24 hours in NYC…culture, culture, culture

Fred and I returned to NYC from a week long conference on Saturday evening. I am really not in the city for the majority of the summer so getting in our culture fix was top on the agenda.  We got home around 515pm and were sitting in a theater by 630 to kick off the weekend.

Our first film of the weekend was Obvious Child.  Loved the movie and btw a Kickstarter project.  A story about facing reality and growing up.  The main character gets pregnant and makes a decision to get an abortion.  A real film about issues that are never that cut and dry.  So good.  We then walked over to Perla for dinner which is always a good call.

Got up early, had breakfast, went through email and read the paper.  We decided to make our way uptown to go see the Jeff Koons exhibit at the Whitney.  This is the last retrospective that will take place in the Whitney on 75th Street as they are moving downtown to the west village where the new museum will open on Gansevoort and Washington.  It will be twice the size downtown and I am really looking forward to it.   A few years ago I went to Koons studio on a private tour where I saw some of his latest creations.  I would have liked to see the Whitney take over the entire museum and put some of his latest work in there but regardless it is an exhibit absolutely worth seeing.

It wasn’t quite lunch time yet so we headed to the Met to see the Gary Winogrand exhibit.  I have seen his work before so I was looking forward to see how the Met curated his photographs.  I really enjoyed it.  Some of the quotes on the walls were great.  “There is nothing more mysterious than a fact clearly described.”  When it comes to his photos around the Vietnam war.  “The world isn’t tidy; it’s a mess.  I don’t try to make it neat.”  Best is “I am trying to make interesting pictures of whatever.”

After the MET we walked back down towards the Whitney to eat at one of the classic lunch places on the upper east side.  We eat the same thing there everytime.  Arugula salad, thinly sliced parm, canned tuna and slices of tomato.  Highly recommend.  Killer coffee.  Very European place; Via Quadronno.

Next stop was the IFC theater in the village.  We went to see Boyhood.  One of the most unique films.  Boyhood was filmed over a 12 year period.  The audience essentially watches the young boy, Ellar Coltraine and his sister, Lorelei Linklater (the directors daughter) grow up over a 2.5 the course of the film.  The movie is about growing up and relationships between parents, kids and friends.  An amazing film.

Dinner was the finale where we celebrated Bastille Day ( a day early ) at Montmartre.  Those 24 hours is exactly what I love about NYC.  Food, culture, people…and all at our finger tips.