I wrote a number of short essays about our travels this summer. I'm posting them here for those who missed them, or for those who just want to read them again.
A Brief Stopover in NYC en route to London:
If anyone needs a brutal reminder of life in NYC try the Fairway Market at 73rd and Broadway on a Sunday at 5 pm. We had tired of pricey restaurant food and decided that our too/two tired boys would be happier picnicking in our rather tiny but oh-so-mod hotel room, so we made our way past my old apartment building at 77th and Amsterdam (the boys gave it a big yawn), and down Broadway a few short blocks to The Fairway. Once a small, neighborhood grocery store, it has become a foodie Mecca with two floors of rabbit warren-like aisles, crowded with all manner of overpriced, imported, organic, dairy and gluten-free food items, and cut-throat New Yorkers authoritatively shoving around their carts while the weak, lost Los Angelinos cowered in the corner. Though the food we brought home was tasty, it took nearly three years off of our lives (EACH) to spend 15 minutes in the overcrowded store feebly jostling our shopping cart from one aisle to the next. I cannot imagine having to deal with that as my shopping experience week in and week out. I’d certainly resort to eating franks and beans straight out of a can.
On our first day in the Big Apple we had a great experience at the Met. The boys were interested in every part of the museum, from dusty corners holding ancient musical instruments, to the wide-open expanse that houses The Temple of Dendur – they were unstoppably curious and enthusiastic to a fault. Just as soon as we left they both asked if we could go back. Our afternoon was booked with 8th row center seats to The Lion King. It is utterly fabulous and has lost none of its spark in the 11 years that it has been on Broadway. I got teary-eyed more than once and the boys begged to see it AGAIN – that very day!
Day Two in NYC saw us make our way to the Empire State Building for a cloudy but still mighty view of the city. The observation deck is a great way to give NYC newbies a real sense of the massiveness of the city. The folks who own the building seem to think that crap merchandizing will save them from falling tourism and a weak commercial rental market. One now has to weave in and out of no end of shops, fake photo opportunities and even a new amusement park ride (“half-off, today only…”) before one finally gets to the bloody elevator. It takes 20 minutes just to wend one’s way through the morass. At the top the boys were delighted to find that even in the mist, they could still see the Statue of Liberty (my older son wrote a paper about her this year), as well as Central Park and a number of large barges.
Afterwards we hopped in a cab, circumnavigated the “Puerto Rican Pride” parade that had taken over 5th Avenue and made our way uptown to the Natural History Museum. There we met one of my best college friends, her two charming children (12 and 6) and her lovely mother. I think that the boys would have loved the Natural History Museum but they were a tad too taken by the 12 year-old. They were absolutely smitten. Their attentions were certainly warranted – she is a delight - beautiful, bright and attentive. What more could Stern boys want in a female companion? Recently resigned to crutches, she hopped her way around the museum and Central Park without a word of complaint. We walked far enough that even my able boys started to moan about tired feet. The lovely girl was well within her rights to beg for mercy, but on and on she went. My eldest son, new to the whole e-mail thang, penned her a message just as soon as we got back to the hotel room. Thankfully she replied.
Neither of the my boys came to terms with the time change while in New York. Up late at night and sluggish in the morning, I dreaded the next five hour leap – which we made just four days later. My mother, one of the best sleepers on the planet, was breathing quietly under the covers while I penned this post. She was the only one.
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