Gayle is giving her back a rest day. I added the MTA app to my phone and took off for the subway. There is maintenance on the line so I waited for 20 minutes for a train. Yesterday there was an article in the NY Times about a man who was pushed off the platform in front of a train and survived. I stayed well back from the edge. I was on a mission to find out of the Apollo Bagel in NYC is better than the Courage Bagel in LA. I had heard that some thing the Apollo Bagel is a knock off of Courage Bagel. I love a Courage Bagel have stood in line and waited a long time to get one. When I arrived and saw the line out front I figured it had to be good.
When I finally got to the front of the line the man said, "Have you been here before?" "I haven't," I said. "Expect your mind to be blown," he said. I couldn't help myself so I said, "I'm from LA and I love a Courage bagel and I heard you were similar." He got cool right away. "Oh, we've heard of Courage. They like to talk about us." I guess not in a friendly way since he seemed upset. I took my everything bagel with plain cream cheese across the street to a park bench and sat in the 22 degree weather to try out the Apollo Bagel.
It was the best bagel of my life. Crispy on the outside, just the right texture on the inside and salty like I like it. When I told my baker son how much I loved it. He texted back that he wanted photos of the inside of the bagel. It was too late. I had already inhaled the bagel. I texted back, "I'm your taster not your photographer."
I hopped back on the 1 subway line and headed towards St. John of the Divine, the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. I remember visiting this cathedral with Bryan and my parents in the summer of 1986. I had just realized I was pregnant. I was so nauseous. I don't remember much except that it was such a beautiful building and the church had a huge commitment to providing social services to their community. This is what I saw as I arrived. It is impossible to capture the sheer size of this building.
I walked by what I thought was an unsheltered person on a bench in a little park beside the cathedral. Then I realized it was a sculpture of Jesus. I recognized the nail holes in his feet.
I went to the ticket counter to pay for a self-guided tour. I was told that there was a guided tour beginning in one minute. I opted for the guided tour. It is the longest cathedral in the world -- 601 feet or in the words of the guide "two football fields and a football."
There is an impressive rose window in the back of the cathedral. Jesus, in the center of the window, is taller than me.
Construction began on the church in 1892 with a Romanesque style. In 1909, a church committee decided to change the overall plan to a Gothic Revival design. This is the Romanesque part of the church.
The longest part of the church is Gothic. Notice that there are actually two rose windows on the back wall.
The pillar between the two different architectural designs of the church has whimsical art pieces created by and American sculptor named Tom Otterness.
The middle section of the church is unfinished. A widely held opinion is that it will never be finished because the church continues to believe that the right use of their money is to add those in need in their community. It is in the unfinished section where worship most often happens in the church.
Behind the choir area are a series of smaller chapels. Each one honors the different ethnicities of the immigrants who labored to build this cathedral. For example, the chapel of St. Ambrose recognizes Italian immigrants. St. Ambrose is the patron saint of beekeepers because legend has it then when he was an infant a swarm of bees landed on this head. They did not sting him but left some honey on his tongue. The stained glass windows in this chapel have small panels shaped like honeycomb and if you look closely you can find bee hives in the stained glass.
On each side of the steps leading up to the altar is a short wall. On this wall, each 100 years of Christianity is represented by a historical figure (or four). This section shows (right to left) Christopher Columbus, some saint whose arms was on fire but he didn't burn, William Shakespeare, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln.
When it came time to create the statue for the past century the committee in charge could not agree. So there are four historical figures represented -- MLK, Albert Einstein, Susan B. Anthony and Gandhi.
Along the sides of the nave are fourteen stained glass windows dedicated to different forms of human endeavor. This is the stained glass dedicated to communication. It even has Jack Benny playing his violin on the radio depicted in the bottom right corner.
There is so much more I could tell you about this amazing structure, like about Philippe Petit, the high wire walker of World Trade Center fame, walking a wire inside the center of St. John the Divine. I could have spent another 6 hours walking through it but I was ready to go. I bid farewell to this magnificent building and jumped back on the 1 Subway back to the Theater District.
The subway is such an amazing way to get around. I wish SoCal had more and better public transportation. I did have to sit next to a guy who believed that man spreading was his right. But I didn't complain. I just suffered in silence as my gender has for years. I am surprised at how leaky and in need of repair much of the infrastructure of the subway system is.
I wasn't quite ready to finish my exploration of the city. I headed over to Rockefeller Plaza.
I queued up with others to try to get the best photo and offered my services as a photographer to other tourists.
I considered going inside St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue. I love visiting churches when I travel, as anyone I have ever traveled with can attest. But I have been inside before and I was wearing out.
I went inside FAO Schwartz to find a gift for my grandson but it was so insane in there I decided that going to Vroman's in Pasadena when I get home will be a much more pleasant experience.
I stopped in Magnolia Bakery on the way back to the hotel. I wanted to bring Gayle a cupcake or some of their famous banana pudding but the line was more insane than Apollo Bakery. I left....sorry Gayle. I went to Breads Bakery and got a baguette and an oatmeal cookie.
Construction is ongoing in NYC. There is scaffolding everywhere. It is Saturday and yet workers were diligently braving the cold.
In fact, our street has been closed on and off all week as ConEdison works on the infrastructure of the street. Doesn't this look old and precarious?
I walked past the Fox News building on 6th Avenue. I didn't flip them off but I did wonder how they were going to enjoy hell.
When I got back to the room I enjoyed a cup of hot tea while telling Gayle about my adventures. At 6:15 we headed out to Grand Heritage Bakery for dinner. We enjoyed an Ancient Grains salad that was true to its name. It was mostly ancient grains piled on top of arugula and a tiny bit of green apple. We ordered the fennel sausage and ate every last bite of the pizza. It was excellent. We topped it off by sharing chocolate profiteroles. (Rating 90)
We decided it would be quicker and easier to walk to the Nederlander Theater where we had tickets to see Redwood. This musical opened yesterday and is still in previews. Our path took us through Bryant Park, alive with ice skaters and then passed this frozen fountain.
We arrived at the theater just in time to find out seats and introduce ourselves to our seat mate, a man from Birmingham, Alabama who had flown to the Big Apple for three days and was stuffing in four Broadway Shows. Redwood stars Idina Menzel, well known on Broadway for playing Elphaba in Wicked. She won a Tony for that performance.
Redwood is the story of a mother grieving her 23 year old son's death from a fentanyl overdose. She gets in her car and drives from NYC to California trying to find a place where no one knows her. Her healing begins inside a redwood forest. I had a reaction to the musical. I lived through a child's addictions and all the fears that went with that horrible time. I also found her journey of grief difficult as a widow. I was glad I was with my sister and had a place to talk about how this musical touched those two soft spots in my life.
The set design of Redwood is unlike anything I have ever seen. This is the way the stage looked at the beginning of the show. Just a big white stage.
Through projection onto moveable panels we were taken along on her frantic drive across the country and then transported into a beautiful redwood forest. We even survived a forest fire. It really was quite amazing. (Rating 90)
We are getting better at the whole taxi thing and made it home before our toes were frozen.
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