All about Lucas and New York City March 18, 2011
Posted by freda in Birmingham, Michigan.3 comments
Lucas finished university in December, obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with Honours, in Creative Writing, from the University of British Columbia. Don and I are thrilled to have one child finished university! But, what now for Lucas? He is determined to make a living in the very uncertain world of writing. To that end, he writes, in a variety of mediums, and is starting to see some success. I couldn’t be prouder!
One area of writing, that is a rather new and quickly-growing discipline, is called ‘transmedia.’ Lucas became interested in transmedia, did a lot of reading, following the movers-and-shakers in the field, and quickly set himself up with his own transmedia blog, where he analyses, dissects, and comments on various and sundry aspects of transmedia. For a definition of transmedia, watch this excellent little slideshow: http://www.slideshare.net/socialcreature/your-life-is-a-transmedia-experience-6609259 . For details about what Lucas is more specifically doing, see here: http://silverstringmedia.com/about/ Or read his more personal blog at: http://lucasjwjohnson.com/
Through the internet, Lucas has met various other people working in transmedia. Several of them work in New York City. On his Christmas wish list, Lucas put “a trip to NYC” so he could meet, in person, some of those he had discussed transmedia with online. Since the boys were going to be visiting us, here in Michigan, for New Year’s, he thought (hoped) a trip to NYC might be easily made. And I thought, well…I love NYC…we’ll have to book a hotel room for him, anyway… why don’t I go with him?!? So, on Saturday, January 8th, Lucas and I flew to NYC for 6 nights.
Of course, January isn’t the best time of year, weather-wise, to go to NYC, but the timing was great for Lucas: he was able to participate in a Transmedia Meet-Up while we were there – a once-a-month meeting of people involved in transmedia – and do some networking, which was a huge thrill, as well as a great opportunity, for him.
And of course we did a lot of tourist things. Lucas had never been to NYC, so we did many of the standards. Our first afternoon we walked first to Times Square which is, no matter how many times you’ve been to the city, always a thrill – hard to believe it’s a real place, when we see it so much on TV and in the movies..
Lucas in Times Square
me in Times Square
And then we walked to the library at 42nd Street,
outside the famous library
where there was an excellent exhibit on similarities between the Abrahamic (Christian, Jewish and Muslim) religions, with some stunningly beautiful texts…
old text
From the library we went to the Empire State Building – and up, of course, and outside, even though it was freezing!
not a great day for the view... starting to snow!
We then walked, while the snow whirled around us, to Grand Central Station, and went in to see and warm up with a glass of wine in one of the bars.
in Grand Central Station
Not bad for one afternoon, eh!
Back to the hotel (conveniently located on 10th Ave at 49th St.) to clean up and wait for my friend Laura (she works for GM in communications in NYC) to meet us at the hotel, and then walk to dinner – several great restaurants on 9th Ave, close to the hotel, and we ate that night at “Eatery.” The food was excellent and it was great to see Laura again!
Sunday was clear and sunny with a bitingly cold wind. We breakfasted in the hotel, and vowed we wouldn’t do that again – expensive and mediocre buffet. Out into the cold to take the subway up to 81st (half-way up Central Park), walk across the park and go to the Met. I’d been to NYC three times, but I’d never visited any of the museums or galleries. I figured January was the time to do so! The Metropolitan Museum of Art is stunning, as everyone who’s been there will know, and so big you’d need several visits to see it all. We split up. Lucas’s main area of interest were the ancient civilization galleries – Roman, Greek, Egyptian – and mine were the European paintings – room after room after room of famous paintings: Cezanne, Gaugin, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Rosseau, Picasso, etc. Even Andy Warhol’s Mao. We only had about an hour and a half before we needed to get back on the subway to get to the half-price theatre ticket line-up, but we vowed to come back.
Lining up for Billy Elliott tickets in the brutally-cold wind tunnel of Times Square was an exercise in endurance, but worth it as we scored 3 tickets (Laura went with us) in the 9th row, right orchestra!! After getting the tickets we hopped the subway again, this time to the Chelsea District. We walked the neighbourhood, and tried to have a drink at the Chelsea Hotel, but they don’t have a bar – too bad – so back to “our neighbourhood” to have an awesome glass of wine and delicious flatbread pizza dinner at Stecchino’s on 9th Ave, and then to the theatre to meet Laura and see Billy Elliott – a fantastic show!
On Monday we were off to the United Nations to take a tour. One of the good things about being in NYC in the cold month of January (or February) is that the UN is open for public tours. This was one of the highlights for Lucas as in high school he was involved with the Model UN, and served as Secretary-General for two years.
in front of United Nations building
inside, posters on the wall
in the General Assemby room
the Security Council room
a model of the UN
Canadian flag outside the building
After the excellent tour, we found a place to get lunch, and then onto the subway to Ground Zero. I had been there two years ago, on my 50th, but there has been a lot of building since then and we couldn’t get very close to the site anymore.
new construction at Ground Zero
From here we took the subway to Greenwich Village to wander. We checked out “The Forbidden Planet,” a comic book store, and happened upon “The Strand” book store, one of the largest book stores I’ve ever seen. And then we were off to find the Stonewall Inn, another highlight for Lucas, as this is where the riots that led to the Gay Rights Movement took place. We stopped in for a few drinks.
Stonewall Inn
After a few drinks, we wandered to find a restaurant for dinner, and ended up at Pastis, an excellent French bistro (where apparently the celebrities hang out – though we didn’t see any). We had mussels and frites – delicious! Back to the hotel for an early evening, to read, write, use the computer, and sleep.
Tuesday was Lucas’s ‘transmedia’ day. He had a lunch date, and a dinner date and evening meet-up. While he was at lunch, I checked out the Frick Collection, “housed in the mansion of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, with indoor garden court and fountain.” It’s a gorgeous old home, and the highlight for me was Hans Holbein’s portrait of Sir Thomas More (Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor) which was painted eight years before More’s execution for treason. Don and I have been watching “The Tudors” on CBC, and it was very cool seeing this portrait after watching More in action on the TV series.
Lucas and I met up inbetween his events and wandered through Central Park for awhile,
Strawberry Fields, Central Park, the John Lennon memorial
and then went to the GM offices to see Laura and meet a few of her co-workers. When Lucas went off for his dinner meeting, Laura and I headed out for a lovely dinner in a little french bistro called La Bonne Soupe. I took a cab back to the hotel and waited for Lucas. He got back a few hours later, totally pumped. He’d had an awesome time and met lots of people – great networking! It started to snow Tuesday evening, and kept up all night. We awoke to about 8 inches of snow!!
We decided we wouldn’t venture far on Wednesday. The snow made walking a little more difficult, and we just didn’t feel like fighting it. We shopped on 5th Avenue, checked out the amazing toy store, “F.A.O. Schwartz” and also checked out Rockefeller Square and the Lego store (another highlight for Lucas, and me too, actually!)
Lego sign made out of Lego men
Rockefeller Square skating rink made out of Lego
main building of The Cloisters
inside the building
gorgeous stained glass
inside, looking out at the view
beautiful tapestries
inside the Met
-
in the Met
- After we were museum-ed out, we walked to Laura’s apartment, on the upper east side, about a mile, to meet her for drinks, and then out for our last dinner. A lovely last evening – thanks Laura!!
- On Thursday morning we were out early to head to the south end so Lucas could get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty.
-
she's far away, but she's there!
We wandered briefly through Little Italy, found another great book store, got a piece of pizza for lunch, and then back to the hotel to pack up and head to the airport.
What an amazing, busy, COLD time we had!! Lucas is a ton of fun to travel with!
freda's world adventures 