Today I ventured solo uptown to the American Folk Art Museum which has 5 floors of portraiture, needlework, carved animals, trade signs,decoys, cigar store Indians and on the textile side beautiful quilts, samplers, braided rugs and Navajo blankets. Fascinating stuff - I spent a whole 5 hours wandering around. One of the main exhibitions were the quilts created by Paula Nadelstern. Absolutely gorgeous - even with my nose an inch away from the quilt I couldn't see how she had put everything together. It must take her hours & hours.... The other large exhibition was the sculptures of Ulysses Davis (1914-1990) which have been recognised as important examples of African American vernacular art - especially his series of carved busts of forty US presidents.
As I stepped out of the door of the museum the heavens opened....fortunately being used to the unpredictability of the weather in the UK I had a brolly in my bag but it's not the largest so I was forced to take refuge in a Starbucks close by to wait out the deluge.
I managed to get home without incident on the subway...NY subways are a trifle complicated in that there are seperate entrances and exits depending on the direction you are travelling and they are not the easiest to find. In this respect London definitely has the edge.....
After dinner the weather had cleared up and so we went for a stroll along the esplanade at Battery Park City which is about a 5 minute walk from the apartment. Stunning.....you can walk, cycle, roller blade for miles & can hardly believe you are in New York at all. Got my first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty..
and these are sunset views over the Hudson River to New Jersey..
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