Pompeii, MOMA and Tavernier

A very long, wonderful day in New York to do anything I desired....I woke Eric up at 5:30 to catch the early train (where I caught up on sleep) and walked out of Penn station before 9 with thirteen hours of adventure ahead of me. Walking along Seventh Avenue with all the activity and energy was the perfect way to start the day. I stopped at Starbucks for espresso and the New York Times, where I heard Swedish and French and Italian and Spanish along with English. There were an extraordinary number of tourists in the city today.

I stopped at the Discovery Theatre to visit the 'Pompei exhibit', and found myself entirely absorbed, despite competing with dozens of high school students, who packed every room and seemed mildly interested. My phone did not work inside the building, so when I came out I had several messages to catch up with. Emily had called for advice about her family visit, but by the time I called her back, she was unavailable. My phone was almost dead, so called Eric to remind him of when I would arrive at the train station in Baltimore, and put it away in my pocket. It is odd not to have a phone, and there are were no payphones to be seen. I tried not to think of not having any form of communication, and enjoyed my solitude for the afternoon.

Times Square is the perfect place for people watching. There were far too many locals in shorts or bare legs, although the weather was not warm at all. New Yorkers are hardy sorts. l listened to Andean music, and checked TKTS for shows that began early enough so I could catch my train on time, it being the last train of the night. Unfortunately nothing started early, so Broadway would not be on the agenda for today. I stopped at Jamba Juice for an 'Orange Appeal' and stayed inside to drink my cold drink in an effort to warm up before venturing outside.

My purpose for the day was to get to MOMA to see the 'Abstract Expressionist' exhibit as a project of my Contemporary Art class. I enjoyed myself more than I expected, perhaps because I knew all the names of the artists and had been exposed to many of the artworks already. I took the Audioguide and listened carefully to all the comments. I am not sure that really helped me appreciate or understand what I saw, but familiarity does appear to make a difference. After several hours in the contemporary art section, I relaxed in the 19th and early 20th century, which was easy to appreciate.

The final treat at the MOMA was the design store, where I found gifts for Eric and Maya. It was still light after seven hours in the museum, so I walked to Central Park past Carnegie Hall and was entertained by the people walking and stopping and hailing cabs and bicycling and watching others in turn.

I decided I could watch a movie at the Lincoln Plaza cinema and saw the 'Princess of Montpensier', a story about a woman during the time of the religious wars in France between the Catholics and the Hugenots. It was mostly an antiwar movie, with the awakening of a young woman (slowly, painfully) along the way. I did manage to escape from the theatre in a rush, hail a cab and arrive at Penn Station in good time for my train with a Chai to warm me up. I did all my Spanish homework on the train and slept a bit, but not too much for fear of missing the Baltimore stop. Eric and Maya drove up as I walked out, Maya asleep on the back couch and Eric insisting that I had given him the wrong information about my arrival. I was feeling too good to let anything bother me.