The weather forecast for today called for about 1.5 inches of rain, so we decided to plan on visiting museums instead of wandering the island as usual. It was raining lightly when we left the hotel for our first (and, as it turned out, only) museum, the Frick Collection, so instead of walking the 30 blocks to the Frick, we only walked as far as Grand Central so we could pick up the 6 train to 68th Street.
The Frick honored our San Jose Museum of Art membership, which let us skip the long ticket line; soon enough, we were in the only part of the museum that they let you photograph, the Garden Court.
There are no labels on the art in the Frick – you have to use the Bloomberg Connects app if you want to know anything about the artwork. It was a little awkward, but it worked.
And the place was crowded – there was a line for the gift shop! The Frick had been closed for several years for renovation, and New Yorkers (and visitors) are flocking to it every day; it was even more attractive on a rainy day.
We would have eaten in the museum cafe, but the reviews I read on Yelp say that it has three major problems:
- It’s overpriced
- The portions are tiny
- You can’t get in without a reservation, and the reservations were all gone for the day
Instead, we stayed until we’d been in every room in the Frick and seen as much as we wanted. I even managed to sneak in a photo!
It had rained a lot while we were in the museum, but it wasn’t too bad when we started walking towards the subway. By the time we reached Lexington, it was raining hard again, so we ducked into Vive la Crêpe and had a late lunch, watching the rain get harder and harder until there was a break – we dashed to the subway and got back to our hotel, slightly damp but none the worse for wear.
We didn’t go out again until dinner time. Dinner was a slice and a salad at Roma Pizza, followed by a walk to Times Square and ice cream from Van Leeuwen in Grand Central.
The clouds were still very low over the tall buildings, making Manhattan even more magical than usual.
We returned to the hotel, dry and happy, despite the 1.75 inches of rain that Apple says we got today.