Back in the Big Apple

We continued our American adventure with a few days in New York. We arrived at LaGuardia airport on time, and took the bus into the Big Apple. We were staying in Harlem this time, something I was really looking forward to. Harlem, of course, is the place to explore Afro-American culture in New York (and in the States in General). We were dong Airbnb again, and were able to find our flat without any problems. Our host was the super-cool Daniel, an actor whose done a fair bit of Broadway and a bit of telly too (he even had a bit part in House of Cards, how cool is that ?), who gave us plenty of excellent advice on what to do in Harlem.

It was getting late by the time we'd settled in, but we were still keen to get out and explore Harlem. It was pretty much just as I'd expected. It's still got a very afro-American feel to it, even though it's quite multi-cultural in general (plenty of African immigrants from places like Senegal bringing their own touch to the place). Thankfully, Harlem is a pretty safe place these days - it used to be one of the most dangerous places in New York just a couple of decades earlier. It's gentrifying rapidly - I hope the place is able to retain it's cool and laid-back feel in the years to come... We decided to have dinner in a real Harlem institution - the Red Rooster (which was, funnily enough, founded by an Ethopian-born guy who was brought up in Sweden !). Great place for roasted chicken, that's for sure! Loved the vibe of the place too - with live music livening things up!

We started the next day with a proper, filling, American breakfast in Harlem, after which we headed towards Central Park - the plan was to take on the grand-daddy of American museums - the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or more simply known as "The Met"). Now, The Met has it all: an amazing Egyptian collection, Greek sculptures, Art Nouveau design, furniture, American art, Classical European Art, and one of the greatest Impressionist collections in the World.

Seeing it all in one visit is basically Mission: Impossible. So we decided to concentrate on the stuff that we usually like - 19th/20th Century European Art, in particular the Impressionist stuff. I can confirm that their collection is impressive. We also took part in a guided tour taking in their Japanese collection (of course!). All in all, The Met is of course one of the mandatory places to visit in New York, even though I think we preferred the Art Institute of Chicago in the end I think (seems better laid out, friendlier and also importantly, much less busy. What was funny about the Met was that listening to some conversations, I had the impression of being in a Woody Allen movie... ;)

After a rather indifferent lunch in a posh Italian place near The Met, we headed down to the financial district for the afternoon. Mathilde fancied a bit of shopping, whilst I was quite keen on visiting the Groud Zero City and the museum they'd created there. The reconstruction around the site is pretty much all finished now, with the One World Trade Centre building having been completed just a couple of years earlier. Standing tall at 1776 feet (full points to anybody guessing what that number symbolizes ;-), it's the 4th tallest building in the world (and the highest in the Western hemisphere).

There is also the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on the site of the original world trade centre. Two reflective pools have now replaced the site of the original buildings, and the memorial museum is actually mostly located under ground. It's all quite tastefully done I thought, and the museum is really interesting an informative. What I liked about how it was done is that while it pays due respect to the lives lost, it's all quite restrained, and thankfully keeps "non-political" (I was expecting something more "patriotic" than this, so was positively surprised).

We headed back to Harlem for dinner, deciding to try out the Cecil, just down the road from out flat.  It was a pretty nice little place, serving kind of Afro-American food with a modern/international twist. It was a pretty fancy place for having dinner, with a nice and classy atmosphere. The dishes on the menu seemed really interesting and original - even if the food didn't quite live up to the promise (I don't know, maybe it comes from living in France, the home of haute cuisine - but fancier dining in the US is often a bit disappointing to me...)