NYC in June

Janet and Alex

Quinn and Alexa

Alex and Lara

High Line

High Line

High Line

I just returned from 10 days in NYC.  I went with Quinn to see my mom, sister and niece.  My sister and niece live in Modena, Italy, and they were there to drop my niece off at a summer program at Taft.  It was a long awaited reunion with my sister and niece.  Without the full brood of kids--Cole and Carson were at a two week overnight camp in Colorado and Lara's son, Charlie, was in Italy with Max--it was a recipe for a very active visit.

My mom's apartment on East End Avenue is an oasis in the jungle of the city.  With its rooftop pool, courtyard gardens and gym, I felt spoiled and relaxed.  By day, we meandered around the city, crisscrossing the streets and neighborhoods of upper and lower Manhattan.  The highlight:  the High Line, a newish urban garden 30 feet above ground in the space that formerly occupied a 1930s freight railway line in Chelsea.  The amazing plantings were created by the brilliant landscaper Piet Oudolf.  I loved the juxtaposition of the naturalistic plantings against the intense urban buildings and grit.  Other things that I loved in NY:  the roof at the MET, the Ace Hotel lobby, a Brooklyn street fair, the Rag and Bone store on Mercer, Eataly, and just about anywhere in the meat packing district.  New York has changed so much since I as a student at Barnard College in the early 90s.  And I have changed too.  I am more observant and appreciative of what New York has to offer to the tourist and occasional visitor.   I am less critical of the crowds and noise and filth and disconnect from nature.  Perhaps it took moving to the quiet and small town of Boulder to help me correct the tension that I experienced on previous trips to New York, to help me accept and embrace a world that is 180 degrees away from what is now my home.