Today was Easter, a holiday I love actually. I tried to go to hear Gospel music but was thwarted in my attempt by renovations at the church I like to go to. I’m glad the Church is being renovated though, it needs it.
It’s a beautiful historic church in Harlem that I like to go to when I want to hear a sermon. Instead, I made my way to St. John the Divine, another church I am partial to on the West Side. Sometimes when I stand on west 112th street and look west at the rose window on St. John the Divine, I can fantasize that I am having a “gita fuori porta,” a lovely expression for a trip outside of the city, outside of the city walls. The view looks to me like that of a gothic cathedral, like Reims or Rouen.
I love French gothic Cathedrals and have spent many a day looking through them and traveling to see them specifically. To stay with the French theme, a friend and I shared an Easter meal at my local haunt, Picnic. A bistro with delicious but too pricey food. I had a glass of Paul Blanck’s Pinot Blanc. It was bigger and fruitier than I had imagined but delicious nonetheless with lovely acidity and mineral notes. While I stayed in NYC this Easter, these jaunts made me feel like I had been on my own “gita fuori porta.”
