It is hard to walk around New York without trying out a few tunes that feature New York. Of course there is the one made famous by ol' blue eyes himself, New York New York. Then you've got the Billy Joel classic New York State of Mind. If that's not enough you can always listen to the Wayne Newton number Danke Schoen, made famous in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, even though the movie was set in Chicago? Then just to top it off finish with Jay Z and Alicia Keys singing Empire State of Mind. So much great music and I defy any one visiting New York being able to do so without humming or trying to sing a few lines out of these numbers.
With so little time and so many things to choose from it was hard to narrow it down. I've always wanted to do the Guggenheim. Its such an interesting building so I hoped the subway up to 86th Street and walked across "The Park" as the locals call it. Its like an enormous set of lungs giving life to the city. There is much to be said for setting aside some serious acres for green space. Anyway once safely across from the Upper West Side to the Upper East Side I wandered in to the aforementioned museum to be somewhat slightly underwhelmed.
Now this place has original Warhol's and and amazing selection of French Impressionist including Monet's, Matisse's, and Renoir's and they were without a doubt amazing. They also feature new and up and coming artists and it is there work that left me feeling uninspired. Well at least I can say I have been there.
From there I had to get organised for the last leg of trip the cruise so I spent the afternoon doing the washing and packing my bags. Anyway enough of that ..................
You can't come to New York without seeing a Broadway show. The last time I was here I caught The Book of Mormon, which I discovered is still running in the same theatre. I probably could have seen Hamilton or one of the other biggies however I spied there was a 13 week revival of Cabaret made famous by the 1972 movie starring Liza Minnelli. Its very much a musical on two levels. The superficial level is all of the bawdy jokes and not so subtle innuendo. The deeper level is a story of tolerance and how insidious was the takeover of German society by the Nazi Party. Much of the audience got, and enjoyed the cheap jokes but I hope they took home the lesson about the rise of fascism and have enough self awareness to know that the lesson might still apply to today.
On that cheery note I headed back to the bar that has pretty well been my local for my stay in New York, The Yard. After a few gin and tonics, followed by a nice Islay Whisky it was time for bed. Its off into the wild blue yonder tomorrow. I embark the good ship Crown Princess and set sail on the Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Erin permitting.
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