Destinations

New York & New Haven:   I had not visited this part of the East Coast in many a year and it was a perfect Spring almost summer-like with temperatures in the mid-80’s despite the burgeoning spring flower show on offer.  New York has only gotten better since last I visited.  Pulsing with energy as always but full of a sense of comfort, purpose and mere enjoyment as people moved to work, to play and to find spots of sunshine to absorb after a long, wet and cold winter.
 
I came to New York to meet very close Swedish friends, one of whom was going to give a talk at Yale University in New Haven.  A former journalist and newspaper editor in Sweden, his serious and in-depth tomes written after retirement have been recognized and I wanted to be there to hear his speech.  They flew in from Europe; I did the overnight from San Francisco.  With very little time in the City of New York we made the most of it– walking in Central Park, watching the spring profusion of budding trees and blossoming shrubs/flowers, visiting the amazing Apple Store at Columbus Circle (pulsing with frenzied new IPad purchasers), strolling Fifth Avenue as well as Rockefeller Center all the time checking out the many iconic buildings in varying architectural styles.   Dining in New York is legend — you can grab a quick snack at kosher hot dog stands or halal meat & rice street carts or retreat to full-service elegant dining spots.  We chose a bistro-style European café serving freshly prepared and organically grown meals.
 
The next day after a wonderful visit to the American Folk Art Museum (a treasure located next to the almost over-loved Museum of Modern Art) we headed to Grand Central Station and our Metro-North Train ride to New Haven.   New Haven is a town living with Yale University at its core… the original Town Green of old New Haven is the entry point to the extensive campus, full of impressive stone buildings housing dining commons, residential accommodations for the students,  massive libraries (including the famed Beinecke Library of rare books), lecture halls, music auditoria, and the accoutrements of life on campus.  Young people reading books and chatting on the commons lawns exemplifying those participating in real learning but softened by the spring in this buffered world of academia.  Surrounding the campus buildings were restaurants, large book stores, cafés, and a variety of businesses catering to their young clientele.
 
Returning to New York after the lecture, we overnighted at the classic Iroquois Hotel, an island of calm in the busy city, with excellent services and luxurious but understated ambience.  Next morning we headed back to California. 
 
The following weekend, it was off to Yosemite Valley which I had not seen in over 20 years!!  Such magnificence and vistas yet a sense of dignified calm and quietude predominated during our visit.  The Valley is full of people happy, relaxed and overjoyed with the dramatic views, overflowing waterfalls and animal life unafraid of those of us who have come to share the space with them.  We had an extra-ordinary two April days … warm daytime temperatures (it had just snowed 3 days prior), leaves emerging from stalks and stems, flowers showing awakening colors and scrawky sounds from the Steller’s Jay in its flashing blue coat, dark grey crest with two bright blue bars of color like Vishnu stripes on their foreheads.  The various waterfalls were bountifully full of water spilling over the lofty heights dropping in wide sprays of white foam and shifting spray paths towards the valley floor.  The temperatures at night were cold enough to cause ice patterns of frozen water against the granite walls in the early morning light.
 
In a modern world we can find outselves in the urban energy of a major American city one day, wending our way through the greenswards of an academic surround or hours later (OK — a day or so later) experiencing the still-preserved beauties of nature in one of the U.S.A.’s most historic and superb natural environments.   Quite something else!!

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