Month: May 2026

New York in May Day #3 “Mozart in the Making?”

by reissmd, posted in New York City

What a day.   Yes we saw the Raphael exhibit at the Metropolitean Museum of Art. Yes, we had a spectacular dinner at Quality Italian (57 W. 57th Street). But the highlight of the day, no, the highlight of the trip was going to Carnegie Hall tonight to see my favorite pianist. That is of course, our grandson, Julian.  There were about 35 young people performing at the recital. Each of them had won a competition somewhere in the USA. We saw musicians from New York, Massachusetts, Texas, Virginia, Alabama, Utah, other states, and of course from California. There were musicians as young as 6 years old (Julian is 8) and many in their late teens. Only one, was younger than our grandson. Julian played Bach’s Prelude in B Flat Major.   It was incredible hearing him play.  In addition to being a wonderful pianist he was incredibly cute.  See below.

My little Mozart getting ready to enter the theater. Doesn’t he look cute?

I’d like to write more about the day but we have an early flight so I need to get to sleep. 

More about NYC soon.  We are coming back in 3 weeks.  

But next on our agenda is the Take Steps Walk supporting the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation next Saturday, May 30th at Griffith Park.  Hope to see you there.  If you haven’t donated yet, here is the link to the Team Reiss page.

https://takesteps.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/participant/TeamReiss

Ciao

New York in May, Day #2 “This Hotel Sucks”

by reissmd, posted in New York City

This morning we got up relatively early and headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast at 10 AM (7 AM our time).  It was pretty good and not grossly overpriced. The restaurant staff members were excellent.  

I had Norwegian Benedict (salmon instead of Canadian bacon)
Patrice had “Sunrise Bowl”, granola, yogurt, fruit. Her choice was healthier but my choice was better.

We then headed back to the room to shower and get ready for the day.  We realized that we needed to print tickets for the show we planned to see. I asked Patrice to call downstairs to find out where we could print them but she said “The phone doesn’t work”.   Ugh. 

Downstairs the concierge was very nice and printed the tickets for us and we were on our way.  The staff has been great here (except for a manager who was rather rude) but the hotel has been less than I would like.  I don’t think we will return. 

With tickets in hand we headed to the Golden Theater to see “Operation Mincemeat”.  It’s a musical based on a true story of a British secret mission designed to confuse the Germans during World War II.  The plan fooled the Nazis and prompted them to reduce their forces in Sicily allowing the allied troops to invade with a tremendous manpower advantage.  The show was entertaining, funny, and touching (Patrice writing now, yes Robert cried) 

When we returned to the hotel I got very excited because I thought I discovered a storage area I hadn’t seen on arrival.  

I was thrilled when I saw this:

But my excitement soon waned when I opened it to see this. 

An air filter system.

After that disappointment we met up with our son.  David’s wife and their son are visiting her mom, so we got to be with our son.  

We went to dinner at Blue Willow [40 W. 56th Street (212) 213-2299].  It is a Chinese restaurant with very good Yelp reviews. The food was good but the main attraction was speading time with David. I am feeling a bit stuffed but wouldn’t want to leave you without a few more pictures of food. 

General Tso’s Chicken
Noodles. Sorry, we can’t remember what they were called.

We also had won ton soup, dim sum, and a pork entree. For some reason the pictures are too big to be uploaded and I am not smart enough to know how to compress them. Hey! Give me a break. This is a free blog (no ads) for friends and family.

The food was good but there were loads of offernings. We had trouble deciding what to eat. The ones we picked nosed out, Beef Aorta, Angry Frog, Spicy Sautéed Intestines, Numbing Beef Tendon, Wood Ear Salad, and my personal favorite: The Husband and Wife Special 

That is enough food for one day.  Tomorrow it is Carnegie Hall where we will see my favorite pianist. 

Ciao

New York City in May Day #1, “The Arrival”

by reissmd, posted in New York City, Uncategorized

As if our lives weren’t crazy enough, with our upcoming move we decided to make a quick trip to New York City.  The reason for this trip will be discussed later.  One thing we counted on was that a trip to NYC in May would be accompanied by better weather than during the winter or summer months.  Well as soon as we exited the terminal at JFK I was very happy I brought my heavy coat and rain jacket.  It was cold and raining when we arrived and the forecast calls for a 100% chance of rain tomorrow but only 95% on Monday.  It will be clear on Tuesday………. the day we return home. 

No matter the weather we always make the most of our travel experience.  We did get a thrill on the way to the hotel.  Our driver was very entertaining in that he was talking to himself most of the trip.  You’re probably saying he must have been on his phone.  I thought the same, but no, he was talking to himself.  

We are staying at the Le Meridien hotel (120 W 57th Street) .  It’s a Marriott property and has a very nice lobby.  We chose this location because of its proximity to Carnegie Hall.  Yes, we will be going on Monday to hear an amazing pianist. 

The hotel is lovely on the outside and upon check-in we were told about all sorts of perks they offer (e.g. free museum and movie tickets).  We were escorted to our room by a very nice bellman and could not believe the sight we saw.  This has to be the tiniest room I’ve ever seen.  We requested a room with a king size bed.  We got the bed we wanted but apparently floor space is an added option. The room is so small we will need to put the luggage on the bed in order to open it.  

This is ALL the space available to put our luggage. You might be saying “I see a drawer below”. No, that is a safe.

The room sucks but today’s highlight was meeting our son, David, and our grandson, Julian, for dinner.  And you know what that means, yes, food pictures.  Well not tonight.  Sorry but spaghetti and pizza doesn’t make it to the ReissTravelBlog.  Maybe better luck tomorrow. 

Ciao