New York cries...

Today's the day. And the sky above New York cries. A bittersweet mix of anticipation and melancholy will be my company throughout the day and into the night when my plane will take off into the dark sky above Manhattan.

Too early for a resume for sure, to emotionally colored it would be. Only that much for now: It's been terrific, it's been amazing, it's been challenging, it's been unforgettable, it's been a once in a lifetime experience. I will leave with plenty of memories and personal and professional growth. Thank you New York and thank you all that contributed to or were part of this journey.

One thing is clear: 11 months is too short. New York, I had not enough and will be back for more.

Brooklyn

What a perfect day: blue sky and sunshine. Yet the cold temperatures prevented the limited remainders of snow from melting. We took a trip over Brooklyn Bridge, a sight itself that also offers over and over amazing views looking back onto Manhattan. After some additional freezing in the outside waiting line we secured one of the tiny tables at Grimaldi's, known and rated for it's top-class pizza. And it was good. Another check mark in the few days remaining. --- Ahhh, the desperate attempt to catch up with the fluidity of time...

I want to believe

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum dragged me in for yet another time. Still half-way scaffolded, today was the second day of it's new exhibition "I Want To Believe" by Chinese-born-and-now-New Yorker artist Cai Guo-Qiang. No doubt, the fact that he used cars in one of his recent works Inopportune: Stage One. The installation is the eye catcher of the exhibition showing some nine identical white cars exploding and flipping in sequence, the bursts suggested by illuminated tubes radiating from the cars' center in varying colors. The Guggenheim exhibit is the 2008 copy of original Inopportune: Stage One that supposedly was shown 2004 in the Seattle Art Museum, as a gift of Robert M. Arnold, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum and also had its appearance in a 2004/05 exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (see here or here). Interestingly enough, Cai changed the brand of cars used in his art from Ford to Chevrolet. Whatever that will tell us...

Cai has been known for his gunpowder art, but this retrospective exhibition (including an artist self-designed retrospective in the retrospective including a life river allowing visitors to "row" through his work of art) goes way beyond that (including New York's Rent Collection courtyard (2008), a new version of Cai's historic Venice's Rent Collection Courtyard (1999) that reenacts a 1965 socialist-realist sculptural ensemble that is an icon of China's Cultural Revolution. The work comprises dozens of life-size clay figures modeled on side and intended to decompose over the course of the show.

After a stroll in wintery, snowy Central Park we enjoyed the final showing of "The Maddening Truth" (see here or here), a piece about the life story of Ernest Hemingway's third wife Martha Gellhorn that seemed a constant struggle between journalism and writing, with an amazing Lisa Emery (as Martha Gellhorn) and Peter Benson.

Again...

Snow hit again! As if the winter wants to fulfill my deepest dreams, a snow storm hit New York again! While the areas up north of the city got some real snow, Manhattan and the five boroughs were enveloped in dancing snow flakes for hours, what arrived at the bottom was nothing but slush. At least the roofs were topped with white icing as were the trees and lawns in the many squares and parks.

Today was not only a chance to catch up with a very good friend back from a long assignment in Europe, but also the start of a weekend visit from a good friend from my MBA time. We celebrated at Le Colonial, a lovely French-Vietnamese fusion cuisine restaurant in the higher Midtown East/ UES area with plenty of charm, candlelight and atmosphere of French Colonial Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the second floor lounge was closed for a private event. However the main floor dining room revived by black and white period photos, ceiling fans, graceful palms, colorful antique armoires and wooden screens was equally inviting. Thit Nuong, the grilled loin of pork, with mango-and-jicama salad in a passion fruit wasabi sauce was exquisit that could not be deminished by the slightly forceful service. A any time recommendation.

YES, YES, YES.... no, no, no

Finally! - Whoever is responsible for the weather (St. Peter for me - but LEO.org tells me that that does not resonate in the US) was merciful and sent some snowflakes in our direction. Yesterday afternoon and way into the evening we got a good layer of snow. Park Avenue, Broadway, taxis and limos: all and everything covered in white. While enough to bedazzle at least me for a little while, the press did not seem to notice much (contrary to the coverage of the snow-less January - see for example here)!















The nasty surprise this morning: Snow had changed to rain mid through the night and had not only melted most of the white but left puddles everywhere making one wet from top and bottom. Oh well. If this is winter in New York...?

Anyway. One question keeps nagging: was this it for this year or at least for the days that I'm still here? It remains to be seen...

Konfetti

Oh well... - The day has come that the guys back home celebrate Fasnacht and start Die drey scheenschte Dääg on Monday early morning and as always a week after most others had theirs. How lovely is it to walk through the dark streets, stump through moutains of Konfetti, listen to the Ruesse and Pfyffe that resound in the narrow alleys... and all that in the most perfect weather conditions one can imagine...

Konfetti or rather confetti - at least of those I seem to have had enough this year already. Even far away from home. Tons of them danced in the sky when we welcomed the new year on Times Square and the ball dropped. And even more rained from the skyscrapers when the Giants celebrated their XLII Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots (February 3) during their celebration Ticker Tape Parade ending at City Hall Park that happened February 5 (see for instance here or here).

Yesterday, even something else was "in the air": veritable snow flakes swirled through the air during the day a couple times when temperatures had a sudden drop. Not quite wintery enough... yet, but a start! The windchill this morning that made the temperatures feel like below zero degree Fahrenheit (= -17.78 degrees Celsius!) at least keeps my hopes alive.

Der Countdown läuft...

Believe it or not, weeks and months fly by. My year in New York has been a terrific ride... and draws to a close. One month to go. And while the countdown has started long ago, in fact with my first day when I arrived in this great city, now the clock is ticking.

I can hardly believe it. I can hardly accept it. And I have very mixed feelings.

Enjoy while it lasts. That's what I tried to do since April 1 last year. Some days it worked better than others. But I don't want to miss a single beat...