The first four days of this American adventure have already flown by, and I am already sitting on a train riding in the sunset taking me to Washington, DC.
NYC has been, unsurprisingly, an amazing first stop and the time there has literally flown by: I definitely got a lot done, but a lot is still left for next time (which can’t come soon enough).
This morning I was very happy to meet my friend Sara – also visiting NYC from London – for an interesting breakfast at Má Pêche, a cute little Asian-inspired restaurant in the basement of a downtown hotel that makes some pretty lovely matcha pancakes.
Before it was time to catch my train, I did manage to squeeze in one more museum visit. I headed out to Brooklyn to check out the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum (something I had originally missed, and only found out by accident yesterday as I was writing my previous post 🙂 ).
The exhibition features a number of her artworks spanning her entire career, but what is particularly interesting is the focus on the development of the image (and brand) of O’Keeffee the artist.
Many of those black and white outfits that are typically associated with her (thanks also to the many photo portraits that her partner, the photographer Alfred Stieglitz, took of her) were on display, together also with the more “relaxed” denims she started wearing when she moved to New Mexico in the late forties.
It was particularly nice to see again some of her later works from this period in New Mexico, inspired by the deep connection she felt with the flat-topped mount Pedernal (apparently she once said that she believed that if she painted Pedernal Mountain enough times that God would give it to her). Here I particularly love how the flatness and uniformity of the desert landscape blurs often the difference between depiction of real objects and pure abstraction.
The rest of the Brooklyn Museums exhibit and permanent collection (including quite a lot of amazing pieces of furniture, particularly the art deco stuff) were equally impressive, and I am quite happy I took the time to come visit.
The first train ride (for this trip)
A couple of years ago I rode on the Pacific Surfliner from LA to San Diego (and back), so I am not a total stranger to the little oddities of Amtrak.
To cover the roughly 350km between New York and Washington, DC one can either spend a little over 3 hours on the National Express service , or opt for the super-modern, fast service of the Acela Express, which for roughly 3 times the price of the National Express will get you to DC in 2 hours and 54 minutes… I think someone should explain the concept of “fast train” to the Americans 🙂
While I think this trip is probably more enjoyable in the fall, with the shifting colors of the trees alongside the track, I must admit that particularly the last bit with the train practically hoovering over the waters of Chesapeake Bay as the sunset was turning everything around red made the arrival into DC quite special.