the son of my friend Helen who I travelled in Italy with last year. She has lived in NY for a year and we had an enjoyable evening at a nice restaurant with delicious food. After dinner we walked along the high line - a disused elevated ( 3 story high) freight railway with good views of the lights of the buildings in New Jersey and in several places to the streets below. I had no qualms about walking home from the railway station at 10.30pm .

1 comment:

Wooster said...

It's no wonder Drs fees are so high, in the States and here where we are following their penchant for litigation. Love you mum xo