New York City, Day 2 (Fri/Jan 20)

On my second day in NYC time flew by a little bit quicker. Uncle David and I took the train into Penn and then got on the 1, straight up to Morningside Heights and Columbia University. Columbia is a beautiful campus, almost majestic. Low library is an incredibly beautiful and historically relevant testament to scholarly pursuits. The entire interior is comprised of different kinds of marble. We snuck into the Trustees Room (the door was open…) and got to see the teal leather chairs lined up around a grand wooden table. From there I got a pass and took a tour of Columbia Law School (it has very little front door security unlike NYU, character of the neighborhood I suppose).

Columbia Law has a very modern interior and some beautiful rooms but overall felt very snooty. I think I expected the school to feel hallowed and magical because people like Ruth Bader Ginsburg are alumni, but I came away with a weird feeling. It most likely had to do with Morningside Heights in general, the whole neighborhood is very posh and clean (for New York City anyway), and no one on the campus even noticed that I was there. To be fair, as an employee of a law school I have very high expectations about the visitation experience, but something didn’t quite click for me.

After my walking tour I met David at St. Johns Cathedral and spent a good time wondering at how massive and beautiful it is. There is a Columbia University art installation inside called The Value of Water that is very beautiful, but poorly explained (with the exception of the Terry Tempest Williams & Co. Pronghorn piece).

We had pizza with fresh tomato at a restaurant near campus and then took the subway down to 72^nd and walked through Central Park. I think it was 25 degrees at that point so our walk was very brisk but I got to see the boathouse and walk over that one famous bridge (cannot remember the name for the life of me…). Eventually, we got to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and into the warmth.

As we were drinking some afternoon coffee in the cafeteria courtyard, recharging for the museum, a group called The Asphalt Orchestra started playing a surprise concert with musicians of all kinds coming out of the woodwork. I think their set was to celebrate the new American Wing, regardless it was very entertaining and beautiful. Whenever you start to get tired in New York something exciting like surprise music happens. On the subway earlier in the day two Mexican guys got on our car shouted “Good Morning!” and started playing Mariachi music until the next stop when they ran off and got into another car.

I spent most of my time at the Met in the new American Wing (with side visits to other adjacent displays, more later). The American Wing contains period revival decorated rooms, paintings, furniture, sculpture, Louis Comfort Tiffany glass and more. One of my favorite parts of the wing was in the visible storage half of the second floor. There are a huge section of tall clocks and desk clocks, all completely ornate of course. My favorite is a tall Tiffany clock that had a hand for the month, day of the month, day of the week, astrological sign, and the time too.

On the third floor I stumbled into the Music Room, a beautiful collection of harpsichords, violas, bagpipes and cellos. My favorite piece was an ancient pianoforte that is literally the oldest in existence. When I come back to New York in June and September I have to come back to the Met to see more. By the time we made it back to Hamilton station I was exhausted.

This morning (Saturday), I woke up to two inches of snow on the ground and decided to save my Wall St/Ground Zero/Trinity Church/Battery Park visit for June when it is less frigid and I am less nervous about flying across the world. My flight leaves tomorrow at 7:30 pm out of JFK and arrives at Heathrow at 7:30 am, because of the 7 hour time difference the flight is really only 5 hours, not too bad but I will be very tired.