New York, New York

 Our vacation started with a flight to NYC and ended back there eleven days later. We spent the first two days of vacation enjoying the city, doing some new things and remembering some favorite things. Although Dale and I had both been to NYC numerous times this was our first visit together.

In all of my visits I had never walked across the Brooklyn Bridge so when someone suggested it the day before we left I thought it was a great idea. Its the first thing we did when we arrived. I loved it even though it was busy with tourists.

As if the view wasn't enough there was the bonus of the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory at the other end of the bridge. It was a perfect treat on a gorgeous day to give us some fuel for the walk back across the bridge to Manhattan and beyond.

 This was my first time to see the Freedom Towers. I had visited the financial district when the twin towers were there and returned after 9-11 to see a vast hole in the ground but its very different now and quite impressive.  We also went to South Street Seaport, Washington Park and covered lots of miles of city streets.

Our days in NYC were also a wonderful time to go back to familiar places that are filled with memories of Randy. Its hard to believe that he has been gone for three years and it's been nine years since I was in the city with him. I still miss him and really appreciated the opportunity to spend time in places that I visited with him. Dale and I went to Joe Allen for dinner which was always one of Randy's favorites and also went to Delta Grill for the Macaroni and Cheese that was named for him. Both servers remembered Randy and I loved that.

 

 

It was a great blessing to be able to spend time with Tom and Marc, Randy's friends. They were very generous and spent time walking through Central Park, showing us some places that we had never seen.

They also took us to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where we got to have lunch in the member's lounge and visit the roof. I had been there many times but never went up to the roof. It was gorgeous from there! It warmed my heart to spend time with friends who were Randy's friends.

 

We walked 30,000 steps our first day in NYC and 20,000 on the second day. I always feel the desire to see as much of the city as I can when I visit. It's a great city! We did sit down long enough to have several good meals and see Les Miserables on Broadway. It was the first show I saw on Broadway during my first visit to Randy and I loved seeing it again. Randy really introduced me to theater at that level and it was fun to be back.

It was a perfect visit of old and new during those first two days. I love Time's Square and so many of those familiar things. Now I have a new appreciation for other things as well. After two days in the city we headed north to explore new territory. We were gone for more than a week but returned early enough to attend a baseball game before our flight home.

 

 We saw a great game at Citi Field and enjoyed the New York Mets and their fans. Although I had visited Yankee Stadium years ago I never made it to Shea Stadium. Most of my time in NYC was with Randy and he wasn't interested in sports. It was too late to go to Shea but they have built a beautiful ballpark which was also conveniently located close to our flight at LaGuardia.

 One memorable thing about the game was the nearly constant jet traffic. It was distracting at first but ended up adding to the atmosphere. The park is located very near World's Fair Marina which was a great place for a walk before and after the game. Citi Field was another new NYC experience and it was a good one.

So there it is; NYC, the first and the last chapter of this vacation. Now I will fill in the gap over the course of the next few days, or weeks!