New York, New York

Well, there is very little reason to spread the news at this point since I left and returned months ago, but I had a great time and these pictures, so I figured it was worth a post. At the end of May I went BY MYSELF (the quiet time on the flight alone would have been a lovely break) to visit my sister Sarah and her husband Nathan in Manhattan. They were the kindest of hosts in their one-room studio apartment in Greenwich Village. I really like the neighborhood they lived in (well, there are a few dodgy streets in the area, but most of it is really cool) and it was fun to visit one more time since they were 'movin' on up' to the Upper East Side where they could live in an apartment with a real bedroom with a door and another room for their new little one.

Here we are in Times Square on the way to the lottery for Wicked tickets. I really liked Wicked! I don't like Times Square, however. My least favorite part of NY. Michael doesn't love NY and I keep telling him it's because he's only ever been able to stay in the Times Sq part.

Other great adventures included a sneak-peak at their new apartment that Nathan was in the middle of painting, a trip to the Museum of Modern Art, The Frick Gallery, Central Park, window shopping in SoHo, a cool sample sale at an interior design firm, church on Sunday, the Temple, and lots of good eating establishments - including 'street meat.' Also very cool was running into friends from BYU at Church on Sunday and randomly in front of Jasper John's Flag on Friday Free night at the MOMA!

This is another really cool place that I'd always wanted to visit in NY and finally made it there. The New York Tenement Museum. It is an original tenement building built in the 1850's that was condemned in the 1940's. Parts of it have been restored to look like apartments during different periods of history. They were so tiny! I got choked-up in the one restored to look like it did when an Italian family lived there in the 1930's. Even though they did not live in a tenement building in NYC, it made me think of Michael's grandparents (and my own children's ancestors) - both children of Italian immigrants - growing up in Portland, Maine during the Depression. A really cool experience if you are ever in NY. Below is the picture I took of the wrong building! Whoops! :) The museum is the one on the right.



After that experience I met Sarah, Nathan and my cousin Mike for lunch at the famous Shake Shack in Madison Park. Being a gorgeous weekend, we had a bit of a long line to wait through, but the company was good, so we didn't mind. Afterward we got to see Mike's cool new apartment a few blocks away. He has a great terrace that overlooks Sixth Avenue below.
Ever since Study Abroad in London many years ago, I LOVE riding buses in big cities, so after our lunch, I took the bus down to Battery Park at the bottom tip of Manhattan. I didn't ride the Staten Island Ferry this time, which I also love, but I did enjoy the view of the water, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, etc. On the bus ride back I went right past Ground Zero and could see all the construction starting there. It's a massive site!

One of my FAVORITE parts of my visits to NY is always the FOOD! (Including Sarah's fabulous homemade food.) This time we ate at a cool Middle-Eastern place called Moustache (delicious chicken kebab/pita), Pinkberry Yogurt, the afore-mentioned Shake Shack, Pret-A-Manger, take-out pizza, and Gray Dog Cafe in the village (see below) before I had to head back home.

There are more pictures at this brief web album for those who are interested.

After I wrote this post, it dawned on me the significance of writing about New York on the anniversary of 9/11. Having visited there, it is amazing to me how recently a city can experience such a horrible tragedy, and yet continue to live so vibrantly. God bless America!