The third week of May was the highlight of 2023 for us, even though we are only half-way through the year. We had the joy of witnessing our son’s graduation with an MBA from the Columbia Business School, and the week very much revolved around that. But it was also about being a family (sadly, our daughter had exams at the university here in Alicante and could not join us), and enjoying the city. I present our week chronologically.
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On Sunday we went to the Columbia Business School graduation. The seating for the families and friends was a bit off to the side of the main stage:
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The quartet getting ready to play Elgar’s Pomp & Circumstance, over and over:
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Of course I wanted pictures of my son on his big day, so I placed myself in a spot where the newly minted graduates would be walking past on their way to their seats:
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And finally, my boy walks by:
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From where we sat, we had to rely on the big screen to see the key moment:
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Afterwards, we made our way to another part of the campus where the graduates would be emerging:
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And so it was. Here, Moses is talking to one of his fellow MBAs, who had brought her little daughter along to the ceremony:
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After the ceremony, we went for lunch at an Italian restaurant in Soho that Moses had selected, Sant Ambroeus:
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It was expensive, but delicious:
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Afterwards, we walked around the neighbourhood a bit. While waiting for my wife and son and daughter-in-law to emerge from some shop, I snapped this image of someone else waiting outside a shop:
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Monday was a father-and-son day for me and Moses. We left the rental car to my wife for shopping therapy, and took public transport to visit the Museum of Modern Art, one of my “must visit” places in New York. There were many interesting exhibitions, including one depicting Columbus Circle with the Spanish imperialist replaced by a Haitian slave revolt leader:
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We also enjoyed the Sculpture Garden:
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Tuesday morning started like most mornings, with a walk to the dog park next to the apartment building where Moses and Myrela and their pets live. Euclid is a young, energetic dog, and he needs lots of exercise:
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Lincoln Harbor is the name of the part of Weehawken where they live. It is certainly a dog-friendly place:
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Later on Tuesday my wife and I drove south, to the part of New Jersey where we lived between 1990 and 1995, to have a look at our old places. This is the house in Lawrenceville where we lived. It was the place where our daughter spent the first year of her life. The area has not changed much, except that it is a lot greener than we remembered it–the small trees of 30 years ago are a lot bigger now:
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During our years in New Jersey, my wife worked for a mental health non-profit organisation called SERV, in Trenton, the state capital. We drove past the building that used to be their head office, but they had apparently moved, and when we asked one of the neighbours about it, she did not know anything:
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The neighbourhood (like much of Trenton) is pretty run down, as it was back in the 1990s:
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In the afternoon, Moses and I went to a bar in Hoboken to watch the Champions League semifinal between Inter Milan and AC Milan. It was a bar that he did not know about, but a women we met at the dog park that morning told us that there was a proper football bar in Hoboken. And indeed it was. As we approached we saw the banners of the two Milan teams, and a replica of the World Cup outside:
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We liked the decor inside, and the place was full of fans of the two teams:
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On Wednesday morning I went our early to catch the sunrise over Manhattan. This is the view just before sunrise, looking south, with the Verrazzano bridge in the distance:
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Then the sun appeared among the tall buildings:
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Later on Wednesday, it was time for Moses to put on his gown and go back to Columbia University, this time to attend the general commencement. Since it was the middle of the week, we did not even think of trying to find a parking near Columbia, so we took public transport instead:
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Mother and son:
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Lots of other graduates had made the same transport choice:
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The flower vendors outside the university were doing good business:
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Inside, everything was on a much bigger scale than it had been on Sunday, since now the entire university was involved:
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While family and friends were roasting in the sun, the bleachers were slowly filling with the new graduates:
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Some lucky people had a great view of the proceedings:
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After a couple of hours, all the students are in their seats and the ceremony can begin:
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Columbia attracts students from all over the world, and many of the international students had brought flags with them for their big day. Understandably, the university takes a great deal of pride in the international nature of its student body:
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Since our seats were off to the side, we could only see the stage on the screen. The proceedings went on seemingly forever. Each school or faculty was presented by its head who ritually “implored” the president of the University to grant his students the degree and the “duties and privileges hereto appertaining” or some such, and the president did so with an almost papal wave:
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Afterwards, we made our way home by taking the subway to the Port Authority and then the bus over to New Jersey. Except that Moses and I noticed that a bar inside the Port Authority had the other Champions League semifinal, between Manchester City and Real Madrid, so we put my wife on the bus and stayed at the bar to enjoy the match:
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On Thursday morning, I went with Moses to take the pets for a checkup at the vet:
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While Euclid likes the vet, Watson the Cat is much more apprehensive, and the vet’s assistant tries to entice him out of the bag:
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He is comfortable in there and has no desire to come out:
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But finally he does peek out:
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The vet came and examined the animals. Both were pronounced healthy but Euclid was declared overweight and must thus go on a diet (not too drastic, just slightly less food):
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In the afternoon, I decided to walk the length of Hoboken’s main street, Washington Street. It starts about 1 km from Weehawken, so it would be a 5 km walk altogether. At the start, as always, I enjoyed the great view from Weehawken:
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I did my walk in Hoboken and took many photos, which are shown in a separate gallery, but this one, of an excellent sax player performing with John Lennon in the background, is my favourite:
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Later on Thursday, we drove into the city and went to one of my favourite places in New York, the Strand bookstore. Despite my best attempts at self-control, I left the bookstore with 5 books in the bag:
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A sticker, sign of the times:
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A few weeks before the trip, I had read in the New York Times about a gallery of Puerto Rican and other Latin art called Museo del Barrio, located on the Upper East Side, and on Friday we went to visit. It turned out to be a wonderful experience and we now have another place in the city which I will visit every time:
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Afterwards, we stopped for some delicious pizza at a modest place:
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This kid looks as if he would like some of our pizza:
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In the early evening, we went for the happy hour at a restaurant called Chart House, 5 minutes walk from Moses’s apartment. The views from the dining room are a big part of the attraction of this place:
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I never get tired of the view from Weehawken:
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On Saturday, Moses and I wanted to watch Liverpool’s Premier League match against Southampton, the last match of the 2022/23 season. I have raised my son in the True Faith, so he is a Liverpool supporter like me. The only problem is that the match started at 3 p.m. in England, meaning at 10 a.m. in New Jersey. Drinking a pint is a necessary ancillary activity when watching football, even if the early hour made it a bit awkward:
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In the evening, we just hung around with Moses and Myrela. I prepared dinner, and enjoyed the pets. Watson likes to be next to Moses’s bicycle:
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It rained a bit during the evening, but Euclid needed his walk nonetheless:
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And again on Sunday morning. But we did not mind, it was our last full day with our son, so we wanted to make the most of it:
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The only wildlife you will ever see in Weehawken:
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There is a common outdoor patio next to Moses’s apartment building, well equipped with BBQs, which we took advantage of for our Sunday lunch:
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A kiss from Euclid:
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Time to eat:
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Moses’s wife Myrela is also a Columbia graduate (from an earlier year), and they had asked me to do a portrait shoot of both of them in their gowns on the Columbia campus. So after lunch, we got in the car with Euclid and drove to the campus; they wanted the dog to be in some of the pictures too:
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Euclid was being a good boy, so he got rewarded with some low-fat dog treats:
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We finished the session with two classic graduation poses:
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We were leaving Monday morning, so Sunday evening was a bit sad. We just stayed at home, enjoying each other and the pets:
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The last picture from this trip, taken on Monday morning, Euclid looking as if he knows that we are leaving:
A complete New York City gallery is here, and there is also a gallery dedicated to the two museums we visited, MoMA and the Museo del Barrio.