Vacation Part I

At long last, the highlights of our July trip to New York—our first—in 5 parts.

Day 1: Tuesday

Ah New York. We arrived in Jersey at noon. The Newark airport. Husband’s best friend, Skinny Boy, and his fiancé, Skinny Girl, met us at the airport. There were hugs, and then we went to find the car. We stepped outside into the 100+ degree weather. I took a deep breath; inhaled the hot, sweaty, industrial air; grabbed Husband’s hand and said, “I miss Hawai‘i.” But it was too late to get back on the plane, and I don’t think airports work like that anyway.

We stopped by the gallery to say hello. Husband’s professor, the curator of the art show—our reason for being in NYC, and two of his fellow artists/grad students were there. The show had been hung and looked good. Then we went to Brooklyn—to Bushwick—to drop our stuff at Skinny Boy’s loft. The loft housed five people normally, 8 while we were staying there, 2 snakes, a cat, and a dog. The air conditioning consisted of window unit in the living room. We left the loft in Bushwick for Central Park.

On the Great Lawn that night, the New York Philharmonic played. We spread out a blanket and sat under intermittent sprinkles of cool rain. It was nice, calming, dreamy. I hadn’t slept in a day and found myself in a most meditative state. It was a great introduction to the city. Marin Alsop was the Conductor and Leila Josefowicz the solo violinist. They preformed John Adams’s “The Chairman Dances,” Prokofiev’s “Violin Concerto No. 1,” and the overture and finale of Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5.” Josefowicz was amazing, Beethoven a bit long. The evening ended with fireworks, which were nice, but a little, well, unimpressive. Leftovers? Bought on sale? Hmmm.

When we were leaving, the sky opened up and poured. We found a canopy in front of a drycleaners and waited for a while. People were soaked, laughing, cheering, shouting, and having fun. It reminded me of the end of Haroun and the Sea of Stories where the rain brings happiness and a miracle—the city remembers its name. We slid into a pizza place for a slice of cheese, then sufficiently warmed up, took the subway back to Bushwick.