VT-NY

It was something of a fool-hardy plan: I would head out from Burlington Vermont at 7am, drive a rental car four or so hours to Beacon New York to visit Dia:Beacon, take a train to New York City to eat at Les Halles then go to the Met to see the Max Ernst retrospective, then back on the train to the car to get back to Burlington. Pretty much everyone I told my plan to thought it couldn’t be done, but I managed to do it all and do it right and make it back in one piece before dawn.

Mountains, Lakes, & Valleys

Vermont Country Side 

Crossing Into New York 

I got up at pretty much the crack of dawn to make it to the Burlington International Airport at 7 when the car rental place opened. I got into my trusty (and zippy) vehicle and hit the road. The drive was extraordinary. Through Vermont farmland with mountains in the distance, small-town America, following Lake Champlain, through the twists and turns of the Adirondacks, and into the Hudson Valley, the scenery was pretty spectacular. Following a quick bagel break on the road (and one stop on the Lake to check my map) I hit the I-87 and then the I-84 to Beacon.

Lake George: Quick map check 


A museum I wouldn’t kick out of bed for making crackers

Alright, the Nabisco factory in Beacon, New York, built in 1929, didn’t actually make crackers, but rather the boxes for those crackers. What this means though, that quality of light – skylights cover the roof – as well as space were essential design elements. When the Dia Art Foundation was looking for a space to house their unparalleled collection of contemporary art they couldn’t have asked for a more ideal location. Dia, renowned for their sponsorship of exceptionally large-scale, often site-specific, and almost always highly conceptual art, has filled the refurbished 240,000 square feet of gallery space with the art of 24 artists in their collection. You can do the math. That is a crazy amount of space for each artist (although it is not divided evenly, naturally). To say the art is difficult is more than a mild understatement, but the experience of the museum of the art in such a setting is something to behold, even if you aren’t a fan of contemporary art.

On a downtown train
The plan was that I would head down by train into Manhattan. Because the drive took longer than I anticipated I was pushing it to make the train I originally intended. However, it became a moot point as I mixed up the train schedule a bit and I missed the train I wanted anyway. This was a fortunate accident as I really rushed through a bunch of galleries at the end and I was able to spend the better part of another hour taking time with the art. I just made the train and was following the Hudson into the City.

Manhattan in 3.5hrs
My New York plan was simple – hit the #6 Lexington train, conveniently located at Grand Central Terminal to 28th Street, eat at Les Halles, get back on the 6 to 82nd where I would walk the three blocks to the Met, spend a little quality time with Max Ernst then back to Grand Central to get back to Beacon. A great way to spend a day…if you live in New York. For the commuting tourist it was going to be a bit of a marathon.

Eating in the Halls of Bourdain

LesHalles 

Ever since first seeing A Cook’s Tour I have been a fan of Anthony Bourdain. So a trip to New York would have been unthinkable for me without stopping in for some classic French Bistro cuisine at Les Halles. I was a bit worried that I didn’t have a reservation (I tried to make one online but never heard back from them – which was just as well as I would have missed it anyway), but there was plenty of room at 3:30 on Saturday. I had a seat looking out onto Park Avenue and wonderfully simple brunch starting with Gratinee des Halles (Onion Soup}, then the classic Steak, Frites, Salade with a glass of wine and a bodum filled with great coffee. Everything was excellent but next time I think I will go for something a little more daring. No time for dilly-dallying. I skipped dessert because while an hour and a half for lunch may be standard for the French, I had to get to the Met.

Lop-Lop, frottage, grattage and decolomania

Ernst – The Garden of France 

What can I saw about Ernst at the Met? Fan-freaking-tastic ought to about do it. Max Ernst is said to be the most influential artist of the 20th Century, perhaps aside from Picasso. The show followed Ernst’s development from the rare WWI era Chagall-esque dreamy paintings through his collages, automatic experiments with rubbing and scraping, and late works made in exile in the US. I was able to spend a good amount of time at the exhibit, but I didn’t have too much time to spare. I didn’t want to miss the 7 o’clock train to Beacon so I took a pass on the Diane Arbus exhibit and saw essentially nothing of the permanent collection (criminal, I know). It goes without saying that I wish I could have spent a lot more time at the Met but I have absolutely no regrets about making the trip for the one exhibit.

1000 miles and counting
I made the train with a few minutes to spare. Read the Village Voice. Reached Beacon at 8:18. I missed the exit I needed to head north leading me about 35 miles too far west. A friendly gas station attendant set me right and I was making my way back to Vermont. While I spent most of the rest of the drive thinking that I was lost I somehow managed to find my way exactly to where I needed to be. The drive was much slower and with many stops for caffeine and/or map-checks but I made it home in one piece.

Much to my surprise the plan worked, remarkably, without a hitch. I accomplished everything to set out to do. After one return train trip, two world-class art galleries, 19 hours and over 1000 miles in the car it was a pretty intense American roadtrip.
rgsc.