Our last few days in New York City

We have just a few more days in New York City as I begin to write this. On one hand we are sad that it is coming to an end, yet on another hand, we are ready for our next adventure, going home.

Tuesday was a day of recovery so it involved a lot of sleeping for me, while Felice was like the Energizer Bunny. We eventually sat down and watched a NetFlix movie and headed off to Central Park for a long walk. This was the first day in about 7 weeks that we didn't take the subway, but I guess a day off every once in a while is not a bad thing. Our total walking was a measly 2 miles.

Since Thursday is our travel day, Wednesday was our last full day to experience the City and achieve any goals that were outstanding. So we took the subway downtown to the Staten Island Ferry. The ferry trip is only about 20 or so minutes, but it was well worth the time to go to Staten Island, get off the boat and get back on another ferry for a return trip. You get an amazing view of the downtown area and even though the Freedom Tower is nowhere near complete, it is easy to see how it will dominate the skyline of downtown. There were a lot of thoughts running through my mind as we looked back on downtown and what the City went through ten plus years ago. At the outset of the ferry trip you travel by Ellis Island, Governor's Island and the Statue of Liberty. We have been to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty before, so a ferry around them both was sufficient for this trip, but I heartily encourage anyone who hasn't been to go to both of those places. There is something magical about traveling by the Statue of Liberty and having a "moment" in her presence. It certainly is an emotional experience for me every time I see her. One of the best parts of the Staten Island Ferry is that it is absolutely free of charge. Once safely ashore back in Manhattan, we walked across the downtown area on Wall Street acting like tourists and seeing the New York Stock Exchange, the NYSE bull, a statue of of George Washington and so much more. They have made Wall Street a pedestrian only thoroughfare probably to protect it. We stopped at South Street Seaport for a little touristy shopping and to buy a pretzel. I told Felice that I was sure that I could find one for $2 as the last few times we were charged $3, but I had paid $2 before. It took 3 different stands, but I think the secret is to go to stands that are close to other stands where they have reduced prices due to competition. Thus I found my $2 pretzel amongst a few different stands. This was a lesson in the free market. We also saw a stand selling cups of corn. It looks like they sell these cups for from $4.59 to $6.59, depending on size. Raw materials are probably a can of Del Monte corn so it is real profitable. We took the subway uptown for our last pilgrimage to Zabar's for some babka buying and went home to relax. We then met Lauren for dinner at Spring Kitchen in the Upper West Side. Note that we only repeated three restaurants during our visit, Spring Kitchen (twice), Max Brenner's (twice) and Carnegie Deli (three times). So we had approximately 40 meals at 37 different restaurants during our visit and there is a list that follows if you might be interested. We walked (as part of our total 5 1/4 miles for the day) Lauren to the train and said so long for now and it was home for us to get ready for our big travel day. So as of this day, the three major goals have been achieved, walk over 200 miles, not take a taxi and go to all 5 boroughs.

Restaurants that we ate at:
Bareburger
Bella Luna
Blue Fin 
Bryant Park Grill
Carnegie Deli
Cafe Blossom
Cheesy Pizza
Cranky's
D'Agostino
Don't Tell Mama
Five Napkin Burger
Flor de Mayo 
Friend of a Farmer
Good Enough to Eat
Jackson Hole
Katz Deli
Longgrain
Maria Pia
Max Brenner's
Marseilles 
Nah Wah Tea Parlor 
Natureworks
Nizza
Organica
Peter's Since 1969
Pizza stands
Pretzel stands
Russ & Daughters
Shake Shack
Shanghai Asian Manor
Spring Natural Kitchen
The Breadbox
The Eatery
The Original Chinese Ice Cream Factory
Tuk Tuk
Vice Versa
Wo Hop




While this is not the last email, there are some thoughts that have come to me that I feel appropriate to share on this penultimate day in New York City:

Central Park is like a day at the beach without the water.
New York City is a great place to live if you have money, unfortunately we don't have that much money.
Going back home after two months will be very difficult, especially since our beloved Rocky will not be there to meet us.
When you feel like you can saddle a rat or at least they are squirrel-size, you have a rodent problem.
Everyone here owns their portion of the sidewalk (and a portion of yours too).
Local news reporting is bad everywhere, even in New York.
This city is very dependant upon tourism. Even more than Arizona.
You can tell a tourist from a resident; really you can.
There are a lot of people in the city.
There is no place like home.

After spending almost 2 months in New York City I have come to admire New Yorkers. They are a resilient bunch. This is a hard city to live in. Transportation is a grind, the noise is ever present. Even at 2:00 in the morning when there is no construction or significant traffic sounds, the birds are loud. The weather is unpredictable, cold, hot, humid and just not easy to deal with. There are no shopping centers so if you want to pick up a bunch of stuff, you go from store to store without a car knowing that you can only buy what you can carry. Other than Starbucks, if you need a rest room at a moment's notice, you are out of luck. If you don't have a lot of money in this city, it is just not any fun. I think Felice and I had our eyes opened quite a bit during our visit. While we felt very proud of Lauren before we got here, seeing what it is like to come to this city, trying to figure it out and then making a life here is so difficult. We are even that much prouder of our Lauren as we depart New York City as she has made great strides to conquer the Big Apple.

Be well and we will share more when we arrive home.

Gary and Felice