Just a short update as we prepare for Eric and Lindsey to arrive for a long weekend with us. We understand that it has been 111 degrees for two straight days at home, but at least it is dry there. Seems like if there is going to be heavy rain in New York City, it is going to happen on a Monday, and this Monday was no exception. We went over to Carnegie Hall to go to the 3:00 tour of the building only to find that they cancelled that tour and all of Tuesday's tours. We had a nice conversation with the docent who highly touted the Neue Galarie so went there via 2 subways and a bus. Unfortunately, it was not worth the effort. It is a small museum devoted to German/Austrian art and is on Museum Mile on the east side. We then took a bus across Central Park and subwayed back to the apartment. Later, we took a subway to 42nd Street/Bryant Park for dinner at the Bryant Park Grill with Felice's cousin Lenni Benson. We had a lovely dinner and conversation and then returned home. Given the wet weather, we only accumulated 3 miles, but trust me when I tell you that we more than made up for it the next day.
On Tuesday, we took a train down to 34th Street and Herald Square and then walked crosstown to a little luncheon spot on 31st Street and 3rd Avenue called Natureworks. While the write-ups were excellent and the food matched the reviews, we found that it was more of a small space and not the restaurant we expected. Regardless, the food was great, and the company was even better as we met our friend Susan Wells there for lunch and to hang out. After lunch, we walked up to her hotel at about 60th Street and the west side. From there the three of us walked back across town on Central Park South and wound up at the toy store FAO Schwartz. If you never have been to the original FAO Schwartz in New York City, you have really missed out. FAO Schwartz has a huge store across from the Plaza Hotel and has just about every toy you can imagine. While it is not as special now that ToysRus is a market leader, the magnitude of the store is incredible and just the opportunity to see the piano keyboard that Tom Hanks played in Big makes it all worthwhile. By the way, you can buy that keyboard for the tidy little sum of $250,000. We parted company with Susan; and Felice and I headed to the United Nations (with a brief stop at Lalique) for the 1 hour guided tour. It was very interesting and afterwards, we hung around the main lobby where they have special short term exhibitions. The two I focused my attention related to the United States Underground Railroad in the 1800's and to Israel's capture and trial of Adolph Eichman. Both were very enlightening and reinforced the UN's involvement in assuring human rights throughout the world. The UN was all the way east at 1st Avenue and 46th Street and afterwards we walked to Grand Central Terminal to buy some food for dinner and then walked the equivalent of about 4 or 5 crosstown blocks (say about a mile) before we got to our subway. We were exhausted and even more so when we read the pedometer to find that we had walked 7 1/2 miles.
We are now in the process of getting everything ready for Eric's and Lindsey's visit and I have been told by Eric that he might want to add some comments to my emails or be a guest-blogger while he is here.
Gary and Felice
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