Yesterday, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the first Sunday of Advent, Ken, Margie, Brandon, and I took a personal Holden Caulfield/Catcher in the Rye tour of parts of Manhattan mentioned in the book.
We met up on the N train and got off at 5th Avenue and 60th Street. First stop: the Pond at Central Park South. Yes, the ducks were there, plenty of them. Mallards. The pond isn't anywhere near frozen yet; we've had a warm fall. Ken and Brandon climbed one of the rocks overlooking the pond. They also took pictures.
Then we walked to the zoo, which was closing. The sun was beginning to set. Ken explained that the park used to be free, but now they charge admission. He also showed where the children's zoo used to be. From the walkway near the zoo, we could see the sea lion pool, and the sea lions swimming underneath the water, sometimes poking their heads through the water's surface.
I suggested we walk to East 71st Street and Fifth Avenue, where the Caulfields "live". We walked on a pathway going north in the park and exited at East 69th, then walked the two blocks north. I was going to mention that Pale Male, the red hawk, had lived there on a perch on a building on E 72nd Street a few years ago, but I forgot. Ken crossed the street to 900 Fifth Avenue and asked the doorman when the building was built, and he said the mid-1950s, I think--too late for our story. Two buildings filled that block and I think they both had a 12th floor.
We rode the bus to Rockefeller Center, and walked down the path of the Christmas Angels to the tree, which is not lit yet, and the skating rink. To skate and to rent cost umpteen dollars, so we watched. I said I was trying to see which couples could be Holden and Sally. I saw one couple kissing semi-passionately and I said, "It's not them!"
We ate at Dean and Deluca; I had pumpkin cheesecake and seltzer. We stopped at the NBC Gift Shop for a while before we got back on the train home.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/train/catcherx-large.jpg
http://wirednewyork.com/images/manhattan/rockefeller_center/rockefeller_skating.jpg
I just read over this interesting article online with this quote:
"as teachers we’re so programmed and predictable because we spend more energy on producing what passes for measurable achievement than we do cultivating imaginative minds."
The Ducks in Central Park, or
Why You Can’t Teach The Catcher in the Rye
by Lawrence Bowden
http://www.americanpopularculture.com/archive/bestsellers/catcher.htm
