NYC – 3 days in May (2)

Early morning, walked up to Central Park, to go to the Metropolitan Museum. Beautiful! The sun is shining throughout! A few thoughts to remember the one that conceived the Park – Omsteld – a book about him a few years back – and “Angels of America” – the scene at the fountain!

Visit the Met: 2 exhibitions. The Met's Spring 2012 Costume Institute exhibition, Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, shows what links Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada, two Italian designers from different eras in an imagined conversation between these iconic women… exploring similar themes in their work through very different approaches. The show exhibits several designs from the two designers – by Schiaparelli (1890–1973) from the late 1920s to the early 1950s and by Prada from the late 1980s to the present – who argue on different sides – all made up…

And then, on the roof of the museum, Tomás Saraceno on the Roof: Cloud City, a young artist from Argentina who has created large interconnected modules of mirrors that one walks by and in! By such weather – glorious!

Followed by a light lunch at Petrie Court Café and Wine Bar... in the Museum…and a digestive walk in Central Park back to the hotel. (The wonderful music of the “Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain” in my ear…watching the film…)

Graduation ceremony in the afternoon at the Beacon Theater, on Upper West Side – Dominique received her Master degree from the NYU Gallatin School. A few hours, mostly spent looking after Béatrice, running around, full of energy…. Photos, and then we all went (by subway – probably the most expeditive way to get around NYC!) for a celebration dinner at ISA, a new restaurant on the South side of Williamsburg in Brooklyn (Cynthia had spotted a short review in the NYT weekend magazine a few weeks ago). Unusual; the latest creation of Taavo Somer, I read, who had designed a couple of other well-known simple restaurants in Manhattan. The chef is Ignacio Mattos. Wood predominates, and a fairly simple menu. We had the cod (soft, barely cooked), the duck (could have been warmer!), and wine – an Alsacian Crémant for a toast and bottles of white and red from Italy. The porridge that was served to Béatrice ended up being had by the adults – it was delicious. We had appetizers as well (beef tartare in my case) and desert (although nothing memorable that I can recall…) and coffee. Recommended. And then we all went home, back on Manhattan.

NYC, May 17, 2012