Day: October 10, 2017

Today was our getaway day from New York but since our flight didn’t leave until 8:40 pm we had some time to do some more things in “The City That Never Sleeps”.  We had a wonderful breakfast at Margon.  Patrice read about the place in a food magazine and we were expecting a special experience.  The place looked like a dive.  Once again we tried to use our Spanish but were answered in English.  The place might not have looked very special but the food was excellent (see below).

After that we took a walk over to the main office of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.  We were very impressed with the office and staff.  We will tell you more about that place later when we will return to New York in three weeks to do some work for the Foundation.

Upon walking back to the hotel we saw some very interesting sights.   For one thing, there were loads of food trucks lining the streets.  I suppose people are too busy and the streets are too crowded to stray far from the workplace to go somewhere for lunch.

But this restaurant appealed to those wary of dining from a food truck (see below).

Leaving the city was not easy.  JFK airport is only 18 miles (13 miles as the crow flies) from our hotel but it took us about an hour and 30 minutes to get here.  The cabs in New York are equipped with small televisions that have interesting sound bytes to keep you entertained during your ride.  They play a series of stories then repeat.  The first 2 or 3 times are fine but after hearing the stories 6 or 7 times you start getting a little disturbed.  Luckily I discovered a mute button.

 

Our flight will board soon.  The next time you hear from me will be in Reykjavik.  I just love showing that I can spell.  Patrice here now, took him about 5 minutes to figure out how to spell Reykjavik and that was even WITH Google’s help.

I know many of you think our trips are all about going to great restaurants and baseball games.  I hear your whining about poor Patrice and how she has to suffer while I pursue my goal of attending games in all 30 MLB parks.  Well relax, today was all about her.

We started our day by going shopping.  I found a great store that sells high end purses (see below).

Then Patrice expressed an interest in going to the Statue of Liberty.  She didn’t have to say it twice and I had her there (see below).

 

Being the nature lover I had to show her some of New York’s natural resources (see below).

Museums are also among her favorite things to do so I took her to a museum dedicated to private investigators (see below).

But of course how could I forget her favorite (see below).

I am happy to say that tomorrow we leave for Iceland.  This trip to NYC does not rank among my favorites.  One thing I did enjoy was the Museum of Moving Images where we saw a very interesting documentary “I Am, Or How Jack Became Black”.  The film maker explored the problems presented to multiracial individuals in our culture.  We had the opportunity to meet the filmmaker who was born deaf and had a black father and white Jewish mother.  The film reminded me of the book “The Color of Water” by James McBride where the author discussed his Jewish mother and black father.  If you have not read the book, I strongly recommend you do.

We also went to see the shows “A Bronx Tale” (based on the film and gave it a C+) and The Band’s Visit (about an group of Egyptian musicians who visited Israel and we gave it a B+).   For this trip Broadway Lights were not a big success.  Hopefully that will mean that the Northern Lights will be spectacular.  I am hopeful but based on past performance (Christ the Redeemer being fogged in and the Total Eclipse of the Sun blocked by cloud cover) I am not getting my hopes too high.