A bit late, but better late than never.

The Jersey Shore

Michael, Patrick, Ben and John for Ben's birthday

On May 5, we headed to Asbury Park, New Jersey, to visit old friends Patrick and Michael who have retired there.  We manage at least one trip a year there and this time explored new and different places besides the old decrepit buildings along the Boardwalk in Asbury.   This trip we celebrated Ben's birthday at Pascal and Sabine's Bistro in Asbury.  Lovely meals in a well-spaced restaurant.  Ben enjoyed three small plates while John, Patrick and Michael stayed with the traditional format.   The Connecticut (!) oysters were superb for Ben and Patrick, as was John's venison.  Ben's mushroom tart looked grand, as did Michael's entrecote with frites.  

Sandy Hook Lighthouse

Our next day was exploring, for us.  We drove north to Sandy Hook National Park where from the northern point of New Jersey south of New York City you see the city's skyline, the Verrazano Bridge and even the Statue of Liberty.  The park is full of the ruins of forts and materiel testing areas which were used to protect New York Harbor and test various missiles, cannons and other munitions.  There is even a nude beach, but we didn't make it that far. 

 

The next exploration was down the coast from Asbury to Point Pleasant, where we meandered along the Boardwalk, looked over the area that had been destroyed by Hurricane Sandy and has now been re-bermed, checked out some of the food specialties.  John did not manage to get a photo of a fried Milky Way (UK-Mars bar) but we did make it to the fishing port.  There we enjoyed our huge lobster rolls and fries before heading to their home for a superb dinner of fresh halibut (bought at the port) with Patrick and Michael's friend  Donna.

It's amazing the cholesterol feast available on the boardwalk.

A buttered lobster roll and fries

Donna and Ben

The Barnes Collection in Philadelphia

We had visited the Barnes Collection years ago with friends from France when it was in Philadelphia's suburbs.  Now, after years of legal wrangling, it's on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in the center of the city's museum district.  

The new building is beautifully designed inside, though perhaps a bit too Brutalist on the outside.  After years of legal wrangling over the terms of Barnes' will and trust, a settlement was made that the arrangement of the paintings and sculptures inside would be exactly the same as in the old suburban museum.  That means that the art is arranged in triptych style on ghastly wallpaper, interspersed with silly 1920's metallic sculptures that look like they should have naked lightbulbs attached to them.  However, it's hard to say No to 181 Renoirs and hundreds of other Impressionist paintings. 

The huge Matisse mural above the main hall is still as grand as ever, and the statuary sprinkled throughout the collection ranges from Futurism to African masques, some of which bring to mind Modigliani's paintings of which there are many.  

There was also a show of Soutine and De Kooning paintings, showing their interaction and the growth of abstract impressionism, which was clearly worth the time to go see it.

 

As our trip drew to a close, Ben found a new toy:  A milk frother, that makes his favorite cappuccinos so easily.