Met again

Today I went back to the Met with Rosemary. I got to use my membership to get both of us in! We wolfed down a lamb gyro on the front steps. I wanted to see the other Fashion exhibit that I missed the last time around--the period rooms in the American Wing had been repurposed as "one-frame movies" by several directors who used costumes and the stories of designers to create tableaux. Called "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" it highlights the emergence of an American style in dialogue with France, and the rise of the named designer as a force in American fashion. Directors Julie Dash, Chloe Zhao, Sophia Coppola, Martin Scorcese, Tom Ford, Janitza Bravo and others. 

We also spent some time in the Greek and Roman rooms looking at inspiration for her big project, The Song of Achilles. It's amazing how a personal connection can alter the attention I pay to the objects.  After, we recovered our energy at the Bluestone Lane Cafe on 89th just past the Guggenheim--juice was not cheap but it was good and it's a cool space in a church. Now we know a place we can go when we visit the Met. Another place to try is the Viennese style cafe Sabarsky at the Neue Gallerie, an Austrian museum.

The ride back on the subway was packed, but I'm starting to get the hang of getting to the right platform: the 86th St. station has two entrances and you can't cross over  inside, so you have to go back outside and cross the street if you haven't paid attention to the signs. The other thing that is clear is that the Google Maps app sometimes has a better connection to which train is coming next than the signs themselves in the station. I was waiting for the 4 and it kept saying that the next train to arrive would be the 5 and that the 4 was still ten minutes out. Not so! I need to investigate, though---does the 5 also stop at 14th St? Because if you are in the Maps app and it is telling you to take the 4  you can't peek at the 5's route to compare. Hmmm, apparently it runs the same express stops as the 4 for that stretch. The 6 must be the local. At least not during peak time. Ugh, so much to learn!