Quick entry today as Jeffrey is on his way from LaGuardia airport to the apartment for a five day visit. We have quite a long list of activities to play our way through then we both leave for Seattle on Tuesday and I won't be back in NYC til June 7th. It'll be nice for me to get a heavy duty dose of NYC with Jeffrey before leaving to Seattle.
Last Friday, I met up with Megan and Lena at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. It's a very easy subway ride directly from my corner subway stop to the entrance of the Garden. It's a very impressive Garden and so many things were in bloom, particularly the tree peonies...a magnificent collection with some flowers just huge and of many colors. The wisteria were out in full force throughout the park. We walked through most of the grounds and got to see a number of different garden settings. They also have a large grove of cherry trees that I must get back to next March to see them in full bloom. It was a very relaxing walk and time with the two of them. Our next outing will be to the adjoining Brooklyn Museum, I've heard very good things about it. It does have pretty stiff competition given all the really fantastic museums in Manhattan. So, okay, I am starting to be more appreciative of Brooklyn in general. I will probably take Jeffrey on a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to the DUMBO area while he is here. As usual I forget to bring my camera so no pics for this entry.
Bob and I then took a really fun trip to Amish Country in and around Lancaster, Pennsylvania over last weekend. Lancaster is a very charming city with lots of interesting old architecture and building materials. We like the feel of the town very much. While I did remember the camera for this trip, I didn't remember to charge the battery so ARGGGHHH, no pics again. Even though we were only there overnight, we managed to do a lot, including an hour plus buggy ride with an Amish Elder. He was very open to talking about their lifestyle, religious practices, etc. They are very conservative overall (surprise, surprise) but they also have a good sense of humor as well. The Amish are big dairy farmers and Bob was finally able to get raw milk that he has been wanting for a while and is banned in New York state, you have to buy it on the black market, which apparently is quite a lucrative business for some of the suppliers since there is a high demand for it in Manhattan. We also bought two dozen freshly laid eggs, the very pregnant Amish wife plucked them from the next right before Bob bought them. The two dozen eggs and half gallon of raw milk cost $5.50 all together! We also bought some other souvenirs to remind us of our trip (a quilted pot holder, magnet, post cards). We also bought a bag of Amish homemade potato chips (truely DEE-LISH-US), and a whoopee pie (essentially a more round and flatter unfrosted hostess cupcake but with much better filling---no chemical aftertaste). We also visited what was formally an Amish homestead that gave you a really good idea of their lifestyle and how they practiced their beliefs day-to-day while still stretching the boundaries a bit. Bob really, really enjoyed his time in Amish Country.
That night we went to see the movie Bridesmaids---so funny and touching. We both really LOVED it and I recommend anyone to go see it. The next day we went on a horseback ride out in the PA countryside in an area that just borders Delaware. The states here are so small that we crossed over NY, NJ, PA and Maryland in weekend trip. We could have crossed over into Delaware if we had been willing just to go a little out of our way but didn't. The views on the horse ride were so beautiful---lush green tree filled rolling hills. The horse farm is on conservatory property so it will also stay as pristine as it is now. Really beautiful setting. My horse, Popeye, was HUGE, probably at least 7 feet at the tip of his ears to the ground but so sweet and gentle. I was very happy to just plod along on a slow ride, I think Bob would have preferred a more jaunty experience. Regardless it was a very relaxing way to pass a couple of hours.
We then headed into Philadelphia for a couple of hours. It was on our way home so thought it would be fun just to check it out at a surface level so we would know where to concentrate when we go there specifically. There is SO MUCH history in that town. Way too much to try to get a sense of in two hours but we walked around a bit, saw lots of Benjamin Franklin sites, Independence Square, learned more about the underground railroad and the liberation of slaves, ate Vietnamese sandwiches in Chinatown, and came across the Reading Terminal Market. An old railroad terminal turned into a city market with lots of small vendors, produce markets, places to eat. We would definitely want to go back and eat there. We drove a bit along the water front as well. It's not overly developed and would make for a very nice walk, several sites are there of interest both historically and popular.
So now Jeffrey is here and some of the highlights we'll do is going to the Drama Desk Awards Ceremony on Monday the 23rd (Harvey Fierstein is the emcee). Should be a good night for celebrity sitings and entertainment. We are also going to be participating in this thing called The Accomplice which is a live interactive experience that takes you through the streets of Greenwich Village. This was highly recommended by Scott who has done it here and in LA and says it really allows you to get to know a city at much more deep level and it's supposed to be highly entertaining. Sounds like it will be a lot of fun. We are doing a schooner sail today and will then explore the financial district and if the weather holds, take a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to DUMBO.
I am now in contact with City Harvest about volunteering with them. I am excited to attend the orientation and get things underway once I am back from Seattle.
I'm looking very forward to my trip to Seattle where we will celebrate with Kelly when she participates in the UW Medical School White Coat ceremony marking her transition from classroom learning to clinic patient care. We are having a pasta dinner for her afterwards. Then Bob and I are off to be with Amma for the weekend in Bellevue which is alway a most wonderful experience. We will be able to see so many of our Satsang friends there as well. Then Bob heads back to NYC and I am staying on another week in Seattle to see lots of friends and keep the connections going. Staying at Paul's again and looking forward to just hanging with him and the 5249 housemates when I am not out and about.
So this will be my last entry for a while.....though if there is time, I may try to log what Jeffrey and I have been up to while he is here. Once back in June, I will start preparing for my 26 year old niece's visit at the end of the month....I am excited to explore the city with her as I am sure we will see much different things given her age and interests. I will likely recruit some of Kelly's friends who still live here to see if they can show her some of the nightclub scene. That I am not so up on.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Anniversaries already!! and getting ready for summer in NYC
As of April 30th, it has now been a full year that Bob has been formally working for Morgan Stanley and we are quickly coming up to the first year of our two year apartment lease being over. We do love living here in our builiding/apartment and I don't really expect that we would move at the end of the two year lease but if they raise the rent then we would seriously look elsewhere. I may even look around a bit next spring anyway just to see what else is out there in our price range. We really only looked at this apartment at the price we are paying as we didn't find anything we liked in the lower range I had given the agent when we first were looking. We were so taken by this apartment in comparison to what we had been seeing that we took it immediately at the higher price. I think it might be good for us to do a little comparison shopping now that we know what we can afford. We will see, it still a while off, but time is really zooming by.
Just got back from seeing Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Nora and Delia Ephron with this months rotating cast of Anne Meara, Conchata Ferrell, Minka Kelly, B. Smith, and AnnaLynne McCord. Anne Meara and Conchata Ferrell are really gifted actors, their years of experience really outshown the younger actresses. I was much more impressed with both of them than I had expected to be. It's a very touching play in some parts and certainly they cover a lot of topics in very humorous and realistic ways that most women can relate to. Conchata's monologue about a woman's purse was really funny and rang so incredibly true. I think there may have been a handful of men in the audience. I am glad I went on a complimentary ticket as the other three actresses were trying their best but they have a lot of experience to accrue to match Anne Meara and Conchata Ferrell.
This is now probably the 4th play that someone's cell phone has gone off despite repeated requests prior to the beginning of the performance for people to silence or turn off their cell phones. This time was particularly bad in that the same person's phone went off TWICE. She finally just got up and left the performance as her phone went off the second time. The audience and actors applauded her as she left. Really bad form.
Just made plans to visit the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens on Friday afternoon with Megan and Lena. This should be an infinitely nicer walk than our last one in the tiny playground near Chinatown with the sotted drunk passed out on the park bench. Margaret was just there on Sunday and let me know it's all in bloom and to try to get there soon to enjoy it. Looking forward to it. Now that the weather is so nice, I am going to try to visit at least one or two new outdoor nature destinations per week within the five boroughs while in town and before leaving for India in August. I just found a great website that lists 51 parks or outdoor nature destinations within the five boroughs. That should definitely keep me busy!
Bryant Park is issuing their Monday night movies in the park schedule on Thursday--should be fun to get to some of those. They will also be publishing their concert series soon. It's all free too. I am excited to experience summer in NYC!
Just got back from seeing Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Nora and Delia Ephron with this months rotating cast of Anne Meara, Conchata Ferrell, Minka Kelly, B. Smith, and AnnaLynne McCord. Anne Meara and Conchata Ferrell are really gifted actors, their years of experience really outshown the younger actresses. I was much more impressed with both of them than I had expected to be. It's a very touching play in some parts and certainly they cover a lot of topics in very humorous and realistic ways that most women can relate to. Conchata's monologue about a woman's purse was really funny and rang so incredibly true. I think there may have been a handful of men in the audience. I am glad I went on a complimentary ticket as the other three actresses were trying their best but they have a lot of experience to accrue to match Anne Meara and Conchata Ferrell.
This is now probably the 4th play that someone's cell phone has gone off despite repeated requests prior to the beginning of the performance for people to silence or turn off their cell phones. This time was particularly bad in that the same person's phone went off TWICE. She finally just got up and left the performance as her phone went off the second time. The audience and actors applauded her as she left. Really bad form.
Just made plans to visit the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens on Friday afternoon with Megan and Lena. This should be an infinitely nicer walk than our last one in the tiny playground near Chinatown with the sotted drunk passed out on the park bench. Margaret was just there on Sunday and let me know it's all in bloom and to try to get there soon to enjoy it. Looking forward to it. Now that the weather is so nice, I am going to try to visit at least one or two new outdoor nature destinations per week within the five boroughs while in town and before leaving for India in August. I just found a great website that lists 51 parks or outdoor nature destinations within the five boroughs. That should definitely keep me busy!
Bryant Park is issuing their Monday night movies in the park schedule on Thursday--should be fun to get to some of those. They will also be publishing their concert series soon. It's all free too. I am excited to experience summer in NYC!
Getting back to giving.....
One other thing that I finally did was to find a charitable organization I would like to volunteer with, City Harvest. A perfect fit for me, at least from what I know about it from its website. It touches on so many of the same values I believe in---practicality, budgetary efficiency, reducing waste, improving people's nutrition and diet, redistribution of resources, etc. They get extremely high ratings on Charity Navigator as an exemplary non-profit organization. I sent them a contact email to get the ball rolling. Given my travel schedule, their volunteer experiences seem quite flexible. I am excited to hear back from them and start my involvement. I think this will be really good for me. I am starting to feel a little frivolous and it's time to be more of a contributing citizen of NYC.
City harvest--ABOUT US
Now serving New York City for more than 25 years, City Harvest is the world's first food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding the city's hungry men, women, and children.
This year, City Harvest will collect 28 million pounds of excess food from all segments of the food industry, including restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms. This food is then delivered free of charge to nearly 600 community food programs throughout New York City using a fleet of trucks and bikes as well as volunteers on foot. Each week, City Harvest helps over 300,000 hungry New Yorkers find their next meal.
City Harvest also addresses hunger’s underlying causes by supporting affordable access to nutritious food in low-income communities, educating individuals, families, and communities in the prevention of diet-related diseases, channeling a greater amount of local farm food into high-need areas, and enhancing the ability of our agency partners to feed hungry men, women, and children.
Mission
City Harvest exists to end hunger in communities throughout New York City. We do this through food rescue and distribution, education, and other practical, innovative solutions.
History
City Harvest is the product of common sense. In the early 1980s, a group of ordinary citizens became troubled by the large number of fellow New Yorkers who didn't have enough to eat. When they saw that local restaurants were discarding perfectly good food, these volunteers responded by enlisting friends and borrowing cars to transport the leftover food to where it was needed most. This idea led to the creation of City Harvest in 1982.
City Harvest has distributed more than 300 million pounds of food to a network of nearly 600 community food programs throughout New York City. The organization now delivers an average of nearly 77,000 pounds of food daily and 28 million pounds this year.
City Harvest's common-sense, cost-effective approach remains unchanged, because by working efficiently we can help the greatest number of people possible. Picking up and delivering food the same day keeps costs down and allows us to focus on fresh, perishable foods that are often in short supply at soup kitchens and food pantries. Currently, our cost to deliver a pound of food is just 23 cents, making City Harvest a smart, simple solution to ending hunger in New York City.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Out and about in NYC alone, with visitors, and just the two of us....
I really cannot believe how fast time goes by, it's been over two weeks since my last entry. My mom came to visit for a week while my sister (who helped bring my mom to NYC) and her husband spent most of the week in Connecticut with her son, my nephew. As it turned out, things went so well with my mom's visit, now Bob's 90 year old mother wants to visit us too.
With combined resources of a wheelchair, cane, walker, car, subway, bus, boat, shuttle, and helping hands and supportive arms, my mom was able to get around pretty well and we covered a lot of ground in and around NYC. There is still so much more to see no doubt but she got a good taste of some really great NYC experiences. Highlights included driving to Connecticut to visit my nephew, Andrew and his girlfriend, Heather, in Newington and West Hartford and to drop off Bill and Elizabeth for their visit with Andrew. We always enjoy our
drives out of Manhattan to other parts of New York State and neighboring states. We and others always are impressed by how vast the natural beauty is just minutes of leaving Manhattan. I think it is also very surprising to most people to experience so much nature in Manhattan as well.
We went to the Cloisters Museum in Fort Tryon Park which specializes in a collection of medieval art (much of which has a religious theme). There are beautiful paintings, sculptures, chapels, tapestries, chalices, stained glass, etc., all housed in a castle like building with several lovely outdoor garden cloisters. Then we had lunch at the New Leaf Café during a downpour thunderstorm, but before it started raining, we were able to get in a
short but beautiful walk in a very densely flowering part of the park. Then we went to the Metropolitan Museum and took the museum highlights tour of 10 masterpieces from different parts of the world, eras in time, and mediums (e.g, sculpture, painting). We also were able to take in the exhibit, A Room with a View, paintings all emphasizing the use of windows to outside scenes as the theme. Beautiful paintings.........
Friday 4/29 we went to Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan and took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty Island to see the statue and then took the ferry on to Ellis Island and looked at all the exhibits there and watched a short film about the mass immigration from Europe (12 million people in 28 years, 98% get in, 2% are returned back to their
native country.) Very moving as to how poor the people were coming to find a new life here in the US. Seeing the Statue of Liberty up close is a really powerful experience, it's such an imposing and meaningful icon. One can only imagine what it signified to the millions of immigrants who had been at sea for days on end in miserable conditions to finally see the Statue of Liberty and know they have finally reached their idea of the "promised land."
Saturday, 4/30, Elizabeth, Bill, Andrew, and Heather trained in from Connecticut to Grand Central Station and joined us for the day. We took a 5 1/2 hour bus tour of NYC that took us to many main sites where we got off the bus at places like Central Park, Chelsea Market and the Highline Park, Ground Zero and the new construction of the memorial and new towers, views of the Empire State building, Broadway, Madison Park, Battery Park, Grand Central Station, driving down 5th Ave with all the mansions and upscale shops, etc. Our tour ended with
a subway ride from ground zero to Times Square. It was really well done, our guide was very informative and personable, sharing lots of interesting stories with us about growing up in NYC. The time went very fast and we could have gone on for several more hours if it had been available. You would think in 5 ½ hours you would see most of Manhattan but the reality is that we barely saw even a quarter of what would be considered major highlights of the city. We came back, rested, and had dinner in and then Mom and the rest of them went to
see the Broadway musical, Chicago. They all really enjoyed it even though Christie Brinkley is not nearly as talented as the rest of the cast.
Sunday, May 1st, Bob, Mom, and I went to 9am mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral which is really magnificent in all of its grandeur. Soaring arched ceilings with incredibly detailed carvings and stained glass, a huge organ, lilies banking the entire altar. Really amazing. In order to get to St. Patrick's Cathedral, we had to dodge the many bicycle riders that were taking part in the Five Borough Bike Tour. There was no way to cross over 6th Avenue without going through them. It was a little crazy. After mass, we had a fabulous and elegant brunch at the Russian Tea House next to Carnegie Hall. I highly, highly recommend going. My mom said her pecan pancakes with strawberries and maple syrup were the best she has ever had. The service there is impeccable and it’s so
beautifully decorated and really elegant and lovely. We went to see the Broadway musical, Billy Elliott. We all enjoyed it very much though the Welsh accents made it a little challenging to fully understand all the dialogue.
Monday May 2nd, Bob had to go back to work but Mom and I took a boat tour around the lower half of Manhattan Island which was the same one that Briannon, Mike, and Claire took while here. Our guide for this tour was not nearly as good as the one we hand on the first tour. We did get a really good picture of the two of us before boarding the tour boat. Going under the bridges (Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg) was really cool. After the boat tour, we took a really nice walk along the Hudson River Walk which still had lots of trees in bloom and was not at all crowded so it was a very leisurely walk. This is one of my favorite walks in NYC. It meant a lot to me to be able to share that with my mom.
Tuesday May 3rd, We went to the New York Public Library, an absolutely magnificent building inside and out. The
NYPL will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in mid-May. We then took a stroll in the adjacent Bryant Park (a favorite park of mine) and made sure that we ate a NYC hot dog from one of the carts before leaving town.
I am feeling much more confident in designing itineraries tailored to our guests .... I am excited to have my first fully mobile guest when Jeffrey arrives next Thursday. We will really cover a lot of territory and I'm really looking forward to seeing new places with him.
On Thursday, my friend Margaret, invited me to join her on an urban walk in Central Park sponsored by the Appalachian Mountain Club. It was fantastic....despite having been to the park many times, I saw a lot of sites I'd not seen before.....especially Bethesda Plaza and the Shakespeare Garden (plants and flowers from Shakespeare's plays and sonnets). Central Park is all in bloom and people are just loving it. I forgot to bring my camera so don't have pictures to post. Before we went on the walk we met in the lobby of the Manderin Hotel and Jennifer Hudson passed by in the lobby. She looks really great. I was able to take Bob on a walk thru Central Park on Sunday to share all that I had seen and more.
A major highlight this past weekend was going to dinner at Pure Food and Wine in the Gramercy neighborhood on Friday night with Scott and Sherri--our fine dining partners. This is a raw food, vegan, gourmet restaurant that does not use soy or dairy. We chose to have the chef's tasting menu for the table as that would allow us to try almost everything on the menu. We were each served different entrees and desserts for four of the five courses which we then split each one into quarters. By the end of the evening, we had each tasted 17 items off the menu. It was a great way to survey much of what is offered. I would say that there are things that I like more than others but all were winners, not a bad entry in the bunch. It's amazing what the chef does with vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Unbelievably creative and a whole range of textures, from crunchy to creamy and all were very flavorful, with a really good variety of seasonings. Nothing repetitive. We had a great gastronomic experience and Pure lived up to all the hype I'd heard about it.
Saturday we went to see the Broadway Play, House of Blue Leaves. Edie Falco is nominated for a Tony for her leading role in this play. It was an interesting play, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and certainly did not see the way it ended coming. It was an interesting combination of comedy and pathos and often the actors spoke and interacted directly with the audience. It's a story of unrealized dreams, heartbreaking obstacles, and desperation but with a comedic note, if you can believe that. Another celebrity sighting at the play was seeing Vincent D'Onofrio who was sitting about 4 rows in front of us. I also noticed him because a woman behind me recognized him. I am really terrible at realizing who people are celebrity-wise.
Sunday, we had thought to either go to the Bronx Botanical Garden to see the vast acreage of blazing azaleas, or rent a tandem bike and ride along the Greenway bike trail that surrounds Manhattan Island but the rental place didn't have any tandem bikes and the bike trail was really packed so we opted for a walk along the Hudson and cutting into Central Park after getting a coffee at the cafe at 70th street. We then had an ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC walk in Central Park. The weather was perfect, sunny in the high 60's/low 70's with a gentle breeze. Central Park is so incredibly beautiful and vibrant this time of year. People are just so into being in the park and enjoying all it has to offer. We hit all the highlights from what I saw on Thursday including the Turtle Pond where the turtles were out in full force. I had read about the Garden Conservatory in the park earlier that morning so wanted to walk the entire length of the park to get to the northeast corner where it is. On our way, we walked by a long row of cherry trees along the resevoir that we will definitely need to see next Spring. The Garden Conservatory is such a lovely part of Central Park, very manicured gardens, huge variety of flowering trees, shrubs, flowers, vines, bulbs. There is a most delightful fountain in the tulip garden of three lifesize maidens frolicking in the water. There is a stiking curved wrought iron pergola covered in blooming wisteria that creates a shaded corrider between to viewing balconies. Perfect for an outdoor wedding. I am keeping this in mind for Kelly as she has said she wants an outdoor wedding whenever she does get married.
After this just fantastic walk thru Central Park we had a great dinner at Community Food Cafe up near Columbia University. It was such a great Mother's Day. Throughout the day sent and received lots of loving messages for Mother's Day.
I'm going to see the off Broadway Play, Love, Lost, and What I Wore by the Ephron sisters on Wednesday. It's definitely a chick play so it's good that I got a complimentary ticket and can see it during the day while Bob is at work. This coming weekend, we are headed to Lancaster, PA---Amish Country--for an overnight trip to explore the are and take a horse back ride. We are looking quite forward to visiting Amish Country..........we are both intrigued since our only sense of it is from the movie Witness.
With combined resources of a wheelchair, cane, walker, car, subway, bus, boat, shuttle, and helping hands and supportive arms, my mom was able to get around pretty well and we covered a lot of ground in and around NYC. There is still so much more to see no doubt but she got a good taste of some really great NYC experiences. Highlights included driving to Connecticut to visit my nephew, Andrew and his girlfriend, Heather, in Newington and West Hartford and to drop off Bill and Elizabeth for their visit with Andrew. We always enjoy our
drives out of Manhattan to other parts of New York State and neighboring states. We and others always are impressed by how vast the natural beauty is just minutes of leaving Manhattan. I think it is also very surprising to most people to experience so much nature in Manhattan as well.
We went to the Cloisters Museum in Fort Tryon Park which specializes in a collection of medieval art (much of which has a religious theme). There are beautiful paintings, sculptures, chapels, tapestries, chalices, stained glass, etc., all housed in a castle like building with several lovely outdoor garden cloisters. Then we had lunch at the New Leaf Café during a downpour thunderstorm, but before it started raining, we were able to get in a
short but beautiful walk in a very densely flowering part of the park. Then we went to the Metropolitan Museum and took the museum highlights tour of 10 masterpieces from different parts of the world, eras in time, and mediums (e.g, sculpture, painting). We also were able to take in the exhibit, A Room with a View, paintings all emphasizing the use of windows to outside scenes as the theme. Beautiful paintings.........
Friday 4/29 we went to Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan and took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty Island to see the statue and then took the ferry on to Ellis Island and looked at all the exhibits there and watched a short film about the mass immigration from Europe (12 million people in 28 years, 98% get in, 2% are returned back to their
native country.) Very moving as to how poor the people were coming to find a new life here in the US. Seeing the Statue of Liberty up close is a really powerful experience, it's such an imposing and meaningful icon. One can only imagine what it signified to the millions of immigrants who had been at sea for days on end in miserable conditions to finally see the Statue of Liberty and know they have finally reached their idea of the "promised land."
Saturday, 4/30, Elizabeth, Bill, Andrew, and Heather trained in from Connecticut to Grand Central Station and joined us for the day. We took a 5 1/2 hour bus tour of NYC that took us to many main sites where we got off the bus at places like Central Park, Chelsea Market and the Highline Park, Ground Zero and the new construction of the memorial and new towers, views of the Empire State building, Broadway, Madison Park, Battery Park, Grand Central Station, driving down 5th Ave with all the mansions and upscale shops, etc. Our tour ended with
a subway ride from ground zero to Times Square. It was really well done, our guide was very informative and personable, sharing lots of interesting stories with us about growing up in NYC. The time went very fast and we could have gone on for several more hours if it had been available. You would think in 5 ½ hours you would see most of Manhattan but the reality is that we barely saw even a quarter of what would be considered major highlights of the city. We came back, rested, and had dinner in and then Mom and the rest of them went to
see the Broadway musical, Chicago. They all really enjoyed it even though Christie Brinkley is not nearly as talented as the rest of the cast.
Sunday, May 1st, Bob, Mom, and I went to 9am mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral which is really magnificent in all of its grandeur. Soaring arched ceilings with incredibly detailed carvings and stained glass, a huge organ, lilies banking the entire altar. Really amazing. In order to get to St. Patrick's Cathedral, we had to dodge the many bicycle riders that were taking part in the Five Borough Bike Tour. There was no way to cross over 6th Avenue without going through them. It was a little crazy. After mass, we had a fabulous and elegant brunch at the Russian Tea House next to Carnegie Hall. I highly, highly recommend going. My mom said her pecan pancakes with strawberries and maple syrup were the best she has ever had. The service there is impeccable and it’s so
beautifully decorated and really elegant and lovely. We went to see the Broadway musical, Billy Elliott. We all enjoyed it very much though the Welsh accents made it a little challenging to fully understand all the dialogue.
Monday May 2nd, Bob had to go back to work but Mom and I took a boat tour around the lower half of Manhattan Island which was the same one that Briannon, Mike, and Claire took while here. Our guide for this tour was not nearly as good as the one we hand on the first tour. We did get a really good picture of the two of us before boarding the tour boat. Going under the bridges (Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg) was really cool. After the boat tour, we took a really nice walk along the Hudson River Walk which still had lots of trees in bloom and was not at all crowded so it was a very leisurely walk. This is one of my favorite walks in NYC. It meant a lot to me to be able to share that with my mom.
Tuesday May 3rd, We went to the New York Public Library, an absolutely magnificent building inside and out. The
NYPL will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in mid-May. We then took a stroll in the adjacent Bryant Park (a favorite park of mine) and made sure that we ate a NYC hot dog from one of the carts before leaving town.
I am feeling much more confident in designing itineraries tailored to our guests .... I am excited to have my first fully mobile guest when Jeffrey arrives next Thursday. We will really cover a lot of territory and I'm really looking forward to seeing new places with him.
On Thursday, my friend Margaret, invited me to join her on an urban walk in Central Park sponsored by the Appalachian Mountain Club. It was fantastic....despite having been to the park many times, I saw a lot of sites I'd not seen before.....especially Bethesda Plaza and the Shakespeare Garden (plants and flowers from Shakespeare's plays and sonnets). Central Park is all in bloom and people are just loving it. I forgot to bring my camera so don't have pictures to post. Before we went on the walk we met in the lobby of the Manderin Hotel and Jennifer Hudson passed by in the lobby. She looks really great. I was able to take Bob on a walk thru Central Park on Sunday to share all that I had seen and more.
A major highlight this past weekend was going to dinner at Pure Food and Wine in the Gramercy neighborhood on Friday night with Scott and Sherri--our fine dining partners. This is a raw food, vegan, gourmet restaurant that does not use soy or dairy. We chose to have the chef's tasting menu for the table as that would allow us to try almost everything on the menu. We were each served different entrees and desserts for four of the five courses which we then split each one into quarters. By the end of the evening, we had each tasted 17 items off the menu. It was a great way to survey much of what is offered. I would say that there are things that I like more than others but all were winners, not a bad entry in the bunch. It's amazing what the chef does with vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Unbelievably creative and a whole range of textures, from crunchy to creamy and all were very flavorful, with a really good variety of seasonings. Nothing repetitive. We had a great gastronomic experience and Pure lived up to all the hype I'd heard about it.
Saturday we went to see the Broadway Play, House of Blue Leaves. Edie Falco is nominated for a Tony for her leading role in this play. It was an interesting play, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and certainly did not see the way it ended coming. It was an interesting combination of comedy and pathos and often the actors spoke and interacted directly with the audience. It's a story of unrealized dreams, heartbreaking obstacles, and desperation but with a comedic note, if you can believe that. Another celebrity sighting at the play was seeing Vincent D'Onofrio who was sitting about 4 rows in front of us. I also noticed him because a woman behind me recognized him. I am really terrible at realizing who people are celebrity-wise.
Sunday, we had thought to either go to the Bronx Botanical Garden to see the vast acreage of blazing azaleas, or rent a tandem bike and ride along the Greenway bike trail that surrounds Manhattan Island but the rental place didn't have any tandem bikes and the bike trail was really packed so we opted for a walk along the Hudson and cutting into Central Park after getting a coffee at the cafe at 70th street. We then had an ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC walk in Central Park. The weather was perfect, sunny in the high 60's/low 70's with a gentle breeze. Central Park is so incredibly beautiful and vibrant this time of year. People are just so into being in the park and enjoying all it has to offer. We hit all the highlights from what I saw on Thursday including the Turtle Pond where the turtles were out in full force. I had read about the Garden Conservatory in the park earlier that morning so wanted to walk the entire length of the park to get to the northeast corner where it is. On our way, we walked by a long row of cherry trees along the resevoir that we will definitely need to see next Spring. The Garden Conservatory is such a lovely part of Central Park, very manicured gardens, huge variety of flowering trees, shrubs, flowers, vines, bulbs. There is a most delightful fountain in the tulip garden of three lifesize maidens frolicking in the water. There is a stiking curved wrought iron pergola covered in blooming wisteria that creates a shaded corrider between to viewing balconies. Perfect for an outdoor wedding. I am keeping this in mind for Kelly as she has said she wants an outdoor wedding whenever she does get married.
After this just fantastic walk thru Central Park we had a great dinner at Community Food Cafe up near Columbia University. It was such a great Mother's Day. Throughout the day sent and received lots of loving messages for Mother's Day.
I'm going to see the off Broadway Play, Love, Lost, and What I Wore by the Ephron sisters on Wednesday. It's definitely a chick play so it's good that I got a complimentary ticket and can see it during the day while Bob is at work. This coming weekend, we are headed to Lancaster, PA---Amish Country--for an overnight trip to explore the are and take a horse back ride. We are looking quite forward to visiting Amish Country..........we are both intrigued since our only sense of it is from the movie Witness.
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