August 24                                Jersey City, New Jersey

Joe and I left the boat early to catch the first ferry to Manhattan.  We took a cab to the museum and enjoyed the ride up the Westside Highway past the Intrepid, a giant aircraft carrier that is now the home of the space shuttle, Enterprise, the docks with huge cruise ships, and the trapeze school with flyers practicing their skills on equipment mounted atop a five-storied building. Bikers, runners, skaters, and parents with strollers were crowding the sidewalks and streets.  Everyone was eager to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Joe and I agreed to separate so each of us could go to the parts of the museum we chose to see.  We met for lunch in the Trustees Dining Room.  To my delight, we were seated at a table near the window overlooking Cleopatra’s Needle, the giant obelisk from Egypt that stands in Central Park. Many years ago, this massive piece of stone was unloaded from a ship docked on the Hudson River and transported across Manhattan on a platform supported by cannon balls.  It took several weeks to bring it to the park and then with painstaking planning and calculation, it was lifted high in the air and carefully placed precisely in place on its mount where it stands today.  Such a task would be challenging today but with the primitive equipment of that day, it was a formidable feat.

The Trustees Dining Room is one of my favorite New York places.  It is simple, elegant and features great service and wonderful food.  Joe and I especially enjoyed our decadent desserts—coconut panna cotta with candied pineapple and chocolate crumb crust cheesecake with dark cherry sauce.  Joe insisted we should feel guilty for leaving David on the boat with leftovers.  I assured him David would manage very well and guilt was not warranted.

I returned to the galleries and spent the next three hours enjoying galleries I rarely see.  The Near Eastern Art galleries displayed magnificent carpets, some from royal courts, and incredibly beautiful pottery glazed in brilliant turquoise.  The Twentieth Century galleries had works by many of the artists we have at the Modern in Fort Worth.  I was delighted to see a great Chuck Close portrait and a triple study for a self-portrait by Frances Bacon.  The Annenberg Galleries held the wonderful paintings of Van Gogh.  The Chinese Galleries were closed for renovation but the Japanese collection was interesting with works from past and contemporary artists.  Joe made a point to find the painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware, newly restored and framed, and an exhibition of Civil War photographs.

After a great day, we returned to the boat to greet Dave, who had arrived earlier and accompanied his dad to a nearby restaurant for a delicious lunch (no leftovers for David). Dave would be with us on our journey to Baltimore.  Dinner was at MaritimeParc, a lovely restaurant at the marina which features excellent seafood.