Our June Trip was Wonderful!
Posted by Salsa
|
Re: Our June Trip was Wonderful! July 12, 2005 11:34PM |
Back with hopefully the last installment. We are having a heat wave and the area of the house with the computer is NOT air conditioned so it depends on how long I can stand to swelter.
Sunday - another beautiful day. We were really lucky to have good weather the whole time we were in New York.
I told Maverick the day was hers, whatever she wanted to do. Going to Pearl Paints in Chinatown was on top of the list. She also wanted to find in Chinatown a small bag to use with her new messenger bag.
First stop, Hot & Crusty, our usual mornig stop for coffee and something sweet to eat.
Chinatown is much different on a Sunday morning. LOTS of people and NO CARS! It was great! Like a street fair. We found a Dollar Store in Chinatown. I bought several great wine bags that were mini Chinese tunics, and also Chinese charms for cell phones to give at Christmas. The charms were beads with silk cord tied in woven knots with a tassel at the bottem. All different shapes and colors. Sophia bought Chinese kites for her friends. We had a good time there. This time we went up several side streets and saw the "real Chinatown".
Off to Pearl Paints which is a 5 story art supply store. Everyone was very helpful and there was a large selection of all the things we were looking for. A fun place for an artist to shop.
Back to the upper east side after that. We bought a great lunch from our local market Butterfield. I wish I could box it up and set it up on my block at home. It is the perfect little store. Great gazpacho. We lounged around the apartment for a couple hours. It was nice to veg.
4:00 on to Betoracle's place! It was great to see her in her own domain. It was nice to see a real NYC apartment to appreciate what it is like to live in the city. Bet has great taste, and her apartment is very welcoming. So is little Sophie who was very friendly.
Soon along came Bet's friends, sisters Sylvia, Millie,and friend Karen with the picnic. Off we went to Central Park for a picnic at Sheep Meadow. Stopping on the way for another blanket at our apartment. The joy of not being in a hotel and being close to Betoracle. We met Al, Peggy, and their son Christopher on The Mall. Thank you Millie and Sylvia for the great Arroz con Gandules! Lots of other goodies to eat too, and of course vino! The intention was to have dinner and then go over to the Naumburg Bandshell at 7:30 for a concert.
We were having such a good time! Great fun watching the roller bladers dancing on The Mall. I wish I bladed! It is the best way to dance by yourself! I love to dance, and my husband does not. Maybe I will try blading again. Great conversation too. So we dilly dallied. Long enough that when we went to the ladies room it was locked! The Mens room was open! So we went with Girl Power and took it over. Sorry to the guys who gave up waiting
and split.
We did make it to the concert where we all had fun with the yellow glow sticks the orchestra staff was handing out. Maverick and Christopher practiced doing POI. The rest of us had fun with them in our own way, especially when they would fly away suddenly into the crowd, or watching handsome distingueshed men have that happen to them! Whoops!
Kisses and hugs all the way around, and plans to meet Peggy & Al in Colorado (Monday night Monty Python for Flicks on the Rocks, at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. A gorgeous spot! Google images) before they take off camping. Wait until they see the moonrise over the rocks!
There was a vintage like shuttle bus that took us to our corner. A really great night with great people. Thanks Bet for putting it all together. Big hugs thinking I would not see her before I left.
Monday - After sleeping late, Maverick and I went downtown. She was going to meet friends at 1:00 to hang out the rest of the day until they went to a concert that night near Chinatown. A bunch of garage bands.
We cut through Central Park to take the subway on that side. We went walked by Bethesda Fountain where there were several artists painting their version of the scenery, over to Strawberry Fields. Saw the John Lennon Memorial which was beautifully decorated with rose petals of all colors encircling it, and a peace sign made from petals too. From there we walked to The Dakota. Not because of John Lennon (well maybe a tiny bit), but because of a book Betoracle told me to read a couple years ago that has become a favorite, Time & Again by Jack Finney, where The Dakota features predominatly. I think I need to read it again. Tradition after each NYC trip?
Once we played tourist. We hung out on Time Square. Boring! We were killing time. We went into Toys R Us and goofed off. I used to work at one in California which I totally forgot about while I was there, because it is not layed out like a traditional store. It was cool, but not worth my time really. I enjoyed listening to all the different accents. I swear Marea, every other person was from Oz! So of course I was thinking of you.
Maverick was so worried about what I was going to do without her it was sweet. I had a list of many options. Time by myself in New York, Yeah!!!!! As we were walking around, her English teacher called. We knew we would be back east at the same time, but did not know if we could hook up. Jen was going to be in D.C. and I could not imagine her coming up to see us. Instead she was visiting her family in Connecticut and was wondering if we could hook up on Tuesday. 11:00 at 42nd & 7th (Bryant Park). Right on. She used to live in NYC so the deal was she had to show us one of HER favorite things to do, since it would be her only day in town. Hmm, I wonder if we would be able to fit in the Intrepid as planned. I had free tickets from Laura at my headquarters (our Pres. is on the board there). This was something I really wanted to do. Was supposed to do it today, but I had changed purses, and well you know that story I'm sure....
She hooked up with Wynn (thanks Laura for having such a wonderful son) and his friend Tracy who was also visiting, from Georgia I believe. I forgot to give her the camera, but I tried, they were to far away, so I snapped a photo of them walking in the crowd.
Hmm, options, what to do. First I walked over to Bryant Park where it was the end of the lunch hour. What a great place to get away from the office. I was trying to imagine the concerts that GMA has there during the summer. There is even a library there for the lunchtime crowd! I have never been to Paris, but that was the feeling it gave me walking through there.
From there, up 42nd towards Lexington where I was going to catch the train towards my place and either go to the museums or to Harlem. Instead, when I got to Madison Avenue, I decided to walk all the way up and look for a place to eat lunch along the way and enjoy finishing my current book.
What a great day for a walk. I loved walking by all the shops you see and hear about in the movies and t.v.. Vera Wang, Carolina Herrera (my favorite of all) and of course the famous shoe stores. I did not go in any stores, I was getting my exercise (cause I never made it to Curves) and just enjoying the sites. There was no cute little place (that was not formal) for me to have lunch and the next thing I knew, I was in my neighborhood. So I had smoothie at Sofia's, I think it was near 77th. It was a cute tiny little place that had smoothies, ice cream, and a few other things. There was a bench outside and I sat there and read while watching people.
Off to the muesum - oh no! I forgot it was Monday! Everything was closed. I walked up to 91st along 5th Avenue. Lots of interesting places along the way. The Irish Historical Society was a lovely little building.
By then, I was tired, and thought I would go have an early dinner, or pick up something to eat later. I went into Le Pain Quotidien sat at the table, opened the menu and realized, I was to tired to eat. Got up and walked toward home. Went into EAT (you must be rich to eat there, or on total vacation mode!) I thought I would get some cheese and bread, or a sandwich, but forget it. So off I went realizing I was to tired to go to Butterfield. It was 4:00 when I walked into my cool apartment - 4:00 means OPRAH! A vacation treat because I am at work and never get to watch her. So I relaxed and called about keeping our bags with the manager checked out. Then called Betoracle to see if she was free before I made plans for the evening.
She was booked already. Deep water arobics, to which she invited me. I met her at 6:30 at her swim club. A nice evening walk. Stepped on the scale that was in the locker room, and gee, even though I ate everything that looked good, I lost 5lbs. I recently started losing weight for the first time ever (thanks Curves!) no matter how much walking or watching of what I ate it never happened. So to lose 5lbs was huge. I should move to New York just to walk all over. I walk a lot, and always have. There is just something magical about the streets of New York I guess.
Class was a blast. It was kick butt! So glad I brought my suit. I am looking for a class near me now. Thanks for turning me on to that Bet. After class there was the most brilliant sunset as we were walking to dinner. I got a great shot of it. Bet took me to a Japanese fast food place. It was excellent. It was so nice to have that last evening together. A nice summer walk home, and hugs goodbye. Sweetie, words are not enough for the friendship you showed, and it is very dear to my heart. I said it a million times already, but thanks.
Tuesday, last day. So sad to leave our sweet little apartment. Seriously, the only complaint I have is the beds were noisy. Everytime you rolled or moved they made noise, both of them. Mine made a good alarm clock to let Maverick know it was time to get up.
Packed everything up. Threw out the melon and cheese from the fridge, oops forgot about the cookie dough ice cream in the freezer. Hope the next tenant found it and enjoyed it!
Goodbye photos of the room, and then we were off to meet "Ms. Rinaldi now Jen". She used to teach in NYC. The school is now closed.
She was right on time, and her pick was a Circle Line Tour. It is a short walk from 42nd and 7th. You forget that you can go east or west easily to see the water. As we walked up to buy our ticket there was the Intrepid right next to us. Hmm, I am thinking, can we do both? We have to be back to our apartment at 4:00 or so, to get to the airport. It is after 12:00. No chance, so I just pushed the guilt aside, and off we went for our 3 hour tour. Serious, that is how long it was. There were shorter ones, but I am so glad we went for that one. It gave us lots of time to talk and easily sight see at the same time. This is a great tour. There is a person narrating the whole time. Our guy was really, really good. He was full of obscure facts as we cruised around the whole island of Manhatten. It was hot sitting in our seats, but much cooler up by the prow. So that is where we hung out. People hurry up to the upper deck for seats as did we, but on a hot day, go for the covered ones on the lower deck. You can see just fine. Great views, and a great trip. It got a bit nervous for me when we were delayed because of a bridge for 15 or 20 minutes, but everything worked out fine. We left Jen at Bryant Park and caught the subway to Grand Central where we transfered to our train. By 4:15 I was hailing a taxi off Madison Avenue while Maverick collected the luggage and tipped George. Bet you were right, we were in the best spot to leave for the airport. Before I knew it, we were right there. No traffic until we got on the highway and most of the travel time is streets. By 5:30 we were checked in and looking for dinner.
Thanks New York for being everything we wanted and more this trip. Hope to see you soon! Hey Bet, think the landlord at my studio would hire me to paint and decorate in exchange for a ticket there? I could do a room every few months, come up for a long weekend! I was fantasizing about that today. Kisses!
Sunday - another beautiful day. We were really lucky to have good weather the whole time we were in New York.
I told Maverick the day was hers, whatever she wanted to do. Going to Pearl Paints in Chinatown was on top of the list. She also wanted to find in Chinatown a small bag to use with her new messenger bag.
First stop, Hot & Crusty, our usual mornig stop for coffee and something sweet to eat.
Chinatown is much different on a Sunday morning. LOTS of people and NO CARS! It was great! Like a street fair. We found a Dollar Store in Chinatown. I bought several great wine bags that were mini Chinese tunics, and also Chinese charms for cell phones to give at Christmas. The charms were beads with silk cord tied in woven knots with a tassel at the bottem. All different shapes and colors. Sophia bought Chinese kites for her friends. We had a good time there. This time we went up several side streets and saw the "real Chinatown".
Off to Pearl Paints which is a 5 story art supply store. Everyone was very helpful and there was a large selection of all the things we were looking for. A fun place for an artist to shop.
Back to the upper east side after that. We bought a great lunch from our local market Butterfield. I wish I could box it up and set it up on my block at home. It is the perfect little store. Great gazpacho. We lounged around the apartment for a couple hours. It was nice to veg.
4:00 on to Betoracle's place! It was great to see her in her own domain. It was nice to see a real NYC apartment to appreciate what it is like to live in the city. Bet has great taste, and her apartment is very welcoming. So is little Sophie who was very friendly.
Soon along came Bet's friends, sisters Sylvia, Millie,and friend Karen with the picnic. Off we went to Central Park for a picnic at Sheep Meadow. Stopping on the way for another blanket at our apartment. The joy of not being in a hotel and being close to Betoracle. We met Al, Peggy, and their son Christopher on The Mall. Thank you Millie and Sylvia for the great Arroz con Gandules! Lots of other goodies to eat too, and of course vino! The intention was to have dinner and then go over to the Naumburg Bandshell at 7:30 for a concert.
We were having such a good time! Great fun watching the roller bladers dancing on The Mall. I wish I bladed! It is the best way to dance by yourself! I love to dance, and my husband does not. Maybe I will try blading again. Great conversation too. So we dilly dallied. Long enough that when we went to the ladies room it was locked! The Mens room was open! So we went with Girl Power and took it over. Sorry to the guys who gave up waiting
and split.
We did make it to the concert where we all had fun with the yellow glow sticks the orchestra staff was handing out. Maverick and Christopher practiced doing POI. The rest of us had fun with them in our own way, especially when they would fly away suddenly into the crowd, or watching handsome distingueshed men have that happen to them! Whoops!
Kisses and hugs all the way around, and plans to meet Peggy & Al in Colorado (Monday night Monty Python for Flicks on the Rocks, at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. A gorgeous spot! Google images) before they take off camping. Wait until they see the moonrise over the rocks!
There was a vintage like shuttle bus that took us to our corner. A really great night with great people. Thanks Bet for putting it all together. Big hugs thinking I would not see her before I left.
Monday - After sleeping late, Maverick and I went downtown. She was going to meet friends at 1:00 to hang out the rest of the day until they went to a concert that night near Chinatown. A bunch of garage bands.
We cut through Central Park to take the subway on that side. We went walked by Bethesda Fountain where there were several artists painting their version of the scenery, over to Strawberry Fields. Saw the John Lennon Memorial which was beautifully decorated with rose petals of all colors encircling it, and a peace sign made from petals too. From there we walked to The Dakota. Not because of John Lennon (well maybe a tiny bit), but because of a book Betoracle told me to read a couple years ago that has become a favorite, Time & Again by Jack Finney, where The Dakota features predominatly. I think I need to read it again. Tradition after each NYC trip?
Once we played tourist. We hung out on Time Square. Boring! We were killing time. We went into Toys R Us and goofed off. I used to work at one in California which I totally forgot about while I was there, because it is not layed out like a traditional store. It was cool, but not worth my time really. I enjoyed listening to all the different accents. I swear Marea, every other person was from Oz! So of course I was thinking of you.
Maverick was so worried about what I was going to do without her it was sweet. I had a list of many options. Time by myself in New York, Yeah!!!!! As we were walking around, her English teacher called. We knew we would be back east at the same time, but did not know if we could hook up. Jen was going to be in D.C. and I could not imagine her coming up to see us. Instead she was visiting her family in Connecticut and was wondering if we could hook up on Tuesday. 11:00 at 42nd & 7th (Bryant Park). Right on. She used to live in NYC so the deal was she had to show us one of HER favorite things to do, since it would be her only day in town. Hmm, I wonder if we would be able to fit in the Intrepid as planned. I had free tickets from Laura at my headquarters (our Pres. is on the board there). This was something I really wanted to do. Was supposed to do it today, but I had changed purses, and well you know that story I'm sure....
She hooked up with Wynn (thanks Laura for having such a wonderful son) and his friend Tracy who was also visiting, from Georgia I believe. I forgot to give her the camera, but I tried, they were to far away, so I snapped a photo of them walking in the crowd.
Hmm, options, what to do. First I walked over to Bryant Park where it was the end of the lunch hour. What a great place to get away from the office. I was trying to imagine the concerts that GMA has there during the summer. There is even a library there for the lunchtime crowd! I have never been to Paris, but that was the feeling it gave me walking through there.
From there, up 42nd towards Lexington where I was going to catch the train towards my place and either go to the museums or to Harlem. Instead, when I got to Madison Avenue, I decided to walk all the way up and look for a place to eat lunch along the way and enjoy finishing my current book.
What a great day for a walk. I loved walking by all the shops you see and hear about in the movies and t.v.. Vera Wang, Carolina Herrera (my favorite of all) and of course the famous shoe stores. I did not go in any stores, I was getting my exercise (cause I never made it to Curves) and just enjoying the sites. There was no cute little place (that was not formal) for me to have lunch and the next thing I knew, I was in my neighborhood. So I had smoothie at Sofia's, I think it was near 77th. It was a cute tiny little place that had smoothies, ice cream, and a few other things. There was a bench outside and I sat there and read while watching people.
Off to the muesum - oh no! I forgot it was Monday! Everything was closed. I walked up to 91st along 5th Avenue. Lots of interesting places along the way. The Irish Historical Society was a lovely little building.
By then, I was tired, and thought I would go have an early dinner, or pick up something to eat later. I went into Le Pain Quotidien sat at the table, opened the menu and realized, I was to tired to eat. Got up and walked toward home. Went into EAT (you must be rich to eat there, or on total vacation mode!) I thought I would get some cheese and bread, or a sandwich, but forget it. So off I went realizing I was to tired to go to Butterfield. It was 4:00 when I walked into my cool apartment - 4:00 means OPRAH! A vacation treat because I am at work and never get to watch her. So I relaxed and called about keeping our bags with the manager checked out. Then called Betoracle to see if she was free before I made plans for the evening.
She was booked already. Deep water arobics, to which she invited me. I met her at 6:30 at her swim club. A nice evening walk. Stepped on the scale that was in the locker room, and gee, even though I ate everything that looked good, I lost 5lbs. I recently started losing weight for the first time ever (thanks Curves!) no matter how much walking or watching of what I ate it never happened. So to lose 5lbs was huge. I should move to New York just to walk all over. I walk a lot, and always have. There is just something magical about the streets of New York I guess.
Class was a blast. It was kick butt! So glad I brought my suit. I am looking for a class near me now. Thanks for turning me on to that Bet. After class there was the most brilliant sunset as we were walking to dinner. I got a great shot of it. Bet took me to a Japanese fast food place. It was excellent. It was so nice to have that last evening together. A nice summer walk home, and hugs goodbye. Sweetie, words are not enough for the friendship you showed, and it is very dear to my heart. I said it a million times already, but thanks.
Tuesday, last day. So sad to leave our sweet little apartment. Seriously, the only complaint I have is the beds were noisy. Everytime you rolled or moved they made noise, both of them. Mine made a good alarm clock to let Maverick know it was time to get up.
Packed everything up. Threw out the melon and cheese from the fridge, oops forgot about the cookie dough ice cream in the freezer. Hope the next tenant found it and enjoyed it!
Goodbye photos of the room, and then we were off to meet "Ms. Rinaldi now Jen". She used to teach in NYC. The school is now closed.
She was right on time, and her pick was a Circle Line Tour. It is a short walk from 42nd and 7th. You forget that you can go east or west easily to see the water. As we walked up to buy our ticket there was the Intrepid right next to us. Hmm, I am thinking, can we do both? We have to be back to our apartment at 4:00 or so, to get to the airport. It is after 12:00. No chance, so I just pushed the guilt aside, and off we went for our 3 hour tour. Serious, that is how long it was. There were shorter ones, but I am so glad we went for that one. It gave us lots of time to talk and easily sight see at the same time. This is a great tour. There is a person narrating the whole time. Our guy was really, really good. He was full of obscure facts as we cruised around the whole island of Manhatten. It was hot sitting in our seats, but much cooler up by the prow. So that is where we hung out. People hurry up to the upper deck for seats as did we, but on a hot day, go for the covered ones on the lower deck. You can see just fine. Great views, and a great trip. It got a bit nervous for me when we were delayed because of a bridge for 15 or 20 minutes, but everything worked out fine. We left Jen at Bryant Park and caught the subway to Grand Central where we transfered to our train. By 4:15 I was hailing a taxi off Madison Avenue while Maverick collected the luggage and tipped George. Bet you were right, we were in the best spot to leave for the airport. Before I knew it, we were right there. No traffic until we got on the highway and most of the travel time is streets. By 5:30 we were checked in and looking for dinner.
Thanks New York for being everything we wanted and more this trip. Hope to see you soon! Hey Bet, think the landlord at my studio would hire me to paint and decorate in exchange for a ticket there? I could do a room every few months, come up for a long weekend! I was fantasizing about that today. Kisses!
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