April 28: All that glitters

Tornadoes and thunderstorms throughout eastern U.S. delay my flight from Billy Bishop to Newark. My seatmate has a fear of flying, which she demonstrates quite convincingly on much of this turbulent flight. Luckily, her nail marks are beginning to fade.

I drop off my bags (I am very lucky to have a friend with a huge apartment in midtown NYC--thank you Carolyn!) and zip up to Columbus Circle for some lunch. Wealth is displayed so unabashedly here. I find Bouchon bakery and am happily surprised by the mastery of takeout beet soup with perfectly chewy epi rolls.

New York City is very much an insider’s city. It runs on its own rules. Outsiders stand out with their lost looks. Signage in the airport are minimal. Which baggage carousel? How do I get into Manhattan? I have many travel miles behind me (including several visits to NYC), yet am still quite lost here. The subway also runs on its own set of rules. I give up a dry ride in the subway to walk crosstown in the steady rain.

The current exhibition of Van Cleef & Arpels jewels at the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, an outpost of the Smithsonian, are stunning. Now I know why I always find the VC&A windows in Paris' Place Vendome so alluring.

The area is chockful of museums. I walk around the Guggenheim’s shuttered doors (my 3rd major Frank Lloyd Wright building in 12 months) to the Frick. I have just under an hour to wander around this small but stunning art collection, arguably the best private European collection in the Americas. Some of the best works of well-known European artists are on display: a grand Bellini, not one but 3 Vermeers, the larger than life Rembrandt self portrait, the three (or is it four?) El Grecos. The Renoir, while beautiful, stand out incongruously with the other European masters. I spend a few minutes sketching in the covered central courtyard, oblivious to the bustling late afternoon rush outside.

Carolyn and I head to Blossom, a vegetarian restaurant that serves up fine American fare: Cape Cod cakes, black pea cakes, seitan scallopini. A long day. I head straight for bed, skipping jazz at Lincoln Center on my agenda.