I sent my niece some of these photos, and she said as she looked at them, she could hear "Autumn in New York" by Bobby Short in her head. 😂
Yes, last weekend we were in New York City (aka "New Yahk Cit-ay" as the one vampire in "What We Do in the Shadows" always says). It was an anniversary trip, and the weekend did not disappoint!
Friday morning, The Tim took Katie to where she was going to board for the weekend, and when he got back, we grabbed our suitcase and walked over the to the train station to start our trip. We both love taking Amtrak, and once again, we were not disappointed. The time of year made it an extra beautiful trip when you looked out the window, with bright skies and the changing leaves.
Once we arrived, we first made our way to our hotel. We knew it was too early to check in, but wanted to leave our suitcase. So that was a quick stop, and then we decided to make our way to the Frick Collection. I'd been there years ago on my own during a work trip for The Tim, and LOVED it. Since then, they have done some renovations and added some space to the public areas, so I wanted to go back, and The Tim had never been there so he was looking forward to it.
We stopped for lunch at a diner on the way, and then made our way north, taking the route through Central Park. And it would be hard to find a more perfect time to stroll there:
I mean, is that a beautiful scene or what?
We said hello to Balto, one of my most favorite statues anywhere.
We ended spending about 2 1/2 hours looking at things at the Frick Collection. There were other people there, but it was in no way crowded, so you could take your time without being in others' way, which is always a bonus. It's such a lovely place, and I guess because it's not huge, it just seems so approachable.
On our way back to the hotel, we realized that we have done the "Frick Trifecta" - we've visited the collections in Pittsburgh, D.C., and New York. The Tim claims that might just mean we are "Frick Freaks." 😊
Once we got back to the hotel, we decided that instead of going out again, we would use a credit we had to get dinner at the little restaurant downstairs, and bring it up to the room to eat. Not fancy, but a really nice way to finish a lovely day.
Saturday, we got up and decided that since we had spent the previous day walking so much (6+ miles!), we would laze around all morning until we had to get going for our afternoon activity. So we headed to our favorite bagel place for breakfast, and then back to the hotel to enjoy some laziness. Then it was time to get dressed for the main event of the weekend.
Why hello, Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center!
This was a first for both of us. We'd only seen this before on TV. But back in August, The Tim had mentioned that a new opera based on the book "Lincoln in the Bardo" by George Saunders was going to premiere in New York in the fall. And the musical director would be Yannick Nezet-Seguin, who is also the musical director of our Philadelphia Orchestra. This book and this person are both faves of ours. So we did some digging, and found that there was a matinee performance the weekend before our anniversary, and Voila!, our anniversary plans were made.
Not the best photo, but the chandeliers were so pretty!
And the opera was really wonderful. We had nosebleed section seats, but could still see everything on stage really well. I think if you weren't familiar with the book, you'd think you fell into some weird wormhole after taking LSD, but if you know the book, it was just really well done. Some of the effects were surprising but really effective, and at no point did you think, "OMG, I've been sitting here for *so* long!"
We slowly made our way back to the hotel, with two stops on the way. One at a little pub for some dinner, and then a detour to go and see the house where Stephen Sondheim had lived. We both love his work, and it was fun to see where he had lived and done so much of his composing. It was kind of dark by then, so we decided we would go again on another trip when we could see it better during the day.
Once back in our room, we just hung out for a bit, re-packed, and went to bed since we had to get up *very* early to head home. I had originally made a train reservation for about 10:30 a.m., but got a notice on Thursday that train was cancelled and I would have to rebook a ticket. Well, there were two choices left that were not sold out: 8:04 a.m. or 6:30 p.m.! So we got up early in order to have something to eat, get ourselves organized and walk to the train station. Before we knew it, we were home, with a whole day ahead of us!
After unpacking, we picked up Katie, who was thrilled to go home, and spent the rest of the day just enjoying being at home. We are so fortunate to be able to do something like this weekend, and we are grateful as well. We agreed that it was worth some "cheese and crackers meals" for a while afterwards, so we could make the trip. We had beautiful weather, which I think makes any kind of trip more enjoyable.
Yesterday was our actual anniversary, so we tried a new place that opened near us billed as "French-Vietnamese," and it was really a good choice! A bit fancier than we expected, but everything was well worth it.
OK, here is an exchange about our anniversary I thought you might enjoy. This is from our train ride to New York.
Me: It's so weird how long we've been married. Do you know which one this is?
The Tim: Well, it's really easy math. Because we got married in ... (long pause)
Me: 1978.
The Tim: Right. So 2028 will be our 50th anniversary.
Me: Well, *that* math is easy, apparently this one, not so much.
The Tim: I'm sure I would have gotten it at some point.
Such a romantic. 😉