New York City

I had a few short days in CDA before leaving for NYC , where I met up with my Dad and my sis Mary. A few rainy days followed by one sunny one but all in lovely company.

My Dad and I met at the airport and on the buses we caught the drivers did not really speak English. Before meeting my Dad, I had to catch a bus from my airport to the airport Mary was flying in to. I could not get a hold of my Dad via phone for a few minutes, but we had talked about meeting at the other airport, so I got on a bus and tried to make sure I was on the right one. The bus driver outright did not speak to me. I asked him some questions and no, not even a recognition that I was talking to him. But I got to my destination okay and met Dad for a nice cafe and Euro-style breakfast and then we met Mary when her flight came in. We checked in at our hotel in NJ and took a bus in to NYC. The rest of the time was a blur of sight-seeing and lots of fun walking.

NYC is so large and so animated we could have done site seeing for the next few days and probably not made it to all the museums. We were able to visit Madame Tussaud’s wax Museum, Ripley’s Believe It or Not~loved the black hole~, Little Italy-good pizza and a fabulous glass of Papa Cha Cha’s homemade red wine, Chinatown, Soho and Greenwich village for a little shopping and a posh perfume store, Bond’s No. 9, thanks to Mary’s suggestion. At the NY MOMA we glimpsed some Picasso, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Claes Oldenberg, Andy Warhol…

Some of our favorite things were the Statue of Liberty and the Ellis Island audio tour with the ferry to both. Unfortunately a large wave broke over us at the Statue of Liberty and completely soaked our seaboard sides, thankfully Mary had the umbrella positioned out just so to situate something that it protected her camera, but not much else. It makes for a good laugh now. We loved! the Broadway show we went to. We saw Mary Poppins, which had fabulous scenery change, wonderful music and a great atmosphere. It surpassed any doubts about appropriate for any audience, and was a grand performance! The empire state building was great for orienting ourselves to New York and we choose to eat in the Upper West Side for lunch afterwards thanks to the audio tour guide Tony’s suggestion. Homemade mozzarella, mm hmm. We had a lovely leisurely stroll through central park. Our feet were really hurting by then, but it was sunny and we had a sit by a pond and watched sailboats.

We also enjoyed two days together after NYC: one in Maryland prepping for our next destinations and seeing where Dad spent some time growing up. I learned some new things about my Dad that day that made me appreciate him in a new way. I am glad we got to share the pleasant and slower-paced day after our stimulating days in NYC. On my last day in the U.S. in 2009 we got up bright and early and drove to Washington DC. Dad got us chai teas for the road, which was a nice last taste of something homey for me. We saw the air and flight museum and met up with a long-time friend of my Dad’s, Keith, for a quick bite to eat. We saw the Wright brothers plane as well as the fastest plane around, I have forgotten the technical name, the AirFrance concord (Can do Washington D.C. to Paris in 2 or 3 hours), many others...

My Dad was very sweet and used his ingenuity and will power to get Mary in to her gate so he got to spend some time with us at the airport and with me after Mary left before the red eye left for Paris. I had a taste of Basque wine and a wonderful brie cheese sandwich. Thanks Dad, it was all a blast!