Week of October 26th, 2015

Friday, October 30th: Harvard Club Foundation Dinner Dance.

Saturday October 31st: Swing Dance Flash mob in Times Square.  Check the FB page for photos here.

Saturday October 31st: Halloween Stomp

More photos from the official event album here.

Week of October 19th, 2015

Sunday October 24th: Day-trip to Kykuit. We headed up to Sleepy Hollow, NY to enjoy the Fall colors and tour Kykuit, The Rockefeller family estate. Our turgid, Carol, was a sheer delight. Thanks to Stephen for the photos.

Week of October 12th, 2015

October 14 - 16: Trip to Greenport Long Island. Many thanks to Marguerite for organizing such a lovely get-away.

Friday, October 16th: Maurizio Pollini plays Chopin at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall.

Saturday, October 17th: Prayer for Peace Concert at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Jason Tramm. Months of work paid off as Maestro Tramm put together a fantastic musical program for all to enjoy, featuring pieces by composers of 3 different faiths. For more details, see press coverage and photos in Broadway World here.

Alex & the Maestro (photo credit John Gladitsch)

(photo credit: John Gladitsch)

Sunday, October 18th: Balanchine Black & White. NY City Ballet

Week of October 5th, 2015

Monday, October 5th: "Going, Going, Gone." The owner of Guernsey's auction house presented a lively and informative lecture on the highlights of his career.

Thursday, October 8th: Comic Con 2015. Our little band of heroes took on Gotham City at Comic Con.

The girls and their new friend, Michael Rooker

Friday, October 9th: Governor's Ball at the Princeton Club.

Week of September 28th, 2015

Friday, October 2nd: Playboy Swings at the Player's Club. Patrick Soluri's Playboy themed event brought revelers together at NYC's swanky Player's Club to experience a number of bands and dancers.

Saturday, October 3rd: The Met at the movies. Terry & I enjoyed the Met's live simultaneous broadcast at the movies of Verdi's Il Trovatore. Following Dmitri Hvorotovsky and Anna Netrebko's outstanding performances, we enjoyed a delicious early dinner at Barbetta Restaurant.  What a way to celebrate our combined birthdays!

Week of August 24th, 2015

• Friday August 21st: Venerdí. The only reason I can keep track of what day of the week it is is because of the rugs the Hotel thoughtfully changed every day in the Hotel elevator. So today is Venerdi.

You may ask why we choose to stay in a village requiring an Everest-like trek to the beach ever day.  Well, it's so as to work off a few small indulgences.

Ice cream counter, Buca di Bacco.

Week of August 17th, 2015

Monday, August 17th: The San Pietro Hotel. About 10 km outside Positano, the Hotel San Pietro sits perched upon a rocky cliffside.  The lush and verdant grounds are a perfect hideaway for its guests (like Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk) to enjoy privacy. The Hotel's most wonderful aspect is perhaps the elevator built into the rock that whisks guests away to a private beach down below.  The 90-second ride through solid rock is not for the claustrophobic, nor the faint of heart!

One of the Hotel's Terraces

Detail of inlaid tile work on a stone bench

Il Fornillo. Physicists like to say What goes up must come down. But in Positano, a more apt saying is What you go down, you must come up again. case in point, a staircase to the nearby Il Fornillo beach.

It is a ten minute hike, amidst very wild scenery punctuated by towers.

But it is all worth it to have lunch on the beach at this lovely spot.

Bar Bagni da Puppetto.

Next to this Face!

Michelangelo eating bread.

It is a good thing I fortified myself with lunch, so I am ready to face the trip back. Here is the same staircase, seen from the bottom.