The subway and streets were packed with thousands of people of varying Puerto Rican dissent gathering for the parade. We crossed into Central Park at 72nd street and made our way to the Boathouse. The Boathouse is a beautiful little restaurant that sits on the water adjacent to the Bethseda Fountain.
They don’t take reservations, so we weren’t sure what to expect. It isn’t far from the famous Tavern on the Green and it attracts the same clientele. We walked in just after 11am and were surprised to be taken not only directly to a table, but to a table in the middle of the room over looking the water.
The brunch was amazing. I had the most delicious blueberry French toast you can imagine.
From the Boathouse we wandered through Central Park, passing the Bethseda Fountain and then by Sheeps Meadow.
We turned uptown and walked to the Lennon memorial at Strawberry Field.
We continued up through the park walking along Central Park West. We passed the American Museum of Natural History. I told them about being at the museum with April a couple weekends ago.
We had nothing but time, so I suggested that we at least stepped inside the museum so they could see the amazing entrance of the museum and the enormous Barasouarus waits to greet everyone.
As we walked into the museum, Mama Dell’s mouth dropped as she looked up at the beautiful dome ceiling spread across museum’s entrance. We spent twenty minutes just reading the challenging quotes from Theodore Roosevelt that adorn the marble walls.
Walking out Mama Dell said, “This has to go on the list of things to do when we come back.” To which Daddy Schenk added, “…to the top of the list.”
From the museum we took the train up to 110th Street that run along the top of Central Park. Mama Dell wanted to see the Conservatory at Central Park, but I couldn’t resist taking them on a slight detour to the glorious Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Elizabeth had hoped to take them to St. John’s if there was time; we were only two blocks away, so we decided to make time.
As we walked toward Amsterdam the Cathedral loomed over us in the sky. Again, Mama Dell’s mouth dropped.
We walked around the block to the entrance and walked up the steps. As I think I mentioned in my entry while my brother Tim was here, the Cathedral is undergoing a major refurbishing, so certain areas were closed off but enough of it is open to give you an overwhelming impression.
We spent a while walking the aisles and looking at the little chapels that crown the far end of the sanctuary.
We made our way back to the subway after we left St. John’s. Mama Dell, Daddy Schenck and Elizabeth got off the train at 96th Street and headed back across the park to their rented apartment. I continued down on the train to 34th Street where I met up with Damon for my second visit to this year’s NEWfest.
Damon and I were early for the documentary, Almost Myself, so we used the time to catch up and talk about all the films he’d seen at the festival. Damon is a member of NEWfest and he hit the festival hard. Looking at his hand held program for the festival, which had been circled, highlighted, crossed through, etc., I saw that he’d seen a big chunk of the films. We had a good time talking about all the varying films and what he liked and what he could’ve skipped over had he known.
The film, Almost Myself, was very, very interesting. It is a documentary that followed the story of several transgendered women. The film is by the same filmmaker who made Fish Can’t Fly, which Damon and I saw at the festival last year. I so admire the filmmaker, who is an older gentleman, for taking up filmmaking and using this new voice to tell these stories.
After the film I headed down to the Village and met up with the Schencks yet again. They’d rested and recharged. They’d been shopping – making a stop at Purdy Girl, of course – and made their way over to meet me. We walked down Christopher Street and I took them to the pier and then we had dinner at Cowgirl Hall of Fame.
It was a long, wonderful, leg-aching day.
