Friday in NYC

Friday was our last day and our flight was scheduled to leave at 5:30 pm. We packed up most of our stuff before we left in the morning. We rode the subway uptown to Barney Greengrass for Lox and Bagels. We had bagels smeared with cream cheese, loaded with salmon, topped with a slice of white onion and tomato served with a dill pickle….for breakfast. Very quaint little restaurant with very crowded tables. On weekends, they accept cash only. Exceptionally nice wait staff.

Following breakfast, we ventured back to the Brooklyn Bridge. My camera battery had died on our trip the previous day so we went back to get pictures.




As we found throughout the week, most things take much more time than we expected. We were hustling to get back to the hotel to get checked out in time. We checked out, stored our bags and went a couple of blocks up to Ray’s Pizza for our final NYC meal. The pizza slices were huge, and tasted great.

We returned to the hotel, retrieved our luggage and caught a cab by about 2:00 pm. We were worried that we might encounter Labor Day traffic either in the city, or at the airport or both. We arrived at the airport by about 2:30 and placed our names on the standby list for the 3:30 flight from LGA to DFW. When the standby list first posted, we were number 14 and 15. We figured…no way are we going to make it on this flight. But luck was on our side and we made the earlier flight.

We arrived back home totally exhausted, but had an amazing week. It was a perfect celebration of David’s 49th birthday. I warned him not to expect this to be outdone for 50!

Thursday in NYC

Thursday morning we opted to travel south to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Wall Street, Ground Zero and into Brooklyn to walk across the bridge looking toward Manhattan. Our original plan was that we would see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and be in Brooklyn for lunch. NOT!.


The Statue of Liberty is definitely amazing. One thing we learned that we did not previously know is that Lady Liberty is positioned in a forward motion. Her left foot is stepping forward while the right foot is slightly raised as she is proceeding forward. We have always thought she was standing straight.
Ellis Island was very interesting. We could have easily spent several hours at Ellis Island and would plan to do so if/when we visit again. The tour actually walks you through the various rooms as if you were an immigrant who had just arrived at Ellis Island. Realizing that we were well past lunch time, we grabbed a chicken sandwich at the Ellis Island café.
Once we were back in Manhattan, we ventured to Ground Zero. It was not as overwhelming as I expected. At this point, it is primarily a large construction site. We did walk through the small museum which was very touching. We left Manhattan and took the subway into Brooklyn, and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge. There are two paths…one for walkers, and one for bikes. Word to the wise….don’t walk on the bike path. They move very fast and are not very friendly if you get in their way.
Back in Manhattan, we encountered an artist using spray paint and putty knives to paint panoramic views of the city. When he was ready to dry the paint, he would light the surface with a disposable lighter to dry the paint. He used small caps, plates, etc to make arcs, moons, etc in the paintings. Simply fascinating. We probably should have bought one of his paintings.
We passed back through Grand Central and purchased a triple decker club sandwich from Junior’s, then went into the grocery/deli market and got smoked pasta salad and cole slaw which we took back to our room for dinner. We had anticipated hitting Times Square at night on Thursday evening but after almost 11 hours on our feet, the room and TV seemed like a better option!

Wednesday in NYC

Ok friends...I know I started this and then never got back to completing the blog of our trip...but here goes. Better late than never!

Wednesday morning we got a much later start and ventured to the TCKTS booth to see if we could grab some discount Broadway tickets. The line at the booth was about like the line for a Six Flags ride on a very busy day. Ultimately, we decided that we probably would just not see a Broadway play this trip. We ventured north to the highly recommended Gray’s Papaya hot dog stand. Supposedly the best hot dog and recession lunch deal in the city. We got two hot dogs with seasoned kraut and onions plus a beverage for $4.45. David had a coke, and I got the recommended Pina Colada. It was awesome. After we finished lunch, I went back and got another drink….which costs $2.45! But it was worth it.

Not that I needed it, mind you! We walked through Central Park and encountered a 3 piece band, The Dirty Urchins. They were actually pretty good, and we bought one of their CDs. We figured we were going to drop some $$ in the guitar case anyway, and we just as well get the CD. We haven’t listened to it yet, but we expect it to be entertaining. (Actually, we have listened by now and it's pretty good....a very unique group!)

We ventured on through Central Park and found our way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You could quite literally spend a full day or more, but after a few hours, we had seen a sufficient amount of artwork . As we left the Met, we realized we were about 30 blocks from our hotel and there were really no subway lines back to our hotel. A long walk back and we had just enough time to freshen up before we went to Frankie and Johnnie’s Steakhouse. It was restaurant week which means they offer a prix fixe menu. The steaks were very good, but I would not recommend this particular restaurant as the service was definitely substandard if you ordered from the restaurant week menu. There was a vast difference in the attentiveness of the wait staff at our table vs. the tables around us. Following dinner, we rode the subway back to Central Park and enjoyed a 45 minute carriage ride through the park. Jimbo was our guide horse.

Best Attic Find

A sweet friend of mine has offered to help us get rid of some excess clutter. We have already cleaned out the garage attic, but decided to tackle the house attic as well before the big sale/donate process. So, a couple of weekends ago, we cleared everything out of the attic. We virtually filled our 500 +/- SF gameroom with boxes from the attic...most of which had been there since we moved in back in 2002. Last Sunday, I decided to get serious about getting through all the boxes. My office is also in the gameroom and shall we say it was a bit claustrophobic. We knew we would find some great memories, some "why did we save this" and many other "treasures."
David and I are notorious for boxing clothes into Rubbermaid tubs and piling them in the attic thinking we will wear them again in the future...when we are smaller, when it is colder, etc. Yet, our closets always seem to be full to the max! So, I decided to really clean out the clothes boxes and just get rid of most of it.
Back when I worked full time in a professional office, I had a red wool knit suit that had a very long jacket and long pleated skirt. I wore this suit frequently in the winter. I found it in one of the attic clothes boxes. And thought to myself...."it was beginning to get some moth holes, and was a bit snug the last time I wore it (prior to 2002) and further, it probably just isn't in style anymore", so I put it in the "donate"pile.

In order to provide the background, when David and I married on 6/4/1983, my Mom gave us a small cartoon style ceramic elephant that was in a velour pouch which she had made and embroidered on the front, "My love for you is bigger than an elephant." For years we played the game in which we hid the elephant for each other never telling each other when we had found it and re-hidden it. Several years ago, probably about the time we moved, we realized that neither of us had seen "the elephant" for quite some time. Since we never told each other when we found the elephant, we had no idea who had hidden it last. We really thought that it had been lost at some point when something was thrown away or donated with the elephant inside a pocket, etc.

Once when I traveled overseas on a trip that I was really nervous about, David found a picture of an elephant on the internet, printed it and put it in my computer bag. It definitely conveyed the thought, but not the same as "the elephant."

Now back to the donate pile. Every since we realized the elephant has been "missing", we never donate anything without checking through all pockets, cubby holes, etc. And as I was folding my red suit, the pocket felt "full." I dug in and guess what......I FOUND THE ELEPHANT! We were both so excited and I had to immediately call my Mom and let her know.

Obviously David was the last one to hide it, so the elephant has once again been placed in a special place waiting for David to find it and be reminded of my love for him!