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Indoor
Oases: New York, Take Me Away...
You've had one too many days
of being shoved on the bus and sardined
into a subway car. Con Ed's jackhammers
are pounding outside your apartment. Your
favorite espresso bar suddenly got
popular. You can't afford an island
cruise. It's winter. It's cold. The
holidays are over and you have the blues.
Where should you go? What should you do?
Clearly you need an indoor oasis -- a
place to relax, tap into some inner peace
and tranquillity, make the pandemonium of
this wonderfully exhausting city vanish
for awhile. Where you'll achieve that may
depend on your definition of
"oasis," but following are a
variety of choices to consider.
Divine Inspiration
You needn't be of a
particular religious faith to find
sanctuary at The
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine.
It's a sublime setting to contemplate the
meaning of life, and to savor a
museum-quality experience without vying
for viewing space. The Cathedral is the
largest Gothic structure in the world,
with an interior length of 601 feet and a
height of 124 feet at its nave. Though
its cornerstone was laid in 1892, some
construction has yet to be completed. You
could stroll for hours without
discovering all its treasures --
architectural splendors, statuaries,
sculptures, carvings, paintings, and
exhibits. The seven Chapels of the
Tongues represent the international
character of New York City. The High
Altar features the Great Cross and
Menorah. Its enormous pipe organ nearly
extends to the ceiling. The Great Doors
of the West Front, each 18 feet high and
weighing 3 tons, were cast in the same
Paris foundry that cast the Statue
of Liberty.
The Poetry Wall speaks to great literary
figures, the Historical Parapet to great
historical figures. The Cathedral
celebrates the spiritual dimension of
everything from sports and education to
ecology and civil rights. In addition to
worship and pastoral care, the Cathedral
contributes much to the city in the way
of education, housing, music, and the
arts. Donations toward its work can be
made near the front entrance. Proceeds
from its gift shop -- a fine one, by the
way -- also help the cause. Call for a
calendar of special events, such as
concerts and readings, or for times of
services. The Cathedral is located at
1047 Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan; phone
212-678-6888 for further details.
Sophisticated
Pleasures
Shhhhhhh...We all know the
rule: Be quiet at the library. Listen
only to the soothing hum of industrious
brains (and these days maybe the clicking
of keys on on-line terminals). Taking a
trip to the New
York Public Library
for research purposes is guaranteed to
raise your blood pressure. But have you
ever gone just to look around, pull up a
chair, and read, write, or doodle to your
heart's content? You don't have to go any
further than the first stairwell off the
main entrance. Claim that marble bench.
Sit. Rest. Watch the world go by. Though
you won't be as far from the madding
crowd as Montana, you won't feel hemmed
in. This is a spacious place. Take a walk
or an elevator to the McGraw Rotunda on
the third floor. Browse the assortment of
exhibitions, including centuries-old
lithographs and a Charles Addams
collection. Overhead is a ceiling mural
interpreting the Promethean legend. Four
murals on the surrounding walls depict
the story of the recorded word. All were
done as part of a WPA (Work Projects
Administration) project and unveiled in
1940 by Mayor LaGuardia, of airport fame.
Leading off from the Rotunda are the Edna
Barnes Salomon Room (home to Special
Collections), and the more frequented
Bill Blass Public Reading Room. The north
reading room has copiers, microfiche, and
noise. The south reading room is calmer,
with mostly a low-level rustling of
papers, an occasional scraping of a
chair. Tuck yourself away from the
entrance where people pick up books to
the drone of "Next. Next.
Next." Start doodling. Read a poem.
Write that great American novel...or
maybe just that letter to your
grandmother you've been putting off. The
Library is on Fifth Avenue between 40th
and 42nd Streets; the phone number is
212-930-0800. Closed Fridays and Sundays.
Yes, There's More
Still tense? In case none of
the above do the trick, here are two more
ideas:
- Go see the stars.
Not the ones from Hollywood. The
ones in the sky that are obscured
by the bright lights of our big
city. Yes, New Yorkers can still
see the moon and maybe a faint
trace of the Big Dipper. But if
you want to view the heavens in
all their glory, and learn some
astronomy to boot, visit the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of
Natural History. Along with two
exhibition floors, the
Planetarium offers various Sky
Shows to transport you to
galaxies far, far away. (The
Planetarium is at 81st Street and
Central Park West, phone
212-769-5920. )
- Picture yourself in
a boat on a river...or the Staten Island Ferry. Midday on a
weekday you won't be battling the
commuting crowd or too many
tourists. You can journey back
and forth as many times as you
please -- and the cost
is...nothing! All that water will
remind you that you live on an
island. The skyscrapers will grow
smaller and smaller as you move
away from Manhattan. The torch
lady can be seen guarding the
harbor. It can be a pacifying
ride. (The ferry terminal is on
Whitehall Street at Battery Park,
718-815-2628. Runs 24 hours a
day. Subways: 1/9 to South Ferry,
4/5 to Bowling Green, N/R to
Whitehall Street.)
by Karen Petty
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