The boys' first day back in school is today. It is also Jack's birthday this Friday. They've been excited about both. Rylee did his usual countdown to today, and last night he made sure to go to bed early. They were both up early this morning, and I made them breakfast before taking off to work. Cyndi ironed their clothes, packed their lunches, and filled their backpacks with the last minute school supplies. As I write this, she is taking them to school. School is starting and ending about an hour earlier this year.
For his birthday, Jackson has asked for a small projector for months, and he understood he was not likely to get it. Last week, he valiantly came up with alternative gift ideas but I don't think he had his heart set on any of them and, frankly, a few were expensive with a one-week halflife. So, against my previous best judgment, I ordered the projector. He will be thrilled, of course. I hope he understands things will be different come Christmas. Rylee, meanwhile, is excited by the prospect that he is getting Cyndi's IPod.
The boys celebrated their last day of summer, as they called it, by going swimming with Lauren last night. Last Friday, we met their new teachers. Ry has a teacher that Jack did not have, and so he was disappointed. But she seems great, her room is great (with a huge storytime projector!), and many of his friends are in the class. So he's excited. Jack feels all grown up with his new classroom in one of the buildings detached from the main school. His teacher is also new to us and seemed great, with lots of experience. We will have a curriculum night in a week or two, so we will learn more about what they're up to this year, but I noticed there were some New Mexico history books in Jack's desk already and the teacher said they have several field trips this year, including one to El Rancho de las Golondrinas.
When we went to the school on Friday, we also put down the boys' names for cub scouts. The status of Jack's den is very uncertain; Ry would be a Tiger. There's also probably soccer, and Jack and Cyndi have been talking about Chess Club.
Meanwhile, I also talked with Ariel. She's off soon to Atlanta for an interview for an article she's working on for Discover magazine, and then she and Chris go to southern California for a couple of weddings.
I earned a free book, so I put together one on our trip. It should be arriving soon, but here's a preview. You can play from the cover, and it will page through the book, or you can click on a larger view.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
NYC series no.12: babes in toyland
Once the boys understood that we weren't going to Legoland in California, Jackson began researching the Lego store in Manhattan and Rylee began researching what was available at the store. Legos are a big thing for the boys. They build the sets or create their own vehicles or buildings, collect and modify the minifigures, watch the videos and create their own animation. For months, they made plans on how to spend their money in the store. For the boys, shopping for toys became an important part of the trip and it took some doing to convince them that they shouldn't and couldn't spend every last dollar of theirs in the store and they'd appreciate fewer things in the long run. We planned on making the Lego store our first stop.
So on Friday morning around 10 we took the subway and walked to Rockefeller Plaza, where the big Lego sign greeted us in the window. The boys were very excited. Rylee first wandered around the entire store, looking in vain for Indiana Jones Legos. We thought this store was the only place to find them, but the line had been discontinued. Instead, the boys checked out the Hero Factory sets. They gathered around two kiosks where they could assemble their own minifigures from bins. Ry worked at one; Jack at the other. Each surrounded by other children building the minifigures. This was a destination for many young families and you could hear several languages inside. Then the boys filled two small cups with blocks from bins along a wall. They had a lot of fun there. Ariel joined us there, and we headed up 5th Avenue afterward.
After our champagne at the Plaza, we headed over to FAO Schwarz. There were many demonstrations of toys inside. The first in the door was a wax drawing tablet with a plastic cover sheet you lifted off to erase the image. About $1 at the grocery store; about $15 here. The demonstrator emphasized how it didn't make a mess. Tacky, of course, in more ways than one. A little beneath what I'd expect at FAO Schwarz, but it was the first thing through the door. Things got better.
Jackson grabbed me later. He wanted to show me something. At another point in the store, a man was demonstrating a magic kit in which lights appeared on his fingertips, which he then put in a paper sack, and in which one ball in his hand turned into three balls. Jackson loves magic tricks, so we looked at the kit. It promised 50 or 500 magic tricks, but was mostly the fingertip lights, a paper sack with a hidden light board, and four red sponge balls. We did purchase it, to be shared by both of them, and the boys had fun with that during the trip, practicing in the hotel room and often performing for whomever happened to be sitting near us in a restaurant or on the subway. The boys developed their own trick where they would act out throwing and catching the light between them, often across a table. Since we've been home, Jackson has demonstrated it to his cousins and Rylee practices the tricks with Cyndi and me, complete with all the banter and abracadabra.
Jackson must have seen the demonstration a couple of times. When we were looking at the kits, a new circle formed around the hawker as we studied the choices. The hawker repeated his performance, drawing the new boys in by asking their names and by including those on the outside of the ring, looking for the "missing" lights to put back in the paper sack. He'd say, oh, someone has been taking some, and find one on a boy on the edge of the circle. At this point, Jack, who'd been wandering back and forth within and outside the circle, made his way back inside the circle and walked up to the hawker. I confess, Jack said, I took one, too, and held out his hand. The hawker took a magic light out of Jack's hand, without missing a beat, saying, children are so honest these days, then went on with his performance as Jack exited the stage. I chuckled, this was so Jack.
The boys played on the giant piano, and Jackson found a jumbo red Angry Birds plush toy that he wanted. He kept hoping we'd go back to get it, and I told him it was possible, but sadly for him we never got the chance again. Maybe an upcoming birthday present. We did go back to the Lego store at one point when we found ourselves in Rockefeller Plaza again, and we also visited the Nintendo store next door to the Today Show studio.
Toys R Us has a giant flagship store in Times Square, with a ferris wheel inside. We walked inside it the night we saw Mary Poppins but it was crowded and I didn't see anything there that we couldn't find anywhere else. We looked for Vanns shoes for Rylee, but the skate store near our hotel did not carry children's sizes. We almost got an I [skateboard] NY shirt there but held off. My souvenir from the trip came from the Lego store: a mini-figure refrigerator magnet with, of course, I [heart] NY on the shirt.
The boys built their Legos in the hotel room and played with them when we were there. If you ask the boys what their favorite part of the trip was, they'll say they got to visit Ariel but the Lego store and FAO Schwarz are next on the top of their lists. Ry still holds out for the Lego store as his favorite, but Jack mentions both the Lego store and FAO Schwarz and admits that FAO Schwarz was the better of the two. He'll add that Toys R Us was a little lame.
So on Friday morning around 10 we took the subway and walked to Rockefeller Plaza, where the big Lego sign greeted us in the window. The boys were very excited. Rylee first wandered around the entire store, looking in vain for Indiana Jones Legos. We thought this store was the only place to find them, but the line had been discontinued. Instead, the boys checked out the Hero Factory sets. They gathered around two kiosks where they could assemble their own minifigures from bins. Ry worked at one; Jack at the other. Each surrounded by other children building the minifigures. This was a destination for many young families and you could hear several languages inside. Then the boys filled two small cups with blocks from bins along a wall. They had a lot of fun there. Ariel joined us there, and we headed up 5th Avenue afterward.
After our champagne at the Plaza, we headed over to FAO Schwarz. There were many demonstrations of toys inside. The first in the door was a wax drawing tablet with a plastic cover sheet you lifted off to erase the image. About $1 at the grocery store; about $15 here. The demonstrator emphasized how it didn't make a mess. Tacky, of course, in more ways than one. A little beneath what I'd expect at FAO Schwarz, but it was the first thing through the door. Things got better.
Jackson grabbed me later. He wanted to show me something. At another point in the store, a man was demonstrating a magic kit in which lights appeared on his fingertips, which he then put in a paper sack, and in which one ball in his hand turned into three balls. Jackson loves magic tricks, so we looked at the kit. It promised 50 or 500 magic tricks, but was mostly the fingertip lights, a paper sack with a hidden light board, and four red sponge balls. We did purchase it, to be shared by both of them, and the boys had fun with that during the trip, practicing in the hotel room and often performing for whomever happened to be sitting near us in a restaurant or on the subway. The boys developed their own trick where they would act out throwing and catching the light between them, often across a table. Since we've been home, Jackson has demonstrated it to his cousins and Rylee practices the tricks with Cyndi and me, complete with all the banter and abracadabra.
Jackson must have seen the demonstration a couple of times. When we were looking at the kits, a new circle formed around the hawker as we studied the choices. The hawker repeated his performance, drawing the new boys in by asking their names and by including those on the outside of the ring, looking for the "missing" lights to put back in the paper sack. He'd say, oh, someone has been taking some, and find one on a boy on the edge of the circle. At this point, Jack, who'd been wandering back and forth within and outside the circle, made his way back inside the circle and walked up to the hawker. I confess, Jack said, I took one, too, and held out his hand. The hawker took a magic light out of Jack's hand, without missing a beat, saying, children are so honest these days, then went on with his performance as Jack exited the stage. I chuckled, this was so Jack.
The boys played on the giant piano, and Jackson found a jumbo red Angry Birds plush toy that he wanted. He kept hoping we'd go back to get it, and I told him it was possible, but sadly for him we never got the chance again. Maybe an upcoming birthday present. We did go back to the Lego store at one point when we found ourselves in Rockefeller Plaza again, and we also visited the Nintendo store next door to the Today Show studio.
Toys R Us has a giant flagship store in Times Square, with a ferris wheel inside. We walked inside it the night we saw Mary Poppins but it was crowded and I didn't see anything there that we couldn't find anywhere else. We looked for Vanns shoes for Rylee, but the skate store near our hotel did not carry children's sizes. We almost got an I [skateboard] NY shirt there but held off. My souvenir from the trip came from the Lego store: a mini-figure refrigerator magnet with, of course, I [heart] NY on the shirt.
The boys built their Legos in the hotel room and played with them when we were there. If you ask the boys what their favorite part of the trip was, they'll say they got to visit Ariel but the Lego store and FAO Schwarz are next on the top of their lists. Ry still holds out for the Lego store as his favorite, but Jack mentions both the Lego store and FAO Schwarz and admits that FAO Schwarz was the better of the two. He'll add that Toys R Us was a little lame.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
chess & skateboard update
Our first weekend after NYC and this morning (Sunday) we took our chairs and skates and the magnetic chess set to the skate park after waffles. We picked up some coffee and hot chocolate on the way. Ry got on his skateboard, and he seemed more confident on the little bump in the middle of the park and was attacking the small half pipe. There were other families out in the morning. Jack and Cyndi roller bladed some, and Jack and I played chess in the shade. He trounced me. That little lesson in Greenwich Village must have inspired him. He had traps set up all over the board. At the end, I thought the best I was going to do was force a stalemate but he check mated me. We high fived, and later in the car he offered me a tip.
Pete and Dorie and Brendon came over Friday night for steaks, with sweet peppers, bread, salad, and chips and guacamole. They brought dessert. While the charcoal ignited, I talked briefly with mom & dad, who had returned from their trip with David up to Alaska. On Saturday, it was back-to-school shopping for school supplies, shoes and shirts. The school sends out a list for school supplies. The list includes more pencils than one could imagine using in a decade. This year the lists include flash drives. We're all curious to learn how they intend to use those for fourth graders as well as first graders.
Pete and Dorie and Brendon came over Friday night for steaks, with sweet peppers, bread, salad, and chips and guacamole. They brought dessert. While the charcoal ignited, I talked briefly with mom & dad, who had returned from their trip with David up to Alaska. On Saturday, it was back-to-school shopping for school supplies, shoes and shirts. The school sends out a list for school supplies. The list includes more pencils than one could imagine using in a decade. This year the lists include flash drives. We're all curious to learn how they intend to use those for fourth graders as well as first graders.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
NYC series no.11: Central Park & more
Back when Ariel first moved to NYC, we began planning a trip to see her and visit the sights. From the beginning, we wanted to spend a day that revolved around Central Park to take in its recreational opportunities--skating, biking, boating, chess, playgrounds, picnicking, concerts, plays, hiking and more--and the surrounding museums. It was my dream to jog the trails in the early mornings. When we started looking at staying on the Upper West Side, we started by planning a day in Central Park and other excursions to nearby Riverside Park, where we learned we could kayak, bicycle, and even skateboard. We found a skating store on 72nd Street between our subway station and Central Park. Jackson and Cyndi wanted to rollerblade in Central Park. Rylee and I started talking about taking his skateboard. We found out that Southwest allowed them on board, and TSA appeared to allow them, too. At the last moment, we decided to go ahead and pack the skateboard in our check-in luggage. It would only fit in the large rolling duffel and it added some significant weight. (I was able to confirm later that TSA did allow them through security, at least according to the TSA in Albuquerque...but I still wonder about LaGuardia, which seemed, well, less sophisticated and, justifiably perhaps, less accommodating.)
As it turned out, our time in Central Park was pretty limited. After a short visit on Saturday morning to the American Museum of Natural History at 77th on the western edge of Central Park we had only a short time before our reserved time at the Sony Wonder Lab at 56th and Madison. We entered the park from the museum exit and walked up the hill along the roadway used by joggers and bicyclists, and then across a path to Belvedere Castle, where we could get views of Turtle Pond, the baseball fields of the Great Lawn, and the surrounding skyline above the treetops. The theater for Shakespeare in the Park was next door. The castle is a miniature stonework building, with some staff, making it one of many visitor's centers where you can get a really good map of the park. We climbed to the small parapet on top. At this point, we elected to go toward the lake through the Ramble, a quiet, dense, hilly forest of narrow trails and rocky outcrops, where a few families strolled in the cool shade to find a bench or a patch of grass to picnic and where a group practicing a martial movement were gathered in another patch of grass. We managed to find our way down to the Loeb Boathouse, where we had a few sandwiches inside overlooking the rowboats. We walked along the lake, past a gondola and a musician, over to Bethseda Fountain, where we saw two wedding parties, and then down the mall, past artists, a performer in a small bandshell, and statues of poets and writers. As we began approaching the corner of the plaza near the corner of 59th and 5th, the crowds of pedestrians began dramatically to increase.
On Sunday morning, I did an abbreviated jog through Central Park from our hotel. I entered around 77th and joined the joggers on the West Drive, past Strawberry Fields, the Sheep Meadow, and Tavern on the Green, down toward Columbus Circle, up past the Chess House, around the Mall, and out 72nd. On the way across 72nd, I saw a meeting place for joggers to gather. I bought coffee on the corner to take back up to the room.
The skate shop on 72nd turned out to be a bit of a bust. They were friendly there, but they didn't have Vanns shoes for kids, and Rylee desperately needed new shoes, what with a new school year coming up fast. We visited the shop on Friday between subway trips. We never filled up Monday afternoon, our last afternoon, and we never managed to visit Riverside Park, so Rylee and I boarded the subway so we could go to the skateboard park at 108th.
I have to believe that there are beautiful parts of Riverside Park and this section was beautiful but it seemed a little desolate and a little unkempt, showing some signs of age. The skateboard park was a big disappointment. A chain link fence surrounded it, and the first gate we came to was locked with a chain. There were no skaters there, it was in disrepair, and many of the ramps were blocked off from use. Rylee put on his helmet, and the lone attendant waved us over. I put on Rylee's pads as I talked with the attendant. He told me this was the first day of fasting for Ramadan. Rylee skateboarded a while, having a good time on the small ramps. Several other skateboarders came by while we were there but they had to walk away because they did not have helmets and pads. After a short time, I said goodbye to the attendant, and Rylee and I returned to the subway back to our hotel. That night, Ry fell asleep at dinner. He managed to wake up a few minutes to shovel in some spaghetti and meatballs.
As it turned out, our time in Central Park was pretty limited. After a short visit on Saturday morning to the American Museum of Natural History at 77th on the western edge of Central Park we had only a short time before our reserved time at the Sony Wonder Lab at 56th and Madison. We entered the park from the museum exit and walked up the hill along the roadway used by joggers and bicyclists, and then across a path to Belvedere Castle, where we could get views of Turtle Pond, the baseball fields of the Great Lawn, and the surrounding skyline above the treetops. The theater for Shakespeare in the Park was next door. The castle is a miniature stonework building, with some staff, making it one of many visitor's centers where you can get a really good map of the park. We climbed to the small parapet on top. At this point, we elected to go toward the lake through the Ramble, a quiet, dense, hilly forest of narrow trails and rocky outcrops, where a few families strolled in the cool shade to find a bench or a patch of grass to picnic and where a group practicing a martial movement were gathered in another patch of grass. We managed to find our way down to the Loeb Boathouse, where we had a few sandwiches inside overlooking the rowboats. We walked along the lake, past a gondola and a musician, over to Bethseda Fountain, where we saw two wedding parties, and then down the mall, past artists, a performer in a small bandshell, and statues of poets and writers. As we began approaching the corner of the plaza near the corner of 59th and 5th, the crowds of pedestrians began dramatically to increase.
On Sunday morning, I did an abbreviated jog through Central Park from our hotel. I entered around 77th and joined the joggers on the West Drive, past Strawberry Fields, the Sheep Meadow, and Tavern on the Green, down toward Columbus Circle, up past the Chess House, around the Mall, and out 72nd. On the way across 72nd, I saw a meeting place for joggers to gather. I bought coffee on the corner to take back up to the room.
The skate shop on 72nd turned out to be a bit of a bust. They were friendly there, but they didn't have Vanns shoes for kids, and Rylee desperately needed new shoes, what with a new school year coming up fast. We visited the shop on Friday between subway trips. We never filled up Monday afternoon, our last afternoon, and we never managed to visit Riverside Park, so Rylee and I boarded the subway so we could go to the skateboard park at 108th.
I have to believe that there are beautiful parts of Riverside Park and this section was beautiful but it seemed a little desolate and a little unkempt, showing some signs of age. The skateboard park was a big disappointment. A chain link fence surrounded it, and the first gate we came to was locked with a chain. There were no skaters there, it was in disrepair, and many of the ramps were blocked off from use. Rylee put on his helmet, and the lone attendant waved us over. I put on Rylee's pads as I talked with the attendant. He told me this was the first day of fasting for Ramadan. Rylee skateboarded a while, having a good time on the small ramps. Several other skateboarders came by while we were there but they had to walk away because they did not have helmets and pads. After a short time, I said goodbye to the attendant, and Rylee and I returned to the subway back to our hotel. That night, Ry fell asleep at dinner. He managed to wake up a few minutes to shovel in some spaghetti and meatballs.
Friday, August 5, 2011
NYC series no.10: restaurants
When I prepared a budget for the trip, I kept staring at the amounts I set aside for meals, knowing they were too low. Still, I never changed the numbers. We did, in fact, go overbudget on the meals, but my budget was padded in other ways and we managed to stay within our means overall.
Going out in NYC was almost twice as much for what I'd like to spend on family dining but it never seemed unreasonable. I had a good idea of what restaurants would be family friendly, which is taken pretty seriously on the Upper West Side, and we certainly knew that this was not going to be a trip for gastronomical indulgences. Typically, we look for entrees that might be split for the boys or sides that may serve as main courses for the boys, but in the New York restaurants it was apparent we had to rely on the children's menus they offered, and generally the prices for kid's meals were not unreasonable in the scheme of things. What I found humorous was that each restaurant we went to had its own take on the boys' favorites. You'd read the description and it would take you a moment to realize it was just basically a grilled cheese sandwich (Jack's favorite) or macaroni and cheese (Ry's favorite). Alternatively, Jack would eat hot dogs (which was on most menus, too) and Ry would eat spaghetti and meatballs. So they ate well in NYC.
We started off poorly with our first meal at Chicago Midway. I was going to save this for a separate blog on the airports but we found ourselves eating on the A concourse going to NYC at a place with pizza and pasta. It was really horrible and the prices were shocking. A bad start. There was a Ben & Jerry's in the food court that we stopped at both going and coming back. On our way back, we got a table at Harry Caray's in the food court and that turned out good. The boys played chess there, and Cyndi and I had a beer between flights. Our last indulgence.
Our first meal in NYC was with Ariel at La Bonne Soupe, where we had lunch Friday on our outing that started with the Lego store and proceeded up 5th Avenue. It was on 55th Street in Midtown. We arrived early for lunch, about 11:30, and for a brief moment we wondered if were arriving too early. It turned out perfectly. The only tables taken at that time were the two or three small tables on the balcony above the street. We were seated at a very nice table upstairs in the room just off the balcony, surrounded by colorful paintings. I had Soupe a l'Oignon, served with a salad and a glass of red wine. Cyndi and Ariel each had quiche and salad, as I recall, and this is one place where the boys had a cheeseburger (Jack) and a hamburger (Ry). We shared a chocolate mousse, a flan (creme caramel), and a chocolate gelato. When we left, the place was full.
That evening we skipped the Toys R Us flagship store in Times Square, after buying our tickets for Mary Poppins the following evening, and hurried back on the subway to meet Ariel and Chris at Isabella's. This restaurant was in our neighborhood, on Columbus Avenue at 77th Street, just across from the American Museum of Natural History. It was a pretty bistro, but not overly fancy. I made reservations sometime in the afternoon and we arrived just at the right time. I think it was after 9, and the room was busy, a popular place to dine on the Upper West Side. It had rained that afternoon and between the rain, the humidity, and our outing around Midtown, not to mention the subways and the walk to the restaurant from the station, we didn't feel very fresh. They seated us, and we stored our umbrellas in the corner. Ariel and Chris were about ten minutes away, so we ordered cocktails. With the ambiance, the cocktails, and the air conditioning, we were revived. The boys nibbled on bread and began entertaining the next table with some magic lights we purchased at FAO Schwarz that morning. It was very clear that children were welcome by both the restaurant and its patrons. Our neighboring table actually enjoyed our boys.
At some point the restaurant lights dimmed. I remember this because I couldn't read by the light of the tea candles and Cyndi loaned me her reading glasses. That was a first. The waitress brought the boys' dinners out quickly, without us asking. We ordered the least expensive bottle of an Argentinian Malbec. Ariel and Cyndi split a chopped salad and a salmon special. Chris had gnocci, which I remember because Ariel told us the story of him making the best gnocci ever. He thought the gnocci he had that night was comparable to his. And I had a tasty linguine dish. For dessert, the boys split a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich, Ariel and Chris split a brownie sundae, and Cyndi and I split a citrus vanilla creme brulee.
We caught up with Ariel and Chris. I don't think it was grilling, but I kept asking questions about what Chris was doing. It sounded fascinating, that's why I kept asking, and I was curious how their time might play out in Manhattan. As it turns out, there's some thought of going to David's school in Pullman where there is a research lab connected to the work Chris is doing now at Rockefeller University. We asked about his parents, too, who we liked and who are excited about a wedding next year. We parted at the restaurant. It might have been around 11, and we walked back to our hotel, past the brownstones on 75th.
On Saturday, we had a snack in the cafe at the American Museum of Natural History and a late snack at the theater, neither of them having any nutritional value. We also grabbed some refreshments at Trader Joe's and hot dogs at Gray's Papaya near our subway station, but due to my own failure we will not speak of those hot dogs again and consider it a do-over for our next trip to NYC. So the closest we came to a meal that day was in Central Park at the Loeb Boathouse. It's a pretty spot by the lake, with people rowing and even gondolas. We came upon it after meandering through the Ramble. It looked like a nice place for a brunch, which Ariel and Chris recommended as a very NYC thing to do. We had sandwiches overlooking the lake, behind a restaurant, at an informal cafe, before following the lake to Bethesda Fountain. The boys and I grabbed really good smoothies at a Starbucks next door to the Sony Wonder Lab later, and other than these our nourishment that day came from our refrigerator in our hotel room.
On Sunday, we had a good pizza at John's on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. Half cheese, half sliced meatballs. We walked from the chess store, and I wondered what we would find. Would it be crowded? As we approached, there was a group of people standing outside. My heart sank. But when we got to the door, it was clear that they weren't waiting in line. They were just tourists on a walking tour of Greenwich Village. We got a booth immediately. The booth was covered with names scratched into the wood. Jack was a little turned off by the very old bathroom. The linoleum on the floor was worn. The people were great. We ordered a pizza and a pitcher of root beer. When I asked if I could add the sliced meatballs on half, I asked the man if that was good. He said, in good humor, that if I didn't think it was good they would get us one we did like. It was delicious. The crust was cracker thin. The boys struggled with the slices. I should have shown them how to fold them but wondered if they'd take me seriously.
In the evening we dined at Alma in Brooklyn, a favorite of Ariel's and Chris's. I mentioned this restaurant on my blog about views, since that was the afternoon Ariel drove us to Pier 6 for a ferry to and a bicycle ride on Governor's Island. Alma was close to their previous apartment, before they moved to Manhattan. It had a cozy neighborhood bar on the first floor where we waited for the prime tables on the covered rooftop with its view of Lower Manhattan. On the rooftop, we sat in the shade of early evening. There was a slight breeze. The food was exquisite. The company was wonderful. Cyndi and I had an anejo. I was intrigued because they offered an enchilada dish with what they said was New Mexico chile. I had to try it. It was presented exactly as how it would be prepared in New Mexico. The red chile seemed more complex than I would expect in New Mexico, perhaps more like a mole sauce. But it was delicious. I'm not sure what the others had this evening: we ordered some guacamole; the boys maybe a quesadilla; Cyndi maybe a fish taco; Chris fajitas.
(I just Skyped Ariel to ask what she had. Probably a favorite. She answered that she had the Poblano Relleno, stuffed with short ribs and gouda, served over a yellow mole sauce, topped with crispy yucca. Yum! And she reminded me that Jack fell asleep and had his half of the quesadilla when we got back to the hotel.)
On Monday, we had lunch at the cafe at MOMA. Once again we went early and beat all the crowds. We sat by a window, overlooking 53rd Street. The menu was mostly bruschetta and pannini. The kids' menu had mozarella panini (grilled cheese, although Jack couldn't eat the last bite of mozarella; it came with apple slices, too) and pasta with butter and cheese (yummy macaroni and cheese), along with a bowl of fresh berries and two cookies.
That night Ariel joined us and we walked down Broadway to Arte's Delicatessen, "a traditional retro 1930's New York delicatessen." This is where it was Rylee's turn to fall asleep during dinner, after an early morning wake up call for The Today Show and afternoon skateboarding. I'm sure I should have ordered a pastrami Rueben, but the brisket dinner sounded good to me. Cyndi had a large salad, since she was dying for something green, and Ariel had our favorite: The Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner. It was sensational--the stuffing, the turkey, the mashed potatoes, the vegetables, and the cranberry relish. Huge! Even after Cyndi and I helped Ariel, there was still plenty for Chris back at home. Ariel soon left us that night, to get back to her apartment on her bike. We would be up early the next day to head home.
Going out in NYC was almost twice as much for what I'd like to spend on family dining but it never seemed unreasonable. I had a good idea of what restaurants would be family friendly, which is taken pretty seriously on the Upper West Side, and we certainly knew that this was not going to be a trip for gastronomical indulgences. Typically, we look for entrees that might be split for the boys or sides that may serve as main courses for the boys, but in the New York restaurants it was apparent we had to rely on the children's menus they offered, and generally the prices for kid's meals were not unreasonable in the scheme of things. What I found humorous was that each restaurant we went to had its own take on the boys' favorites. You'd read the description and it would take you a moment to realize it was just basically a grilled cheese sandwich (Jack's favorite) or macaroni and cheese (Ry's favorite). Alternatively, Jack would eat hot dogs (which was on most menus, too) and Ry would eat spaghetti and meatballs. So they ate well in NYC.
We started off poorly with our first meal at Chicago Midway. I was going to save this for a separate blog on the airports but we found ourselves eating on the A concourse going to NYC at a place with pizza and pasta. It was really horrible and the prices were shocking. A bad start. There was a Ben & Jerry's in the food court that we stopped at both going and coming back. On our way back, we got a table at Harry Caray's in the food court and that turned out good. The boys played chess there, and Cyndi and I had a beer between flights. Our last indulgence.
Our first meal in NYC was with Ariel at La Bonne Soupe, where we had lunch Friday on our outing that started with the Lego store and proceeded up 5th Avenue. It was on 55th Street in Midtown. We arrived early for lunch, about 11:30, and for a brief moment we wondered if were arriving too early. It turned out perfectly. The only tables taken at that time were the two or three small tables on the balcony above the street. We were seated at a very nice table upstairs in the room just off the balcony, surrounded by colorful paintings. I had Soupe a l'Oignon, served with a salad and a glass of red wine. Cyndi and Ariel each had quiche and salad, as I recall, and this is one place where the boys had a cheeseburger (Jack) and a hamburger (Ry). We shared a chocolate mousse, a flan (creme caramel), and a chocolate gelato. When we left, the place was full.
That evening we skipped the Toys R Us flagship store in Times Square, after buying our tickets for Mary Poppins the following evening, and hurried back on the subway to meet Ariel and Chris at Isabella's. This restaurant was in our neighborhood, on Columbus Avenue at 77th Street, just across from the American Museum of Natural History. It was a pretty bistro, but not overly fancy. I made reservations sometime in the afternoon and we arrived just at the right time. I think it was after 9, and the room was busy, a popular place to dine on the Upper West Side. It had rained that afternoon and between the rain, the humidity, and our outing around Midtown, not to mention the subways and the walk to the restaurant from the station, we didn't feel very fresh. They seated us, and we stored our umbrellas in the corner. Ariel and Chris were about ten minutes away, so we ordered cocktails. With the ambiance, the cocktails, and the air conditioning, we were revived. The boys nibbled on bread and began entertaining the next table with some magic lights we purchased at FAO Schwarz that morning. It was very clear that children were welcome by both the restaurant and its patrons. Our neighboring table actually enjoyed our boys.
At some point the restaurant lights dimmed. I remember this because I couldn't read by the light of the tea candles and Cyndi loaned me her reading glasses. That was a first. The waitress brought the boys' dinners out quickly, without us asking. We ordered the least expensive bottle of an Argentinian Malbec. Ariel and Cyndi split a chopped salad and a salmon special. Chris had gnocci, which I remember because Ariel told us the story of him making the best gnocci ever. He thought the gnocci he had that night was comparable to his. And I had a tasty linguine dish. For dessert, the boys split a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich, Ariel and Chris split a brownie sundae, and Cyndi and I split a citrus vanilla creme brulee.
We caught up with Ariel and Chris. I don't think it was grilling, but I kept asking questions about what Chris was doing. It sounded fascinating, that's why I kept asking, and I was curious how their time might play out in Manhattan. As it turns out, there's some thought of going to David's school in Pullman where there is a research lab connected to the work Chris is doing now at Rockefeller University. We asked about his parents, too, who we liked and who are excited about a wedding next year. We parted at the restaurant. It might have been around 11, and we walked back to our hotel, past the brownstones on 75th.
On Saturday, we had a snack in the cafe at the American Museum of Natural History and a late snack at the theater, neither of them having any nutritional value. We also grabbed some refreshments at Trader Joe's and hot dogs at Gray's Papaya near our subway station, but due to my own failure we will not speak of those hot dogs again and consider it a do-over for our next trip to NYC. So the closest we came to a meal that day was in Central Park at the Loeb Boathouse. It's a pretty spot by the lake, with people rowing and even gondolas. We came upon it after meandering through the Ramble. It looked like a nice place for a brunch, which Ariel and Chris recommended as a very NYC thing to do. We had sandwiches overlooking the lake, behind a restaurant, at an informal cafe, before following the lake to Bethesda Fountain. The boys and I grabbed really good smoothies at a Starbucks next door to the Sony Wonder Lab later, and other than these our nourishment that day came from our refrigerator in our hotel room.
On Sunday, we had a good pizza at John's on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. Half cheese, half sliced meatballs. We walked from the chess store, and I wondered what we would find. Would it be crowded? As we approached, there was a group of people standing outside. My heart sank. But when we got to the door, it was clear that they weren't waiting in line. They were just tourists on a walking tour of Greenwich Village. We got a booth immediately. The booth was covered with names scratched into the wood. Jack was a little turned off by the very old bathroom. The linoleum on the floor was worn. The people were great. We ordered a pizza and a pitcher of root beer. When I asked if I could add the sliced meatballs on half, I asked the man if that was good. He said, in good humor, that if I didn't think it was good they would get us one we did like. It was delicious. The crust was cracker thin. The boys struggled with the slices. I should have shown them how to fold them but wondered if they'd take me seriously.
In the evening we dined at Alma in Brooklyn, a favorite of Ariel's and Chris's. I mentioned this restaurant on my blog about views, since that was the afternoon Ariel drove us to Pier 6 for a ferry to and a bicycle ride on Governor's Island. Alma was close to their previous apartment, before they moved to Manhattan. It had a cozy neighborhood bar on the first floor where we waited for the prime tables on the covered rooftop with its view of Lower Manhattan. On the rooftop, we sat in the shade of early evening. There was a slight breeze. The food was exquisite. The company was wonderful. Cyndi and I had an anejo. I was intrigued because they offered an enchilada dish with what they said was New Mexico chile. I had to try it. It was presented exactly as how it would be prepared in New Mexico. The red chile seemed more complex than I would expect in New Mexico, perhaps more like a mole sauce. But it was delicious. I'm not sure what the others had this evening: we ordered some guacamole; the boys maybe a quesadilla; Cyndi maybe a fish taco; Chris fajitas.
(I just Skyped Ariel to ask what she had. Probably a favorite. She answered that she had the Poblano Relleno, stuffed with short ribs and gouda, served over a yellow mole sauce, topped with crispy yucca. Yum! And she reminded me that Jack fell asleep and had his half of the quesadilla when we got back to the hotel.)
On Monday, we had lunch at the cafe at MOMA. Once again we went early and beat all the crowds. We sat by a window, overlooking 53rd Street. The menu was mostly bruschetta and pannini. The kids' menu had mozarella panini (grilled cheese, although Jack couldn't eat the last bite of mozarella; it came with apple slices, too) and pasta with butter and cheese (yummy macaroni and cheese), along with a bowl of fresh berries and two cookies.
That night Ariel joined us and we walked down Broadway to Arte's Delicatessen, "a traditional retro 1930's New York delicatessen." This is where it was Rylee's turn to fall asleep during dinner, after an early morning wake up call for The Today Show and afternoon skateboarding. I'm sure I should have ordered a pastrami Rueben, but the brisket dinner sounded good to me. Cyndi had a large salad, since she was dying for something green, and Ariel had our favorite: The Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner. It was sensational--the stuffing, the turkey, the mashed potatoes, the vegetables, and the cranberry relish. Huge! Even after Cyndi and I helped Ariel, there was still plenty for Chris back at home. Ariel soon left us that night, to get back to her apartment on her bike. We would be up early the next day to head home.
NYC series no.9: Beacon Hotel
We stayed at the Beacon Hotel on Broadway between 74th and 75th. I heard a lot about it after making inquiries for family friendly accommodations. There were many families staying there while we were there, and I gathered that most of those families were from other countries. We heard many languages on the elevators, in the hallways, and in the lobby. Of course, we heard many languages throughout the city.
The hotel is in the Upper West Side, two blocks from Riverside Park and the Hudson River, three blocks to Central Park, about the same distance to the American Museum of Natural History, not far from Lincoln Center, a block from a subway station, across the street from a great market, and next door to a wine store, a cafe, and the Beacon Theatre. The staff was really good, very attentive. We got to know our doorman as we walked out the front door onto the sidewalk on our way to the subway, or the market, or Starbucks, or whereever. On the day it rained, he gave us umbrellas. When we left, he haled the cab and loaded our bags.
The first impression of our room was how cool it was inside after our first taste of the heat and humidity. Jackson pushed the button in the small elevator to the 23rd floor and Rylee unlocked the door with the card key. The room's palette was a pleasant green. There was a living room with a sofa bed. Cyndi unpacked the boys' clothes and stored them in a bureau in the room. Their toys went into separate drawers, and the bags were stored in a closet near the front door, which also had a little safe. There was also a kitchenette. We used the refrigerator, the sink and the microwave, but that was all. It was pretty well stocked for four people, and at the end I discovered you could ask for wine glasses and additional utensils. (You had to ask for a sharp knife to go with the cutting board that was already there.) The bathroom was very nice but very small. Thankfully, there was a wide sill along the bathroom window for things. There was another closet in the bedroom. The bedroom also had a wonderful tall window looking toward Central Park and Midtown, its own temperature zone, and a second flat screen. I think Cyndi docked her ipod in the room, too.
We often came home to the hotel late and tired. There were a few mornings we got an early start, but it never seemed hurried until I started haranguing everyone when it was time to go. On a few mornings, I'd get some muffins or scones and coffee. We bought some milk and juice, grapes, and other things to eat in the room in the morning or late at night. We even got two bottles of wine from next door. Some days were divided so that we could come back for rest. Cyndi would lie down for a bit, the boys would play with their new Legos with the Disney channel in the background, and I'd take out my little itinerary and figure out the next subway trip or see if we were still on budget.
The hotel is in the Upper West Side, two blocks from Riverside Park and the Hudson River, three blocks to Central Park, about the same distance to the American Museum of Natural History, not far from Lincoln Center, a block from a subway station, across the street from a great market, and next door to a wine store, a cafe, and the Beacon Theatre. The staff was really good, very attentive. We got to know our doorman as we walked out the front door onto the sidewalk on our way to the subway, or the market, or Starbucks, or whereever. On the day it rained, he gave us umbrellas. When we left, he haled the cab and loaded our bags.
The first impression of our room was how cool it was inside after our first taste of the heat and humidity. Jackson pushed the button in the small elevator to the 23rd floor and Rylee unlocked the door with the card key. The room's palette was a pleasant green. There was a living room with a sofa bed. Cyndi unpacked the boys' clothes and stored them in a bureau in the room. Their toys went into separate drawers, and the bags were stored in a closet near the front door, which also had a little safe. There was also a kitchenette. We used the refrigerator, the sink and the microwave, but that was all. It was pretty well stocked for four people, and at the end I discovered you could ask for wine glasses and additional utensils. (You had to ask for a sharp knife to go with the cutting board that was already there.) The bathroom was very nice but very small. Thankfully, there was a wide sill along the bathroom window for things. There was another closet in the bedroom. The bedroom also had a wonderful tall window looking toward Central Park and Midtown, its own temperature zone, and a second flat screen. I think Cyndi docked her ipod in the room, too.
We often came home to the hotel late and tired. There were a few mornings we got an early start, but it never seemed hurried until I started haranguing everyone when it was time to go. On a few mornings, I'd get some muffins or scones and coffee. We bought some milk and juice, grapes, and other things to eat in the room in the morning or late at night. We even got two bottles of wine from next door. Some days were divided so that we could come back for rest. Cyndi would lie down for a bit, the boys would play with their new Legos with the Disney channel in the background, and I'd take out my little itinerary and figure out the next subway trip or see if we were still on budget.
NYC series no.8: a short architectural tour
There were a handful of places I wanted to see and that Cyndi wanted to see, and show the boys, that I thought we could visit when were out and about. One was St. Patrick's Cathedral, which we visited on our first day, between the Lego Store in Rockefeller Center and FAO Schwarz, which was further up 5th Avenue, at that corner on 59th where Central Park meets The Plaza Hotel and the two squares and, of course, 5th Avenue. Ariel was with us.
I can't describe the cathedral and give it due justice. It is extremely Gothic, with high spires, and when you enter it you are first impressed with the height of its vaulted ceiling and its cavernous immensity. There was a steady stream of tourists entering and several stopped in the vestibule, where votives could be lit. We walked down the nave toward the altar and sat in the pews close under its center, where the crosses of the building's footprint intersect. From there we could take in various details, including the stain glass rose window and grand organ over the vestibule from where we entered. We walked a little more toward a chapel behind the altar and then toward a small gift shop, where Cyndi purchased a little bookmark for her mother. I think it was for St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things. We left a small donation in a box for the poor of the world.
On Sunday morning, we walked three blocks from our hotel to the Church of the Blessed Sacrament for 10 o'clock mass. The church is certainly not as grand as St. Patrick's but to my mind it was very grand. It was similarly Gothic, with beautiful stained glass windows, including a rose over the organ above the vestibule. Behind the altar were beautiful tapestries. It was their family mass, and there were many small children and crying babies. It did not seem particularly full but many, like us, arrived, as we tend to do, a few minutes tardy. The gospel that day was the miracle of the loaves and fishes, which I thought was appropriate enough.
For some inexplicable reason, I wanted to make a loop on Friday, before seeing Times Square, that included an arrival at Grand Central Station (entering the hall as though we were arriving by train) and the nearby New York Public Library. It was raining that afternoon, and the doorman at our hotel lent us umbrellas. The subway was particularly hot and humid, and it took a transfer from the Times Square station to get to Grand Central Station. We entered the grand hall and again its immensity was the wonder of it all. We exited by the least convenient exit and it began to rain in earnest. We ducked into a JCrew store on Madison Avenue during the hardest part of the rain. Cyndi could find no good sales. When the rain subsided a bit, we walked to the New York Public Library. I had wanted at the very least to sit in its reading room, but the doors between the lions were locked and so we turned the corner to Bryant Park, which was equally closed down due to the rain. That's when we followed our umbrellas to Times Square and the New Amsterdam theater and purchased tickets for Mary Poppins for the next evening.
I can't describe the cathedral and give it due justice. It is extremely Gothic, with high spires, and when you enter it you are first impressed with the height of its vaulted ceiling and its cavernous immensity. There was a steady stream of tourists entering and several stopped in the vestibule, where votives could be lit. We walked down the nave toward the altar and sat in the pews close under its center, where the crosses of the building's footprint intersect. From there we could take in various details, including the stain glass rose window and grand organ over the vestibule from where we entered. We walked a little more toward a chapel behind the altar and then toward a small gift shop, where Cyndi purchased a little bookmark for her mother. I think it was for St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things. We left a small donation in a box for the poor of the world.
On Sunday morning, we walked three blocks from our hotel to the Church of the Blessed Sacrament for 10 o'clock mass. The church is certainly not as grand as St. Patrick's but to my mind it was very grand. It was similarly Gothic, with beautiful stained glass windows, including a rose over the organ above the vestibule. Behind the altar were beautiful tapestries. It was their family mass, and there were many small children and crying babies. It did not seem particularly full but many, like us, arrived, as we tend to do, a few minutes tardy. The gospel that day was the miracle of the loaves and fishes, which I thought was appropriate enough.
For some inexplicable reason, I wanted to make a loop on Friday, before seeing Times Square, that included an arrival at Grand Central Station (entering the hall as though we were arriving by train) and the nearby New York Public Library. It was raining that afternoon, and the doorman at our hotel lent us umbrellas. The subway was particularly hot and humid, and it took a transfer from the Times Square station to get to Grand Central Station. We entered the grand hall and again its immensity was the wonder of it all. We exited by the least convenient exit and it began to rain in earnest. We ducked into a JCrew store on Madison Avenue during the hardest part of the rain. Cyndi could find no good sales. When the rain subsided a bit, we walked to the New York Public Library. I had wanted at the very least to sit in its reading room, but the doors between the lions were locked and so we turned the corner to Bryant Park, which was equally closed down due to the rain. That's when we followed our umbrellas to Times Square and the New Amsterdam theater and purchased tickets for Mary Poppins for the next evening.
NYC series no.7: chess in Greenwich Village
On Sunday morning, after church, we took the subway to Washington Square. There is a corner of the park there where chess is played but that part of the park was under renovation and closed. We walked over to the arch, and the boys had strawberry popsicles on a bench nearby.
We walked over to Thompson Street, just before Bleecker Street, which is sometimes known as the chess district, where there are two chess stores on the narrow street. We went into the first. There were two rows of tables with chess sets, and a sign that said you had to pay $3 to watch and another sign that said the store was open 24 hours. There were only a few people inside. A gentleman was teaching a young boy. The boy's mother sat beside her son. The boy squirmed in his seat and didn't seem particularly absorbed in the lesson, but the teacher was very good and very patient.
The boys looked at the chess sets for sale. I didn't get the impression that they sold a lot of sets, but the selection was unique. The store showed signs that it had been around for many, many years. The boys also found some chess t-shirts. They were very reasonable in price. I waited until the lesson was over, and sometime passed before the mother was finished. They were setting up a series of regular lessons. When they finally concluded, I introduced myself to the teacher and asked if he gave drop in lessons. He said that he did, but the lesson was one hour. We were supposed to meet up with Ariel soon, so I said I didn't think we had that much time. We arranged for a short 1/2 hour lesson.
The teacher was very good with children, and he packed a lot within the half hour. I explained that Jackson knew the game pretty well but that I was his teacher and I doubted how well I could teach him beyond some rudimentary level. The teacher was also interested in Rylee, and I told him that Rylee knew the moves of the pieces and was already seeing the plays on the board.
Jackson sat opposite the teacher and Rylee sat at the end of the table. Cyndi came and went, checking out the other merchants on the street. She told me later about a meditative bowl she found. The teacher went through some opening strategies to control the center of the board and a simple end game to show what he called the "force field" and getting in the King's face. He explained how a pawn can take another pawn en passant, castling, the value of the pieces, and stalemate. I thought the teacher could move quickly, partly because he saw how readily Jackson understood and could play against him. Jackson is particularly proud of seeing traps, and the teacher had a clear description of the forms of traps.
At the end, the teacher turned his attention to Rylee with a technique he called the parachute. He'd place white pieces around the board, then drop one black piece onto a square and ask Ry which white piece or pieces could take the black piece. Ry was very quiet. The teacher watched Ry's eyes and he could see how Ry looked at the entire board until he saw the move. In a very short time, Ry would then move the white piece to take the black piece. The teacher would then put the black piece on another square and repeat the exercise. Ry never hesitated to move the correct white piece.
I was so appreciative of this short lesson. I talked with the man, and we exchanged email addresses. He even suggested we could continue lessons via Skype on the internet. A different world, I thought, considering the suggestion seriously, where the student lives in Albuquerque and the teacher lives in New York City. He told me it would be new for him, too. I told him Jackson would know how to use the internet for the lessons. Cyndi thought they could make a trade.
We walked down Bleecker Street, noting its close approximation to our name, and had a pizza at a long-established pizzeria in Greenwich Village before getting back on the subway to Canal Street, where Ariel would pick us up for a trip to Brooklyn.
We have a chess set at home, a simple wooden one in a tin box, that I bought online from FAO Schwarz for $5 years ago. I thought we could find a magnetic chess set at the store when we set out that day, but we didn't see anything there. When we got to Chicago Midway on Tuesday, we found one in a store next to where we had lunch. The boys played together in the restaurant and in the terminal and on the plane going back home.
We walked over to Thompson Street, just before Bleecker Street, which is sometimes known as the chess district, where there are two chess stores on the narrow street. We went into the first. There were two rows of tables with chess sets, and a sign that said you had to pay $3 to watch and another sign that said the store was open 24 hours. There were only a few people inside. A gentleman was teaching a young boy. The boy's mother sat beside her son. The boy squirmed in his seat and didn't seem particularly absorbed in the lesson, but the teacher was very good and very patient.
The boys looked at the chess sets for sale. I didn't get the impression that they sold a lot of sets, but the selection was unique. The store showed signs that it had been around for many, many years. The boys also found some chess t-shirts. They were very reasonable in price. I waited until the lesson was over, and sometime passed before the mother was finished. They were setting up a series of regular lessons. When they finally concluded, I introduced myself to the teacher and asked if he gave drop in lessons. He said that he did, but the lesson was one hour. We were supposed to meet up with Ariel soon, so I said I didn't think we had that much time. We arranged for a short 1/2 hour lesson.
The teacher was very good with children, and he packed a lot within the half hour. I explained that Jackson knew the game pretty well but that I was his teacher and I doubted how well I could teach him beyond some rudimentary level. The teacher was also interested in Rylee, and I told him that Rylee knew the moves of the pieces and was already seeing the plays on the board.
Jackson sat opposite the teacher and Rylee sat at the end of the table. Cyndi came and went, checking out the other merchants on the street. She told me later about a meditative bowl she found. The teacher went through some opening strategies to control the center of the board and a simple end game to show what he called the "force field" and getting in the King's face. He explained how a pawn can take another pawn en passant, castling, the value of the pieces, and stalemate. I thought the teacher could move quickly, partly because he saw how readily Jackson understood and could play against him. Jackson is particularly proud of seeing traps, and the teacher had a clear description of the forms of traps.
At the end, the teacher turned his attention to Rylee with a technique he called the parachute. He'd place white pieces around the board, then drop one black piece onto a square and ask Ry which white piece or pieces could take the black piece. Ry was very quiet. The teacher watched Ry's eyes and he could see how Ry looked at the entire board until he saw the move. In a very short time, Ry would then move the white piece to take the black piece. The teacher would then put the black piece on another square and repeat the exercise. Ry never hesitated to move the correct white piece.
I was so appreciative of this short lesson. I talked with the man, and we exchanged email addresses. He even suggested we could continue lessons via Skype on the internet. A different world, I thought, considering the suggestion seriously, where the student lives in Albuquerque and the teacher lives in New York City. He told me it would be new for him, too. I told him Jackson would know how to use the internet for the lessons. Cyndi thought they could make a trade.
We walked down Bleecker Street, noting its close approximation to our name, and had a pizza at a long-established pizzeria in Greenwich Village before getting back on the subway to Canal Street, where Ariel would pick us up for a trip to Brooklyn.
We have a chess set at home, a simple wooden one in a tin box, that I bought online from FAO Schwarz for $5 years ago. I thought we could find a magnetic chess set at the store when we set out that day, but we didn't see anything there. When we got to Chicago Midway on Tuesday, we found one in a store next to where we had lunch. The boys played together in the restaurant and in the terminal and on the plane going back home.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
NYC series no.5: in a station of the MTA
In the four full days we were in NYC, I'd guess we took the subway about a dozen times. We took a cab only three times, twice to get to and from the airport and once to get from Times Square to our hotel. On Sunday afternoon, Ariel picked us up in a car to get us to Brooklyn and Chris drove us home to our hotel that evening. I was very thankful for that, as I was exhausted and it was great not to have to think about getting us around.
There was a station a block from our hotel that became familiar to us. It was a pleasant walk along Broadway, even one afternoon in the rain, past lovely residential buildings. Broadway at this point is divided with a median of trees and flowers. The sidewalks weren't nearly as crowded as Midtown. It was a pretty entrance to the station, in the center of Verdi square, where 72nd Street, Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway Boulevard converged. People sat in the park near the station entrance, many reading a book or a Kindle. It was our favorite station. Across the street was a Trader Joe's, with its escalator for shopping carts that Jackson, Rylee and Ariel tried, and a Gray's Papaya.
Cyndi helped steer us through the stations and get us to the right side of the tracks for our destination or find the cross overs for transfers and exits. Jackson quickly learned how to distinguish between uptown and downtown directions, listen to the stops over the PA system on the train, find the boards in the stations for the next arriving trains, and read the signs. Cyndi made sure always to hold hands. Rylee learned to duck under the turnstiles. Jackson always quickly found an empty seat.
On Friday morning we bought three passes for unlimited rides, good for a week. Riders under 44 inches rode free, and before we left I measured Rylee. He was about a half inch over 44, but the lady at the station booth said he was free and we never had any question as he ducked under the turnstiles. I would scan each pass for Jackson, Cyndi and myself.
I carried a laminated map with me on most outings, and the best feature of the map was a duplication of the official MTA map, showing the subway lines and stations. From our station at Verdi Square we could get direct trains to Columbus Circle (where we could transfer to a train to Washington Square) and to Times Square (where we once transferred on a shuttle subway to Grand Central Station). We could walk from Times Square to Rockefeller Center or take another line to Rockefeller Center from the station on 72nd at Central Park West. Once we got it down, it became a pretty quick way to get around.
We walked to the American Museum of Natural History and from there we walked to Central Park. On a couple of occasions we walked down 72nd, past shops, to the Dakota and down 75th, past brownstones and trees and flowerbeds, to Columbus Avenue. On Sunday we walked three blocks to the Church of the Blessed Sacrament to attend the 10 o'clock mass on 71st Street. We walked up as far as 83rd Street for markets and restaurants, not even a half mile from our hotel. Cyndi did a quick walk on Monday around the neighborhood and I'd get out in the mornings just in our immediate neighborhood.
What we noticed getting around was the stifling heat in the stations and sometimes on the trains themselves. It made you realize the importance of air conditioning and wonder how people lived and worked during the summer heat before air conditioning or how people may still do without it. We were often dehydrated and depended on Cyndi's water bottle. The worst train was an express we mistakenly took uptown to somewhere around Columbia University and Harlem before we could get off and get back on a local train to our intended station. The air conditioning seemed non-existent on that one. The worst station was probably waiting for the shuttle from Times Square to Grand Central Station. Even the overhead fans placed there didn't help the heat, which seemed to build up during the day and peak in the evening.
I have to say that the people we met and talked with were exceedingly helpful and pleasant. There were times when people even offered help when we hadn't yet asked. At Grand Central Station, I asked a man wearing the vest of someone who worked for the subway how to exit so we came up in the great hall. He led us, saying he was going that way anyway, and we talked about the Yankees (the boys were wearing their caps, which often provoked some comment), the Mets (the employee's team), and even the Brooklyn team. We never encountered a scary person or an uncomfortable situation. Once, while walking from Columbus Ave. to our hotel we passed by a man who had passed out in his own vomit. I wondered if he were alive. That scared me.
Rylee and I took the subway on Monday afternoon to 110th Street to go to the skateboard park. We passed by a music school from the station. You could hear the music from the open windows. We took the stairs down to Riverside Park at 108th. The park was quiet. When we returned, Ariel had arrived by bicycling from her apartment below Midtown through a corner of Central Park to our hotel. That was the evening Rylee, exhausted, feel asleep at dinner, waking up for a few moments to inhale his spaghetti and meatballs before falling asleep again.
There was a station a block from our hotel that became familiar to us. It was a pleasant walk along Broadway, even one afternoon in the rain, past lovely residential buildings. Broadway at this point is divided with a median of trees and flowers. The sidewalks weren't nearly as crowded as Midtown. It was a pretty entrance to the station, in the center of Verdi square, where 72nd Street, Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway Boulevard converged. People sat in the park near the station entrance, many reading a book or a Kindle. It was our favorite station. Across the street was a Trader Joe's, with its escalator for shopping carts that Jackson, Rylee and Ariel tried, and a Gray's Papaya.
Cyndi helped steer us through the stations and get us to the right side of the tracks for our destination or find the cross overs for transfers and exits. Jackson quickly learned how to distinguish between uptown and downtown directions, listen to the stops over the PA system on the train, find the boards in the stations for the next arriving trains, and read the signs. Cyndi made sure always to hold hands. Rylee learned to duck under the turnstiles. Jackson always quickly found an empty seat.
On Friday morning we bought three passes for unlimited rides, good for a week. Riders under 44 inches rode free, and before we left I measured Rylee. He was about a half inch over 44, but the lady at the station booth said he was free and we never had any question as he ducked under the turnstiles. I would scan each pass for Jackson, Cyndi and myself.
I carried a laminated map with me on most outings, and the best feature of the map was a duplication of the official MTA map, showing the subway lines and stations. From our station at Verdi Square we could get direct trains to Columbus Circle (where we could transfer to a train to Washington Square) and to Times Square (where we once transferred on a shuttle subway to Grand Central Station). We could walk from Times Square to Rockefeller Center or take another line to Rockefeller Center from the station on 72nd at Central Park West. Once we got it down, it became a pretty quick way to get around.
We walked to the American Museum of Natural History and from there we walked to Central Park. On a couple of occasions we walked down 72nd, past shops, to the Dakota and down 75th, past brownstones and trees and flowerbeds, to Columbus Avenue. On Sunday we walked three blocks to the Church of the Blessed Sacrament to attend the 10 o'clock mass on 71st Street. We walked up as far as 83rd Street for markets and restaurants, not even a half mile from our hotel. Cyndi did a quick walk on Monday around the neighborhood and I'd get out in the mornings just in our immediate neighborhood.
What we noticed getting around was the stifling heat in the stations and sometimes on the trains themselves. It made you realize the importance of air conditioning and wonder how people lived and worked during the summer heat before air conditioning or how people may still do without it. We were often dehydrated and depended on Cyndi's water bottle. The worst train was an express we mistakenly took uptown to somewhere around Columbia University and Harlem before we could get off and get back on a local train to our intended station. The air conditioning seemed non-existent on that one. The worst station was probably waiting for the shuttle from Times Square to Grand Central Station. Even the overhead fans placed there didn't help the heat, which seemed to build up during the day and peak in the evening.
I have to say that the people we met and talked with were exceedingly helpful and pleasant. There were times when people even offered help when we hadn't yet asked. At Grand Central Station, I asked a man wearing the vest of someone who worked for the subway how to exit so we came up in the great hall. He led us, saying he was going that way anyway, and we talked about the Yankees (the boys were wearing their caps, which often provoked some comment), the Mets (the employee's team), and even the Brooklyn team. We never encountered a scary person or an uncomfortable situation. Once, while walking from Columbus Ave. to our hotel we passed by a man who had passed out in his own vomit. I wondered if he were alive. That scared me.
Rylee and I took the subway on Monday afternoon to 110th Street to go to the skateboard park. We passed by a music school from the station. You could hear the music from the open windows. We took the stairs down to Riverside Park at 108th. The park was quiet. When we returned, Ariel had arrived by bicycling from her apartment below Midtown through a corner of Central Park to our hotel. That was the evening Rylee, exhausted, feel asleep at dinner, waking up for a few moments to inhale his spaghetti and meatballs before falling asleep again.
NYC series no.4: The Today Show
Cyndi said she wanted to see the taping of The Today Show at Rockefeller Center, and the more I thought about it the more it sounded like a fun thing to do on Monday, our last full day in NYC, and afterward going up the elevators at 30 Rock to the observation decks and then over to MOMA, all while the day is young. I think we set the alarm for 4:30 in the morning. We took showers and got the boys up at the last moment. We might have taken the subway to Columbus Circle to transfer to an orange line to Rockefeller Center, but I think that morning we walked down to the station at 72nd and Central Park West, in front of the Dakota. We arrived in the station below Rockefeller Center and I found the exit to the concourse of shops at the level between the station and the skating rink. The boys thought this was the best metro station we'd been in. There was a Starbucks there and we ordered our usuals. Besides two kids' hot chocolates, there's a triple extra room tall Americano and a grande extra hot toffee nut latte, no whip. That's not exactly how I order them, but it's as close I can get to how my orders are repeated to me.
We went up to the lobby and out to the plaza and we could see the metal barriers set up out side the studio in the alley between 48th and 49th. We were standing at a corner when a man, who looked to be an audience regular and was already at a prime location, by himself, inside the barriers (I'll call him the VIF), gestured us over to 48th Street, where sure enough a line was forming. Fortunately, it wasn't too long. About 6:30, they let you inside the outer ring of the metal barriers, but not until they check your posters (we didn't make any) for content and pass a wand over your body. Cyndi eventually found a spot at a corner next to a spot reserved for wheelchairs, which in turn is next to the pathway Matt, Ann and Natalie use to enter the inner ring. In other words, Cyndi ended up in a prime spot along the path between the celebrity entrance and the VIF.
Meanwhile I found myself facing the studio itself, with a direct line of sight into the heart of the production area. Mostly, I could view the producers, the cameramen, a makeup artist, and Tom Brokaw and the new Meet the Press guy waiting for the segment on the debt crisis analysis. I nursed my coffee and also watched a monitor above my head. The boys took turns between Cyndi and me, with Jackson sometimes drifting further out to take in the crowd, including the large crew of police on duty.
The show is on the air at 7 sharp. There's some silly stories, one about the royal family, and a fascinating interview with a woman on the U.S. ski team who had an amazing encounter with a mother bear. If you remember that story on The Today Show, you probably saw Cyndi, Jackson and Rylee on national television.
Somewhere before the first half-hour ended, about where they probably have lots of commercials and local news and weather, I saw on my monitor a spliced shot of Cyndi and the boys on camera. And then opening the next half hour, with the theme music playing and the host's voice over saying this was Monday, August 1, there was Cyndi, Jackson and Rylee waving and beaming on camera. The cameraman had picked them out of the crowd. It seemed a natural choice to me.
The celebs probably appeared in the inner ring two or three times. (During part of the on-air time, I went to get tickets for the observation decks around the corner, where I met some other really great NBC or GE or RCA or whatever employees.) I noticed how genuinely friendly The Today Show celebs and producers were. One of the producers went to greet the VIF and gave him one of those Continental kisses. Cyndi and Jackson shook hands with the celebs as they passed by.
Much of this was coordinated by constant text messaging and telephone calls to Cyndi's family and friends so that they would watch and TiVo the show. I still haven't seen any recording, but then I saw it already. I was there. I know Cyndi's dying to see it. Lisa called me after she got back from work that day. It was already late in our day, and we were exhausted. Lisa said something like, are you in New York? Did I see Cyndi on television this morning? What's the chances you'd be in New York, at The Today Show, on camera, and that I'd be watching it at that moment? A classmate of Rylee's saw him, too, that morning.
We went up to the lobby and out to the plaza and we could see the metal barriers set up out side the studio in the alley between 48th and 49th. We were standing at a corner when a man, who looked to be an audience regular and was already at a prime location, by himself, inside the barriers (I'll call him the VIF), gestured us over to 48th Street, where sure enough a line was forming. Fortunately, it wasn't too long. About 6:30, they let you inside the outer ring of the metal barriers, but not until they check your posters (we didn't make any) for content and pass a wand over your body. Cyndi eventually found a spot at a corner next to a spot reserved for wheelchairs, which in turn is next to the pathway Matt, Ann and Natalie use to enter the inner ring. In other words, Cyndi ended up in a prime spot along the path between the celebrity entrance and the VIF.
Meanwhile I found myself facing the studio itself, with a direct line of sight into the heart of the production area. Mostly, I could view the producers, the cameramen, a makeup artist, and Tom Brokaw and the new Meet the Press guy waiting for the segment on the debt crisis analysis. I nursed my coffee and also watched a monitor above my head. The boys took turns between Cyndi and me, with Jackson sometimes drifting further out to take in the crowd, including the large crew of police on duty.
The show is on the air at 7 sharp. There's some silly stories, one about the royal family, and a fascinating interview with a woman on the U.S. ski team who had an amazing encounter with a mother bear. If you remember that story on The Today Show, you probably saw Cyndi, Jackson and Rylee on national television.
Somewhere before the first half-hour ended, about where they probably have lots of commercials and local news and weather, I saw on my monitor a spliced shot of Cyndi and the boys on camera. And then opening the next half hour, with the theme music playing and the host's voice over saying this was Monday, August 1, there was Cyndi, Jackson and Rylee waving and beaming on camera. The cameraman had picked them out of the crowd. It seemed a natural choice to me.
The celebs probably appeared in the inner ring two or three times. (During part of the on-air time, I went to get tickets for the observation decks around the corner, where I met some other really great NBC or GE or RCA or whatever employees.) I noticed how genuinely friendly The Today Show celebs and producers were. One of the producers went to greet the VIF and gave him one of those Continental kisses. Cyndi and Jackson shook hands with the celebs as they passed by.
Much of this was coordinated by constant text messaging and telephone calls to Cyndi's family and friends so that they would watch and TiVo the show. I still haven't seen any recording, but then I saw it already. I was there. I know Cyndi's dying to see it. Lisa called me after she got back from work that day. It was already late in our day, and we were exhausted. Lisa said something like, are you in New York? Did I see Cyndi on television this morning? What's the chances you'd be in New York, at The Today Show, on camera, and that I'd be watching it at that moment? A classmate of Rylee's saw him, too, that morning.
NYC series no.3: champagne
On our first full day, we met Ariel at the Lego Store in Rockefeller Center and proceeded up 5th Avenue. On the way, we stepped inside the Cathedral of St. Patrick, had lunch at La Bonne Soupe, and visited Louis Vuitton. FAO Schwarz was ahead, but first we walked across the square where the Pulitzer Fountain sits to the lobby of The Plaza Hotel. At one time I considered, but rejected, eating lunch at the Plaza. It had a gourmet food court and the posh Oak Room, and in my research I heard about a champagne room. The boys know the Plaza from the Home Alone movie. It is famous to older generations for the book about Eloise, but I can't claim to have read or been read that book.
We didn't hesitate to follow guests and other tourists through the revolving doors into an entry room, where those who weren't guests stopped to take pictures. We saw a little sign pointing to its front desk and found ourselves in a sunny room with high ceilings and chandeliers and green velvety chairs in twos along the windows and smaller upholstered chairs in groups circled around tables in a second ring near the windows. Cyndi sat in one of the green velvety chairs next to a window at the corner of the hotel, and I spied a small bar in the corner of the room where we entered. I asked the woman at the small bar, "Is this the Champagne room?" Yes, it was. And were they serving Champagne, and what Champagne did they serve? It was very early in the afternoon. And she tells me some French Champagnes. I recognize "brut" and "rose", and I recently had a rose Champagne that surprised me how good it was. So I ordered one glass. She said it was their most popular Champagne. As I always find, the people were very gracious.
A man in a tuxedo brought the champagne to our table next to the green velvety chairs in the far corner of the large room where Cyndi and Ariel sat. He asked if we wanted anything else, and I confided to him that were just having the one token glass of champagne to enjoy a few brief moments sitting in the room. He smiled and said he understood, and later he brought a stand with two serving dishes, silver probably, though I didn't really notice at the time, with snacks and chocolate-covered almonds.
Cyndi, Ariel and I tasted the Champagne. I think it may have been Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. It was very good, very dry, the bubbles seemed small and numerous. The boys played with their brand new Legos sitting on the carpet at our feet. They talked quietly for a change. A man sat near us munching on what looked like a sushi order from the gourmet food court, and two men looked like they were engaged in some sort of business a few tables away. They were not eating or drinking. Some people came and went through the room but they were very few and we didn't notice any traffic.
We didn't rush, but it couldn't have been too many minutes before we paid our bill, looked at some shops and other hallways at the hotel, and then crossed over the small street in front of the lobby and toward FAO Schwarz.
We didn't hesitate to follow guests and other tourists through the revolving doors into an entry room, where those who weren't guests stopped to take pictures. We saw a little sign pointing to its front desk and found ourselves in a sunny room with high ceilings and chandeliers and green velvety chairs in twos along the windows and smaller upholstered chairs in groups circled around tables in a second ring near the windows. Cyndi sat in one of the green velvety chairs next to a window at the corner of the hotel, and I spied a small bar in the corner of the room where we entered. I asked the woman at the small bar, "Is this the Champagne room?" Yes, it was. And were they serving Champagne, and what Champagne did they serve? It was very early in the afternoon. And she tells me some French Champagnes. I recognize "brut" and "rose", and I recently had a rose Champagne that surprised me how good it was. So I ordered one glass. She said it was their most popular Champagne. As I always find, the people were very gracious.
A man in a tuxedo brought the champagne to our table next to the green velvety chairs in the far corner of the large room where Cyndi and Ariel sat. He asked if we wanted anything else, and I confided to him that were just having the one token glass of champagne to enjoy a few brief moments sitting in the room. He smiled and said he understood, and later he brought a stand with two serving dishes, silver probably, though I didn't really notice at the time, with snacks and chocolate-covered almonds.
Cyndi, Ariel and I tasted the Champagne. I think it may have been Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. It was very good, very dry, the bubbles seemed small and numerous. The boys played with their brand new Legos sitting on the carpet at our feet. They talked quietly for a change. A man sat near us munching on what looked like a sushi order from the gourmet food court, and two men looked like they were engaged in some sort of business a few tables away. They were not eating or drinking. Some people came and went through the room but they were very few and we didn't notice any traffic.
We didn't rush, but it couldn't have been too many minutes before we paid our bill, looked at some shops and other hallways at the hotel, and then crossed over the small street in front of the lobby and toward FAO Schwarz.
NYC series no.2: practically perfect
I wasn't sure how we would see a Broadway show while we were in NYC. Cyndi thought it was one of the most important things we could show the boys, and as it turned out it was a highlight of our trip. Lion King and Spiderman I heard were either sold out or there were no discounted tickets. The War Horse, playing at Lincoln Center, was perhaps a little too old for the boys and it had just won the Tony for Best Play. Just before we left for NYC I printed a coupon from broadwaybox.com and brought it along.
On our first full day in NYC, on our second outing, in the early evening, it began to rain just as we left the lobby for the subway. The doorman gave us umbrellas to take with us. (Umbrellas developed into a bit of a leitmotif for the trip.) On this outing, we eventually found ourselves in the middle of Times Square at around 8 in the evening just as the lights were starting to shine against a darkening sky. We entered Times Square around 42nd and Broadway, near the New Amsterdam theater, and we walked to its box office. We found five seats together in the balcony for the next evening's performance of Mary Poppins, the cheapest seats in the house, and saved an additional $75 with the coupon. We took pictures of Cyndi and the boys beside the mural of Mary Poppins flying with her bonnet and frock coat and with an open umbrella in her hand.
On Saturday, Ariel met Cyndi in Midtown while the boys and I were at the Sony Wonder Lab and the five of us returned to the hotel together before the evening performance. We took the subway again to Times Square and walked over to the theater. Times Square was packed with people. We first went to the Toys R Us flagship store.
A crowd was milling around the mural of Mary Poppins next to the box office of the New Amsterdam theater for pictures, but we walked right in. At about twenty minutes or so before the performance, there was no line at all. An elevator immediately inside took us to the balcony and a small lobby of its own where we could buy candy and chocolates and souvenir mugs and even cocktails (one was called a Practically Perfect) in little plastic sippy cups to bring inside. (There went the discount.)
The balcony was small and high above the stage. Below us was a mezzanine we could not see and the large orchestra section in front of the stage. The balcony filled up before the lights flickered or an usher walked about with a small mallet and xylophone, and the entire theater looked to be sold out. In the balcony, the rows rose in tiers so you looked out above the heads of those in front of you.
I'm certain the experience from the seats below the balcony must have been different from ours, but our experience was a delight. The proscenium at the front of the stage was as wide as the the theater and as high as our seats in the balcony. The production design used the entire frame of the proscenium so that we weren't deprived of any action on the stage below us. It was like watching a large IMAX film screen, except all the action was live. The scenes dropped and changed constantly, often suspended above the stage, so that the dancing and singing was never confined to the floor of the stage but took place in the center of the frame of the proscenium. The scenes in the attic of the home or on the rooftops were appropriately staged above the stage floor. At one point, Bert, the chimney sweep, walked along the entire four edges of the proscenium frame.
From the very beginning the boys were riveted. They both sat at the edge of their seats, their eyes glued to the stage. I brought some binoculars, and Jack wore those around his neck and peered through them at the beginning. They clapped enthusiastically. They literally (one of their favorite words) squealed with delight. Jack bounced up and down in his seat through some numbers, and he looked for the wires that suspended the actors above the stage.
Cyndi loved the song and dance. Supercalifragilistic- expialidocious and Step in Time were full-out, energetic numbers, including tap, that you'd love to see on a Broadway stage. The musical had many but not all of the scenes and songs from the movie, many new scenes and songs (including one that repeated the line, "practically perfect in every way"), and I thought it must have followed the original book (or books) in ways the movie did not. Rylee crawled into my lap, twirling my hair and his own--the sign that he is tired--and fell asleep during the last half hour or so. At the end, Mary Poppins flies above the audience. For a while she disappeared from our view but then we saw her, with her opened umbrella in her hand, rising from below the balcony level, right in front of us, until she disappeared inside an enclosed catwalk at the ceiling, where she no doubt quickly unharnessed herself to get back onstage to take a bow with the rest of the cast.
Ariel left us when we exited the theater to catch a cross town bus or subway back to her apartment, and Cyndi, the boys, and I walked deep into the crowd of Times Square. After glimpsing the lights (it was now almost 11 p.m.), we haled a cab in the very heart of Times Square for a speedy exit to our hotel. I think that's when Cyndi and the boys began making jokes about being practically perfect.
On our first full day in NYC, on our second outing, in the early evening, it began to rain just as we left the lobby for the subway. The doorman gave us umbrellas to take with us. (Umbrellas developed into a bit of a leitmotif for the trip.) On this outing, we eventually found ourselves in the middle of Times Square at around 8 in the evening just as the lights were starting to shine against a darkening sky. We entered Times Square around 42nd and Broadway, near the New Amsterdam theater, and we walked to its box office. We found five seats together in the balcony for the next evening's performance of Mary Poppins, the cheapest seats in the house, and saved an additional $75 with the coupon. We took pictures of Cyndi and the boys beside the mural of Mary Poppins flying with her bonnet and frock coat and with an open umbrella in her hand.
On Saturday, Ariel met Cyndi in Midtown while the boys and I were at the Sony Wonder Lab and the five of us returned to the hotel together before the evening performance. We took the subway again to Times Square and walked over to the theater. Times Square was packed with people. We first went to the Toys R Us flagship store.
A crowd was milling around the mural of Mary Poppins next to the box office of the New Amsterdam theater for pictures, but we walked right in. At about twenty minutes or so before the performance, there was no line at all. An elevator immediately inside took us to the balcony and a small lobby of its own where we could buy candy and chocolates and souvenir mugs and even cocktails (one was called a Practically Perfect) in little plastic sippy cups to bring inside. (There went the discount.)
The balcony was small and high above the stage. Below us was a mezzanine we could not see and the large orchestra section in front of the stage. The balcony filled up before the lights flickered or an usher walked about with a small mallet and xylophone, and the entire theater looked to be sold out. In the balcony, the rows rose in tiers so you looked out above the heads of those in front of you.
I'm certain the experience from the seats below the balcony must have been different from ours, but our experience was a delight. The proscenium at the front of the stage was as wide as the the theater and as high as our seats in the balcony. The production design used the entire frame of the proscenium so that we weren't deprived of any action on the stage below us. It was like watching a large IMAX film screen, except all the action was live. The scenes dropped and changed constantly, often suspended above the stage, so that the dancing and singing was never confined to the floor of the stage but took place in the center of the frame of the proscenium. The scenes in the attic of the home or on the rooftops were appropriately staged above the stage floor. At one point, Bert, the chimney sweep, walked along the entire four edges of the proscenium frame.
From the very beginning the boys were riveted. They both sat at the edge of their seats, their eyes glued to the stage. I brought some binoculars, and Jack wore those around his neck and peered through them at the beginning. They clapped enthusiastically. They literally (one of their favorite words) squealed with delight. Jack bounced up and down in his seat through some numbers, and he looked for the wires that suspended the actors above the stage.
Cyndi loved the song and dance. Supercalifragilistic- expialidocious and Step in Time were full-out, energetic numbers, including tap, that you'd love to see on a Broadway stage. The musical had many but not all of the scenes and songs from the movie, many new scenes and songs (including one that repeated the line, "practically perfect in every way"), and I thought it must have followed the original book (or books) in ways the movie did not. Rylee crawled into my lap, twirling my hair and his own--the sign that he is tired--and fell asleep during the last half hour or so. At the end, Mary Poppins flies above the audience. For a while she disappeared from our view but then we saw her, with her opened umbrella in her hand, rising from below the balcony level, right in front of us, until she disappeared inside an enclosed catwalk at the ceiling, where she no doubt quickly unharnessed herself to get back onstage to take a bow with the rest of the cast.
Ariel left us when we exited the theater to catch a cross town bus or subway back to her apartment, and Cyndi, the boys, and I walked deep into the crowd of Times Square. After glimpsing the lights (it was now almost 11 p.m.), we haled a cab in the very heart of Times Square for a speedy exit to our hotel. I think that's when Cyndi and the boys began making jokes about being practically perfect.
NYC series no.1: the views
We flew over Manhattan just before 10 p.m. Thursday. The plane circled over the Atlantic Ocean and then the city lights became visible below us as the plane first entered over the harbor and then up the Hudson River. Jackson and Cyndi were seated on the left side of the plane, and I could hear the kids behind them pointing out the features below. Rylee and I, on the right side of the plane, could see the entire island twinkling below us as the plane continued flying over the Hudson and then circled around to fly over Queens to land at LaGuardia. We could make out the bridges across the East River, the Chrysler building, the Empire State building, and the swath of Central Park. Rylee mentioned that the cars below looked like little toys. He often wondered at times like this moment how it was that the planes didn't crash into each other landing and taking off, and we talked about how the airport tower told the pilots when it was their turn to land or take off. He knew about airport towers from his Lego toys.
Having safely landed and taken a cab from the airport across, from what I figured was, the Queensboro bridge and then traversing Central Park on 79th, we arrived at our hotel on the Upper West Side. We checked in and went to our room on the 23rd floor. The windows of the living room and the bedroom faced Central Park two blocks away. It was a view unobstructed by any nearby building. We could see patches of green trees in Central Park, the Dakota, the Century, the Majestic and the San Remo, the skyline on the Upper East Side, and Midtown. Cyndi would sit on the sill of the living room window and drink her morning coffee from the Starbucks on the corner. During the day, you could look down and see the street life along Amsterdam and the corners of 74th and 75th streets. Some workers were dangling from a terrace across from us building a brick wall on the top of one building. In the evening, you could see people enjoying rooftop terraces with potted trees. There were water towers everywhere, of course. We kept the curtains open all day and night. In the middle of the night, the skyline looked like some cover of a New Yorker magazine, the buildings silhouetted, black against a night sky, with square lights from the few windows into rooms still lit. It was possible to open our windows--they cracked open from the top a few inches--to hear the constant buzz and roar of the traffic, the sirens, construction, and the air brakes of buses and trucks.
On Sunday afternoon, after visiting Washington Square, Ariel picked us up in a car near Canal Street, and we drove across the Brooklyn Bridge. We drove by her old neighborhood and traced the route she took from the subway to her apartment, which was on the second floor of a short cobble-stoned street just a block away from the bike trail that runs along the piers, just across from Governor's Island in Brooklyn. She dropped us off at Pier 6 and then parked on her old street nearby.
Pier 6 is a very new addition to the Brooklyn Bridge Park. From the pier there were views of lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. It was hot and there wasn't much shade. The boys found an abandoned umbrella on the lawn there and sat in its shade. A NY Waterway ferry docked there for a direct, free ferry ride that lasted just a matter of minutes to the dock at Governor's Island. There was a boarding line just for those taking their bicycles to the island and a small water spray park for children to cool off in. There were joggers boarding and several young families of Hassidic Jews from Brooklyn. On the water it was cooler, and the weather was practically perfect for the view of lower Manhattan.
Governor's Island was an army post for hundreds of years. The old brown stone fort is still there, with a quad in the middle and five points of earthen fortification. A larger post was established around it, including a "Colonel's Row" that still stands protected. Seeing the officer's houses reminded me of the posts in Panama and Fort Sam Houston. The island was also used as a Coast Guard base, but the island no longer serves as a military base of any kind. At one time the original island was expanded from earth removed from the construction of Manhattan subways, so that today it looks like an ice cream cone from above. The development of Governor's Island as a park is in its infancy.
We rented bicycles and circled the island several times for a total of something like ten miles. A promenade circles the entire island and along one side of the island you could see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, a short distance across the harbor, as you bicycled along the wide roadway beside the water. There were many ferries and ships and sailboats in the harbor, with helicopters flying overhead. At the end of the island opposite the dock, there was a grassy area known as Picnic Point, where we stopped for water and sodas from a vendor, found chairs and picnic tables under the shade of trees, and took a few pictures of us with the Statue of Liberty in the background.
Rylee raced ahead on his bicycle, untired, snaking his way from side-to-side, jumping any curb he could find. Ariel tried to keep an eye on him. Jackson wanted to explore the interior of the island and discover the short cuts across it. (He is at an age where he can be independent in that way, and the island would have been a perfect place to indulge in that.) The bicycles were remarkably easy to pedal and the ride was enjoyable. A breeze kept you cool when you cycled, but once you stopped you noticed the heat generated from the work-out.
We were on the island about two hours and the return to Brooklyn on the ferry was easy...but the views of lower Manhattan didn't end there. We walked to Ariel's old apartment and then to a restaurant around the corner from there called Alma. Ariel had made reservations but the rooftop dining on the third level was on a first-come basis, so we waited in the bar on the first floor for a table and for Chris to arrive. A very nice bar, it reminded me of a neighborhood bar, a long counter in a narrow room, with a pool table in the back. The bartender was very friendly. The boys and I played a game of pool. Cyndi and I had beer, a Smuttynose ale.
The rooftop was crowded with tables under the shade of a tarp stretched overhead, with a wonderful, open-air view of lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. The food was superb, a flavorful take on Mexican. The menu had a great tequilla list, so Cyndi and I ordered two anejos. The six of us chattered away. It was a lovely evening.
On Monday morning, we found ourselves again in Rockefeller Center. After Cyndi and Jackson and Rylee appeared on national television, I walked over to get tickets for the elevator ride to the Top of the Rock observation decks. When they were done we walked from the "alley" between 48th and 49th, where the audience is corralled outside the Today Show studio, across the plaza beside the ice rink and the statue of Prometheus, and around the corner at 50th. At that time of the morning, there was no wait at all. The staff couldn't be more friendly and professional. The ticket salesperson spoke three languages; the doorman was charming and helpful.
We were whisked up to the 68th floor, where we immediately had a view of Central Park. Two escalator trips took us to the 70th floor, a smaller open-air deck nestled above the 69th, where we could walk around to see Central Park, the Empire State building, Times Square and beyond. I never had the feeling of vertigo I sometimes get, due I think to the fact that the 69th floor below us was so much broader than our deck. Thankfully, the sun hadn't been out long and there were patches of shade along the center walls. We only stayed a few moments after soaking up the experience of the height and the panorama.
We left Tuesday morning. I don't remember anything remarkable about our view taking off from LaGuardia. We took a cab again from the hotel to the airport. This time the route took us along the northern, most uptown end of Central Park and through Harlem. Jackson was sitting at the window, and I wondered what he saw. This part of Manhattan looked different from what we'd seen before. Lots of churches, but few cathedrals.
Notes.
You can get reserved times for the Top of the Rock, but as early as we went you didn't really need to reserve a time. The tickets were about $23 for adults and $15 for Jackson. Rylee was free. They also offered a combo ticket with MOMA, saving adults about $10 for both. All children are free at MOMA. MOMA is nearby, and we planned to go there next on this outing.
The bicycles on Governor's Island rented for $15 per adult for two hours and $10 per child. You had to walk a bit from the dock to find the "family center." They were "coasters" with pedal back brakes, but they worked very well on the island. There were at least two adult sizes and two children's sizes. They also had family surreys and tandems. The bikes came with large front baskets or netted trays and a little bell that you could ding whenever you felt the urge.
Having safely landed and taken a cab from the airport across, from what I figured was, the Queensboro bridge and then traversing Central Park on 79th, we arrived at our hotel on the Upper West Side. We checked in and went to our room on the 23rd floor. The windows of the living room and the bedroom faced Central Park two blocks away. It was a view unobstructed by any nearby building. We could see patches of green trees in Central Park, the Dakota, the Century, the Majestic and the San Remo, the skyline on the Upper East Side, and Midtown. Cyndi would sit on the sill of the living room window and drink her morning coffee from the Starbucks on the corner. During the day, you could look down and see the street life along Amsterdam and the corners of 74th and 75th streets. Some workers were dangling from a terrace across from us building a brick wall on the top of one building. In the evening, you could see people enjoying rooftop terraces with potted trees. There were water towers everywhere, of course. We kept the curtains open all day and night. In the middle of the night, the skyline looked like some cover of a New Yorker magazine, the buildings silhouetted, black against a night sky, with square lights from the few windows into rooms still lit. It was possible to open our windows--they cracked open from the top a few inches--to hear the constant buzz and roar of the traffic, the sirens, construction, and the air brakes of buses and trucks.
On Sunday afternoon, after visiting Washington Square, Ariel picked us up in a car near Canal Street, and we drove across the Brooklyn Bridge. We drove by her old neighborhood and traced the route she took from the subway to her apartment, which was on the second floor of a short cobble-stoned street just a block away from the bike trail that runs along the piers, just across from Governor's Island in Brooklyn. She dropped us off at Pier 6 and then parked on her old street nearby.
Pier 6 is a very new addition to the Brooklyn Bridge Park. From the pier there were views of lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. It was hot and there wasn't much shade. The boys found an abandoned umbrella on the lawn there and sat in its shade. A NY Waterway ferry docked there for a direct, free ferry ride that lasted just a matter of minutes to the dock at Governor's Island. There was a boarding line just for those taking their bicycles to the island and a small water spray park for children to cool off in. There were joggers boarding and several young families of Hassidic Jews from Brooklyn. On the water it was cooler, and the weather was practically perfect for the view of lower Manhattan.
Governor's Island was an army post for hundreds of years. The old brown stone fort is still there, with a quad in the middle and five points of earthen fortification. A larger post was established around it, including a "Colonel's Row" that still stands protected. Seeing the officer's houses reminded me of the posts in Panama and Fort Sam Houston. The island was also used as a Coast Guard base, but the island no longer serves as a military base of any kind. At one time the original island was expanded from earth removed from the construction of Manhattan subways, so that today it looks like an ice cream cone from above. The development of Governor's Island as a park is in its infancy.
We rented bicycles and circled the island several times for a total of something like ten miles. A promenade circles the entire island and along one side of the island you could see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, a short distance across the harbor, as you bicycled along the wide roadway beside the water. There were many ferries and ships and sailboats in the harbor, with helicopters flying overhead. At the end of the island opposite the dock, there was a grassy area known as Picnic Point, where we stopped for water and sodas from a vendor, found chairs and picnic tables under the shade of trees, and took a few pictures of us with the Statue of Liberty in the background.
Rylee raced ahead on his bicycle, untired, snaking his way from side-to-side, jumping any curb he could find. Ariel tried to keep an eye on him. Jackson wanted to explore the interior of the island and discover the short cuts across it. (He is at an age where he can be independent in that way, and the island would have been a perfect place to indulge in that.) The bicycles were remarkably easy to pedal and the ride was enjoyable. A breeze kept you cool when you cycled, but once you stopped you noticed the heat generated from the work-out.
We were on the island about two hours and the return to Brooklyn on the ferry was easy...but the views of lower Manhattan didn't end there. We walked to Ariel's old apartment and then to a restaurant around the corner from there called Alma. Ariel had made reservations but the rooftop dining on the third level was on a first-come basis, so we waited in the bar on the first floor for a table and for Chris to arrive. A very nice bar, it reminded me of a neighborhood bar, a long counter in a narrow room, with a pool table in the back. The bartender was very friendly. The boys and I played a game of pool. Cyndi and I had beer, a Smuttynose ale.
The rooftop was crowded with tables under the shade of a tarp stretched overhead, with a wonderful, open-air view of lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. The food was superb, a flavorful take on Mexican. The menu had a great tequilla list, so Cyndi and I ordered two anejos. The six of us chattered away. It was a lovely evening.
On Monday morning, we found ourselves again in Rockefeller Center. After Cyndi and Jackson and Rylee appeared on national television, I walked over to get tickets for the elevator ride to the Top of the Rock observation decks. When they were done we walked from the "alley" between 48th and 49th, where the audience is corralled outside the Today Show studio, across the plaza beside the ice rink and the statue of Prometheus, and around the corner at 50th. At that time of the morning, there was no wait at all. The staff couldn't be more friendly and professional. The ticket salesperson spoke three languages; the doorman was charming and helpful.
We were whisked up to the 68th floor, where we immediately had a view of Central Park. Two escalator trips took us to the 70th floor, a smaller open-air deck nestled above the 69th, where we could walk around to see Central Park, the Empire State building, Times Square and beyond. I never had the feeling of vertigo I sometimes get, due I think to the fact that the 69th floor below us was so much broader than our deck. Thankfully, the sun hadn't been out long and there were patches of shade along the center walls. We only stayed a few moments after soaking up the experience of the height and the panorama.
We left Tuesday morning. I don't remember anything remarkable about our view taking off from LaGuardia. We took a cab again from the hotel to the airport. This time the route took us along the northern, most uptown end of Central Park and through Harlem. Jackson was sitting at the window, and I wondered what he saw. This part of Manhattan looked different from what we'd seen before. Lots of churches, but few cathedrals.
Notes.
You can get reserved times for the Top of the Rock, but as early as we went you didn't really need to reserve a time. The tickets were about $23 for adults and $15 for Jackson. Rylee was free. They also offered a combo ticket with MOMA, saving adults about $10 for both. All children are free at MOMA. MOMA is nearby, and we planned to go there next on this outing.
The bicycles on Governor's Island rented for $15 per adult for two hours and $10 per child. You had to walk a bit from the dock to find the "family center." They were "coasters" with pedal back brakes, but they worked very well on the island. There were at least two adult sizes and two children's sizes. They also had family surreys and tandems. The bikes came with large front baskets or netted trays and a little bell that you could ding whenever you felt the urge.
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