It’s Good to Live Again.

Howdy everybody,

what a trip! If there has been any activity so far that deserved the uncompromising title of “Fear and Loathing” then it is the last weekend. Odd enough that I did feel like coming home when the Bus dropped me off at the University…. But first things first:
Traveling to NYC proved to be a piece o’ cake: Walk down to the Newark Train “Station” (anyone remember the train station at the beginning of “For A Few Dollars More”?), jump into the Amtrak, get off at Penn Station, sneak through the tunnels to the subway, take the A (or 1 or whatever) North, get off at Columbus Circle, be dizzy for awhile since I haven’t seen that many people at one time since I’ve came here, walk a few blocks along the Central Park et voilà: Fear and Loathing at the YMCA! Admittedly: 75 bucks for a night (no breakfast, shared (!) bathroom) is CHEAP for NYC. But those showers, man… And that mattress, MAN…
Anyway… Friday was cool. Met with a friend of mine, had nice dinner at a French restaurant, saw and listened to a WONDERFUL Shostakovich concert and had a few beers at the evening. Life couldn’t be better! (Of course it COULD be better. It always can. Give me a break!)
Saturday was the day! Had to see EVERYTHING but got just one day! So I walked: North to the Museum Mile (where is the MOMA?? What, it is 35 blocks south???), south to 53rd (ahhh, there is MOMA. But where does the queue, sorry: the line, start? Oh, round the corner, uhu, let’s see, oh my god, Fear and Loathing while queuing?, nonono! I need a plan B!), a little east and west to find the Empire State (always visible, but so hard to find!) and then south, south, south to the Staten Island Ferry. It was a cold and moody day reflecting my mood swings along my walk which eventually ended at the Ferry Terminal, roughly 5 hours after I left the premises of my domicile.
After going back and forth I walked through Battery Park on a sort of a Memorial Tour, since I went there the first time I visted NYC. Then I jumped into the subway and finally made it into MOMA. Wow, what a museum. It just took me 20 minutes to be OVERWHELMED! And when I saw the “Melancholy of Departure” by De Chirico….

Wow, isn’t it beautiful? Well, in the evening I choose to watch a movie, ‘A History of Violence’, pffffhhhhh, no comment on that one! The cinema, though, was nice, since the movie was shown in the IMAX theater. Boy, what a movie theater! The screen was, well, I mean, BIG! HUGE! And I got dizzy due to the steep decline of the seat rows! Wow, I wonder how it feels to see an actual IMAX movie in there!

The second night in the YuckMCA gave me time to reflect on certain types of self inflicted human mysery, when I did a box stop in the middle of the night just to find a guy sleeping in one of the stalls… Oh well, I did not dare to check out the details of his catnap.
Sunday I was greeted with clear blue skies and a warm breeze. One day too late… Anyway, the Guggenheim was on the menu and what a menu it proved to be! The exhibition “Russia!” showed some of the most famous Russian paintings, including Repin’s “Barge Haulers on the Volga”, Perov’s “Portrait of the Writer Fedor Dostoevsky”, Brodsky’s “V.I. Lenin in the Smolny”, or Chagall’s “The Soldier Drinks” (I wouldn’t know that myself, I had a good guide!).
Well, the trip back turned out to be nice and quiet. Besides some F&L at the men’s room at Penn Station and while fighting my way through the crowd to the platform, everything was ok. And when the University Bus (I got off at Wilmington) drove into Main Street, I almost felt at home… 😉
Anyway, NYC was quite a journey and worth every second of it. I hope to go there again soon to visit the remain 99.9% of the city that I haven’t seen yet….

Yours truly L:t

PS: Pictures are in the usual place. Enjoy!