aroundtheworld-mary-t ПУБЛИКАЦИИ

Here are my notes from New York City which I visited this April. With Ana we stayed in Lower Manhattan – Little Italy.
Many restaurants in Little Italy were trying to give scenes of the Sopranos, GF, etc. with some mafia memorabilia on the walls, dissent menus - overprized though – and in two cases - incredibly rude staff. Soon I realized the rudeness for the New Yorkers was a way of protecting themselves. Nothing personal - just brutally honest respond to the millions of strangers visiting the city. With Ana and Gramen we had been wandering how long a gall with a NY attitude would survive in Midwest. And at the same time the manhattans had a Zen –like sensibility distinguishing somehow to whom to give polite attention when in need.
The dress code of the city is a social science of itself. Preteen age girls wearing cashmere coats in pastel tones, the nuance of gray of the suit of the man on Park Avenue, a woman reading in the garden of MOMA in beige and brown - discreetly jeweled. The invisible class of upper Manhattan with generations of cultivated manners and style stay away from any sign of parvenu – like taste. No popular brand names on display – all is simple and prohibitedly expensive.
My average daily walk was about 6 miles. I never got tired of the street life, people, buildings, museums and good food. Just being in NY invigorates the spirit. It was like being in the middle of movies and books I knew from the time I lived in Bulgaria. Like the short stories of John Updike, where the protagonist had to carry a wet laundry in the cab, because his kid is waiting at school. Totally absurdist for us – why not do it at home and why the little kid won’t take a bus.
With Ana or Gramen we usually walked from Mulberry Str. to Central park – Metropolitan Museum or Museum of Natural History. It took us less than two hours – stopping here and there. Ana refused to be “trapped” in the MET – the weather was gorgeous, cherry blossom in the park, nature trails and the reservoir with the reflections of the buildings and sky. One was on fire – lots of smoke from the middle floors.
These five days were like 5 minutes for us and all of this, because of you, Susanna. Your apartment is one of the most unique places I have been and I had seen a lot. I will remember the white linens and the paintings on the wall, the endless pieces of art everywhere and the shower curtains – oh, my! Where did you find these designs? Sorry I broke the broom, hope you can use the new one. The vine I left was from the store on the corner – nothing special, but drinkable. Last week in Los Angeles we were looking at the photos from NY with Ana – it was very nostalgic. We both miss our “headquarters” on
214 Mulberry . Thank you very much for your hospitality and trust and I will be very happy to have you in Michigan. I know you have an ocean nearby, but with the resent climate changes, Lake Superior might be the next Riviera of the north. LOL.
I still work on my web albums from NY – I have almost thousand photos to edit and upload and thinking about these sealed memories – I envy you in a noble way - for this is your daily life – being a New Yorker.
Yours,
Mariana

New York – always with love and never with squalor.