Art and Jazz!

After our return from Washington, Wendy and Roe met up with John and all 3 set out to visit the Frick collection. This is a huge private collection of priceless paintings housed in a beautiful old mansion, previously the home of Henry Clay Frick. The building is still furnished as it was when he and his wife lived there - opulent furnishings giving you a real glimpse into how the wealthy lived almost 100 years ago....a gilded lifestyle indeed!

Extraordinary to see the originals of works you have only seen in books.......Holbein, Vermeer, Turner to name but a few.

And then to something completely different! Dinner at a Jazz Club at the other end of town.......pork spare ribs, greens with pot licker sauce, shrimps with grits(?) all very Southern style food in a great space and with a wonderful Brazilian jazz group......fabulous evening and we all went home tapping our feet!

Highlight of the following day was a visit to the Church of St. John the Divine......a massive cathedral built in the Gothic style. We went to a service there with a friend of Wendy and John's........glorious choir and magnificent organ! But the astounding experience were the huge sculptures of two Phoenix birds, made by a Chinese sculptor for a project in Beijing. The commission was subsequently cancelled half way through. They were finally completed by the sculptor in the U. S. They are huge, hanging from specially constructed scaffolding and in length go about two-thirds of the length of the church. Interestingly the materials used were all left-overs from the building project of the original commission.

More art.....unbelievable......as we broke the ice at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Surely you could spend weeks exploring this vast collection of American, European, Asian, Ancient and Islamic, furniture, sculpture, costumes......on and on it goes! Wendy and I went back for a second look today.

We are surrounded by top end designers and jewellers here....Hermes, Chanel, Chopard, Cartier, Dior.......and there are customers!!!!! We can see them as we peer in from outside.....not quite enough nerve to go in.

Gradually getting the hang of buses, yet to brave the subway (tomorrow). Christmas lights and decorations going up everywhere, snow forecast for Wed. night, just in time for Thanksgiving the next day.

Love to all
Wendy, John and Roe