A Splendid Time Was Had By All

Being a tourist can be a lot of fun, can't it?  New sights, rich food, and impulse shopping all make for a fun-filled day or two.  I love to go on vacation but I'm always happy to go home.  Now that we are doing our "Grand Tour" the challenge is to make wherever we stay feel like home and still take advantage of all of the opportunities of a new place.  During our visit in New York City we've tried not to run amok and act like this is one long vacation.  Who can afford that?  Jack and I try to live like locals.  We cook at home most nights and the only shopping we've done has been for Christmas presents. 


This past week-end our friends, Pat and Denise came to New York City for a few days.  It was great to catch up with them and do some of the typical tourist things. Armed with our trusty subway map, Jack and I were able to play tour guide. (Our kids are laughing somewhere, muttering about "...the blind leading the blind.")

 We started our day with lunch overlooking the Bryant Park ice skating pond and then headed over to the Empire State Building.  It was a cloudy day but we were still able to see all over the city from the 86th floor observation area.  It was freezing cold and windy - it didn't seem that blustery when Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks met there at the end of Sleepless in Seattle!

We didn't really mind the wind or the cold but it was vaguely annoying that every step of the way cost money.  Tickets - $25/each.  Going to another level - an additional $15/each.  A map to know what you're looking at - more money. In order to leave the observation deck they route you through the gift shop to get to the elevator you just passed!  A small thing really but irritating.  How do families afford it?

Later that night we headed over to Grand Central Station which is one of the two train stations in Manhattan. 

Our kids had recommended that we have dinner at the Grand Central Oyster Bar so we took them up on their suggestion and had a terrific meal. The restaurant itself made me think of Mad Men for some reason.  It seems like the kind of place where those characters would enjoy a three martini lunch.  Since it was my birthday, I treated myself to scallops for dinner. I haven't eaten meat in several years but every once in awhile I will have fish when it seems like my body craves it.  Or maybe it's just when my willpower is low! 

The next day we all hopped on a Greyline Doubledecker bus for a tour of Manhattan.  Jack and I try and take a guided tour whenever we go to a new city and it's a great way to show visitors around town.  Since the tickets are good for 48 hours and you can hop on and hop off whenever you like, it seems like a pretty good value to me. 

Later that day, we had dinner and saw a jazz show at Dizzy's Club which is in the Time Warner building a couple of blocks from our apartment.  The view out of the floor to ceiling windows is incredible at night and the two times I've been there I've felt like I was in an episode of Sex in the City minus the amazing shoes and cool clothes, of course!  The food is good, the service is great and the prices are very reasonable.  Not New York reasonable but comparable to a nice restaurant anywhere.

Based on another recommendation from our kids, we finished off our night by heading back to Grand Central Station to have a drink at the Campbell Apartment which was closed for a private party the previous night.  Modeled after a 13th century Florentine palace, the Campbell Apartment was the private office of Joseph W. Campbell who rented the space to use as an office and to entertain guests in 1923 and maintained it for over twenty years.  The ceiling is 25 feet high and as you can see, the window behind the bar is enormous.  

Today, the Campbell Apartment is a place to enjoy "cocktails from another era".  It's the kind of spot where you would expect to see Hercule Poirot sipping a cup of tea or Howard Carter and George Herbert telling friends about their amazing discovery in the Valley of the Kings. It's a fun place to sit on a sofa in front of the fireplace and enjoy an appetizer while sipping a drink.  Jack stuck with Scotch but I had the Flapper's Delight and the Berry Royale, both of which I can highly recommend!  Stop by the next time you visit New York.  While it looks fancy, the dress code is casual.  It does say that tennis shoes are not allowed but I'm not sure how strictly the rule is enforced.  We did see someone with a baseball cap on so they probably aren't that strict about enforcing the dress code, but why risk being turned away?  The Campbell Apartment does recommend making a reservation if you plan on visiting during peak times like after work or on week-ends.  

We spent the following day visiting other New York City sites like Central Park and the 9/11 Memorial but I'll save that for another post. New York City was amazing but for Jack and me, the best part of the entire week-end was spending time with dear friends.  A splendid time was had by all.   

 









It's Great To Be Alive!

On Saturday, my sister Deb and I celebrated our 55th birthday.  (I hope she doesn't mind my putting our age out there into cyberspace!)  We agreed that just being around to HAVE another birthday was the greatest gift and that no matter what our aches and pains are this is the best time of our lives. 

I can't speak for Deb, but I know that in my 20's I did not appreciate what a gift life is.  (Note the cigarettes!)  I spent a lot of time thinking, "Some day...", "When I ...", then I'll be happy. 



In my 30's and 40's in between a job, and kids, and household chores I spent most of my time running from one thing to the next like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, "I'm late, I'm late!"  I was so busy trying to cross things off of my To Do list that I wasn't enjoying the "doing" only the "finishing". 

I am so grateful to be here in my 50's and to be starting another year with my sister and our family and friends.  Being a little older and a little wiser makes a big difference in how I look at life these days.  Although we aren't together physically this year, Deb and I are together in heart.  She has always been the BEST sister.  She is, by the way, the Evil Twin.  :)









Brooklyn Is Cool

 

This past week-end we spent some time with our daughter Emily and her guy, Grant exploring Brooklyn.  Emily has lived on the first floor of a brownstone in Brooklyn for almost the entire time she has been in New York City and really loves the apartment and the neighborhood.   

I always tell people that walking around in Brooklyn (well all of New York City, really) is like walking around in a movie.  Jack and I like all of the trees and think that the brownstones are beautiful.  A typical brownstone might be broken up into one apartment per floor and have hardwood floors, high ceilings, tall windows, no elevator and no central air conditioning. There are no alleys so the garbage cans are kept in the front of the house.

Brooklyn is very different from the part of Manhattan where we are staying and the many neighborhoods of Brooklyn each have different personalities, too.  Emily and Grant live in a neighborhood called Park Slope which, in 2010, New York Magazine declared New York's most desirable neighborhood.  It reminds me a lot of the Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago with shops, restaurants and access to some nice open space which is important when you live in a borough with 2.5 million other people! 

One of the things that makes Park Slope so special is Prospect Park which is 585 acres of open space that was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead who also designed Central Park in New York City, the Midway Plaisance in Chicago, and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.  The park is about 5 blocks up the "slope" or hill from where Emily and Grant live so it is very easy to get to and a nice place to walk, run or just hang out when the weather is good. 

On Saturday, we wandered through two neighborhoods we'd never visited before. The first was Brooklyn Heights which seems to be populated by primarily families and is within walking distance of the downtown Brooklyn government complex.  The weather was so warm that we sat outside on a bench to drink our coffee.  Jack and I were surprised that the streets were so quiet, especially on such a Spring-like day.  As we strolled through the neighborhood we passed several converted carriage houses which were the servants quarters for the mansions across the street.  We especially loved this house and wished that we could have gone inside to check it out!

Later, we strolled down the hill to the DUMBO neighborhood which stands for Down Under Manhattan-Brooklyn Bridge Overpass. We had a tasty brunch at Bubby's overlooking the water (New Yorkers seem to be really big on brunch) and took some great shots of the Brooklyn Bridge.  Grant told us that DUMBO is a place that people move to if they want to live in a loft and can't afford the Manhattan prices or if they are artists, musicians, etc., looking for live/work spaces.  For me, DUMBO was a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.  I liked the old warehouses and industrial buildings that will probably be converted to more lofts when the economy turns around but I'm too old to live in an emerging neighborhood.  Or, too fearful I guess.  I want to live in a place that's a cross between suburbia and city living at a price I'm willing to pay.  Sounds like Oak Park, Illinois, doesn't it?  Maybe not the price I'm willing to pay part. 

Jack and I have really enjoyed learning more about New York City and our girls have been terrific tour guides.  We only have a few more weeks here and a LOT of ground to cover before we move on.  I've attached a link to an article about Brooklyn from GQ magazine for you to check out. 

http://www.visitbrooklyn.org/pdf/GQ%20Nov%202011.pdf