To my embarrassment I was caught out with a plastic tube of Vegemite in my hand luggage - found on X-ray and confiscated at security! After a week of severe cravings I lashed out and purchased an expensive jar at Zabars on Broadway (made twice the price due to the good Oz dollar). Security rules have changed our lives - Mr Bin Laden must be very pleased with himself as we all scramble to protect ourselves against known threats while both man and nature come up with things none of us could ever have predicted such as tragedies in Japan and New Orleans, shoe bomber, swine ‘flu, petrol sniffing and now smuggling narcotics beneath postage stamps!
A visit to the Brooklyn Museum on Sunday 3rd April was a great pleasure, partly because it has a beautifully displayed collection and also fewer crowds than in Manhattan. As a bonus the botanic gardens are just next door (although they charge an entrance fee and spring has still not exactly sprung in Brooklyn as yet). The Egyptian collection is magnificent and better displayed than at the Met. Some sections have video explanations of the dynasties, mummification and aspects of daily life in ancient (and modern) Egypt. Their collection of early and pre-dynastic (pre-pyramid age) artefacts was mostly in storage which is unfortunate since this is my main area of interest. Even the Metropolitan only has a limited number of items in this category, mostly black topped pots.
A newly established Babylonian room has twelve massive carved limestone slabs erected by a Babylonian King (Asurbanipal must have been a relation). Each has a life size (or bigger) impression of the king or a griffin with text justifying his rule and divine provenance while extolling his virtues (like politicians do today - in a slightly different way).
Paintings from all periods are well displays with natural light coming from an open central courtyard with huge four-sided galleries on four levels. Since my last visit the stately columned monumental building has been desecrated with a huge curved steel and glass attachment to the front. It probably helps with security and crowd control, but it is a frightful blight to my eye.
Back in Manhattan, I passed the massive (reform) synagogue on Fifth Avenue near the southern end of Central Park, Temple Emanu-el. A sign indicated a Jewish Museum of artefacts and memorabilia from the Yiddish ages. While I did not have time to see their full collection I was shown briefly into the shule which is cavernous, containing 2500 seats in one large rectangular hall with no pillars, unlike the cathedrals I have seen recently. The current shule was built in 1920 and is beautifully appointed with a concealed organ and choir stalls high above the brass-gated Ark with paired matching pulpit and bimah on either side … and a circular stained glass window at the end, facing the park. The public entrance and museum are on East 65th Street. Along with a couple of other tourists we were shown in by an obliging guard who answered a few questions about the congregation. Probably from the look on my face when he told us it was a reform shule he added that orthodox people should not be concerned to attend as it was still the house of G-d … “after all”, he said, “I’m am actually Catholic!”
The weather had improved greatly with sun and warmer temperatures replacing the snow. However apart from the Sunday in Brooklyn most of the days have been overcast.
There seem to be Australians everywhere in Manhattan. I have just run into six or seven groups or couples since arriving 2 weeks ago, picking them instantly by their accent (or apparent lack of it). One was a lady and her young daughter in Fairways produce store. Others were in the street, on the escalators at Macy’s or in one case in the foyer at the Met opera. And I am not ‘looking’ for these people, one just cannot help notice the accent if people are talking - and it is nice to hear a familiar voice in this international polyglot of New York. My grandfather wrote the most insightful things about it in his postcards back home to Sydney in 1924. The exchange rate is almost back to what it was when he was here, something we never thought would happen. It is great for Aussie travellers but not much chop for those who are here earning US dollars then they return down under.
By expressing sympathy for their jailed peers who have their belts and shoe laces confiscated, the style of low trouser waists in young men is now near ubiquitous - it was originally confined to youth of colour. Often times (to use the vernacular) the ‘waist’ level has reached a third of the way to the knees, making crucial the integrity of underwear. From the most bland observation it is clear that in America, young men usually seem to wear voluminous underpants which is just as well in view of the new style. Another centimetre could even make piles public!
New York parks are now in full spring transition. The first week of April saw the appearance of the white magnolias and buds are appearing on cherry, apple, pear and other flowering trees. So daffodils (at least six contrasting varieties), crocus (see photo), snow drops, forsythia and other signs of the new season are visible everywhere. The trees are still without leaves apart from weeping willows which are already clothed in early green foliage.
The Metropolitan Opera has revamped the Berg opera called Wozzek, a 100 minute one-act marathon which sounds to me like traffic noise but which experts say is one of the great works. It had the Met debut of Australian tenor Stuart Skelton along with Gerhard Seigel, Alan Held, Waltraud Meier under (a very sickly and frail looking) James Levine. It was not the opera for me despite this star-studded line up. At least I can tick it off. Others are raving about how good it was and indeed there was a huge ovation in the house. I will have been fortunate to hear Tosca, Romeo and Juliette, Queen of Spades, Rheingold, Otello and Comte Ory (see my notes on the opera blog). Some names include Placido Domingo (conducting), Stephanie Blythe, Violeta Urmana, Salvatore Licitra, James Morris, Hei-Kyung Hong, Piotr Beczala, Vladimir Galouzine, Peter Mattei, Juan Diego Florez, Joyce deDonato, Diana Damrau, Dolora Zajick, James Levine and Riccardo Muti. Tickets were all easy to obtain over the internet, most costing less than $100 for excellent positions. It makes the quality and price of opera in Sydney very poor options - especially when a return air ticket is so cheap these days.
I have been to grand rounds at Bellevue Hospital and heard an interesting presentation on the use of peer mentors for alcohol and drug affected patients. In two pilot studies this improved patient compliance at very modest cost and deserves closer examination. The staff were obliging to an Aussie drop-in and invited me to lunch afterwards. These American hospital lunches often take the form of enormous baguette sandwiches cut into two or three, transfixed with coloured tooth picks. They appear on a tray with cans of Diet Coke and one either takes it or leaves it. Bellevue is an enormous complex occupying two city blocks between York and First Avenues near 23rd Street. Professor Marc Galanter is their D&A guru.
More anon ...
Scottie dog attentive to saxaphone player in "The Mall" in Central Park.
