We arrived by car service/limo on a Sunday with no traffic (The Limousine Co. or JetBlack Transportation. Salman, the driver was not chatty, in fact, he did not speak at all. It cost $65 plus add-ons totaling $100). We had booked a one-bedroom premium suite at AKA Central Park, 42 West 58th Street New York, New York 10019, 212-753-3500, tel. 646-744-3100 and asked for a large apartment with an open view on a high floor. We were given 1408 which was large enough with an open view of 57th on one side and a view towards 5th Ave. on the other. The base price was $374 and with taxes and so on it cost $425 per day. The view towards 5th Ave. included a view of the corner of the Plaza Hotel. Unfortunately, it was veiled because of work being done on its façade. Some of the floors of the office buildings we could see were empty--that made us sad.
The size, amount of light and the views were good. We were brought us a second desk so we both had a place for our laptops. When we asked for more lamps we were brought 2 more. That helped a lot. The sofa and chairs were comfortable and the kitchen was good enough. We were happy. The staff was friendly and helpful. They tried to grant all of our requests for this or that. The gym was large but the equipment was incomplete; no leg machines. The treadmill was rickety and the bike had no headphone outlet. Other than that it was fine; we decided we should walk Manhattan instead of going to the gym. And walk we did. We just about completed walking Central Park from north to south (in segments) and it was wonderful. In March, the crocuses were coming up and it was joyful! It was lovely to return to AKA Central Park and to be greeted by the friendly doormen, particularly Larry and Claudio. As we walked by the reception desk, we were always warmly greeted by the staff there. It was a very nice place to stay.
The first morning Audre made hot cereal and fruit for breakfast. She declared it a success after boiling the milk all over the stovetop. Then we went to lunch with a friend of Audre's from Dewey Ballantine, 50 years before. It was terrific to be with Paul and Liz.
We developed a routine of having breakfast at home and starting our sightseeing at noon or 1 pm each day. We made reservations at museums as required and showed our vaccine ids from Colorado at the doors. By the time we left, we had seen exhibitions at the Met, the Whitney, the Jewish, MOMA, the Noguchi, the Cooper Hewitt Design, the NY Public Library Treasures, and the Guggenheim. The Kandinsky exhibit at the Guggenheim provided us with enough of him for a lifetime. The Ephrussi Exhibit at the Jewish Museum was moving; seeing the Hare with the Amber Eyes and the other netsukes was memorable.
Another daily activity was getting on the subway (the location of AKA Central Park provides us with almost all the subways we needed and close-by too). When we first arrived on February 6th, it seemed like the subways were empty. They got more crowded as the weeks went by. Most people were wearing masks, as mandated. It did not seem dangerous either because of COVID or because of scary people. We were amazed at how clean most stations were and that we saw cleaners working. If we went to a subway stop in the Bowery it did not look as tidy as our 5th Avenue and 57th Street Station. The walls at the subway stops were clean and there was no graffiti on them or on the trains. Amazing change since we each lived in New York (Dimitri in the '50's and '60's; Audre in the 70's). Each evening around 5 or 5:30 pm we would start our journey to the restaurant in Queens where we would eat ethnic. When we walked in Queens to our restaurants it was like being in several different countries with all the different languages being spoken.
We ate very well in Queens. The majority of restaurants asked to see our vaccine ids at the doors. That gave us some comfort. Our first few restaurants were Egyptian and Greek. Then we expanded to Indian, Burmese, Chinese, Japanese, Iranian, Thai, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Israeli. We really don't have ethnic restaurants in Vail or Eagle County (unless you count Mexican as ethnic). So the plan in coming to New York City was to eat as much ethnic as we could. As is our habit, all of our restaurant reviews will be posted.
We had New York experiences (the Summit, Artechhouse), we went to two musicals (Book of Mormon-good and Hadestown-so bad we walked out). We went to the Saturday matinée at the Metropolitan Opera to hear Ariadne auf Naxos. According to the Times, we should have gone to Don Carlos (but it was 5 hours). Ariadne auf Naxos was fabulous; an experience not to be missed. Ariadne, sang by Lise Davidsen was wonderful.
The views from One World Observatory were awesome and the Memorial
Pools were indeed moving. On the other hand, Hudson Yards was a big yawn and the Highline gets more hype than it deserves.
Both Dimitri and I had lived in New York when we were much younger. We remember the reputation of New Yorkers was that they were rude, brusque and generally unfriendly. During this visit, we were repeatedly amazed by the helpfulness, the friendliness and how courteous the people we encountered were. On the subway, people actually got up and gave us their seats. Of course, we noticed that demographically we were the oldest people on the subway, most of the time.
We encountered something in our fancy neighborhood (near Billionaire's Row) that we want to share. On Thursday night February 24th there was an ice storm in NYC. Everything on the ground was just wet, so we didn’t think much about it. On Friday afternoon, Audre was walking from 57th up Sixth Ave. to our apartment on 58th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. She heard and saw ice crashing on the street next to her on her left, and on the sidewalk in front of her. Saturday afternoon, the police put up barricades at Sixth Avenue and 57th Street and closed our street: 58th Street between 5th Avenue and Sixth. They also closed the subway entrance on the north side of Sixth Avenue and 57th Street. Sixth Avenue was closed up to Central Park South. Ice was crashing down, evidently, from one of the supertall residential towers, the 1,428 foot tall Steinway Tower at 111 West 57th Street. The Steinway Tower is THIN—24 times higher than it is wide, making it one of the world’s thinnest buildings and we had thought it beautiful and distinctive. Now it was just a menace causing havoc. The ice kept crashing down through Sunday, the 27th. That portion of Sixth Avenue was closed until Tuesday, March 2nd. To us, that was unbelievable. Surrealistic. How could that be allowed? When we talked to one of the policemen guarding the area, he told us that the ice was coming from 111 West 57th Street, “write your Councilman (he said), this happens every year.”
The weather in New York was unbelievably changeable. We had a 70˚ day and a 30˚ day. Not surprisingly we had snow in February but 70˚ in March seemed weird to us. Neither of us remembered it being so weird when we were living in New York.
As the weather warmed, we encountered a problem in our otherwise wonderful apartment at AKA Central Park. The building was an old one, remodeled. Unfortunately, the climate control system was not modernized so that we could have either air conditioning or heat, depending on the weather. When it got warm and sunny, the southern exposure of the bedroom turned it into an oven. Even opening the windows was insufficient to counter the baking. We couldn't leave the windows open at night because of the noise. So we closed them (and with them closed it was very quiet) and were too hot. Speaking of hot, this building has another problem. The hot water sometimes just does not get hot. We joke that because of the hot water problem this serviced apartment must be 5-star just like the Four Seasons Vail where it takes 10 minutes for the water in the sink to get hot. On the other hand, Audre really likes the Frette towels at AKA Central Park and thinks that they are more absorbent and softer than the towels at the Four Seasons Vail.
We had other very meaningful reunions with friends from 50 years ago and newer friends as well. That was truly cool--we had a bit of a social life in New York City.
Audre went clothes shopping; something she does not enjoy. She was astounded by the prices. A simple shirt at Bloomingdales was $350. Ridiculous.
So she went to Hermés and bought a scarf for $500! It was to replace the one that was stolen in Europe in 2019 so it was justified, she rationalized. And she went to Missoni and replaced a sweater that was stolen for one on sale so she only paid $300 for it--same as a stupid shirt at Bloomingdales.
There is a phenomenon in Manhattan that is worth mentioning because it is so ugly. Buildings are putting up single-story scaffolding and it is becoming so common one can't see the building façade anymore. We asked Alexa why and she said that there is a law making a building owner liable for objects falling from the owner's building and hitting people. There is another law that requires the building façade to be inspected periodically. The inspections require scaffolding and some owners just leave it up (why not use drones?). Also, buildings are taking longer to complete (COVID of course) and the scaffolding is up for the duration. We mostly see scaffolding in Midtown (and definitely not in Queens) where the buildings are gorgeous. During this visit, they are not very visible. Maybe we'll come back and things will be different. This visit was declared a great success on almost all fronts.
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