In The City

Eleanor and I posed like this. I thought it made us look like tourists.

I spent the day in New York City.

Hector is in town for work, and with a free hotel room (even one that is the size of, well, a New York hotel room), Kristy brought the kids (her three, plus my goddaughter Emma, and a neighbor as well).

I was able to connect with her with my niece (Kristy's sister) Stephanie.

I promise. There will not be a test.

It was cold (it's February in New York).

We walked over five miles total, and my hip is in shambles. My back hurts. My feet hurt.

But I got time with family.

Look, we can't pick our family, as the saying goes, but when this family is around, I wind up in a happy place. So we breezed through Chinatown and saw the Brooklyn Bridge and rode the Staten Island Ferry and went to Grand Central Terminal and Times Square.

I got to play tour guide. Admittedly I'm not the most savvy New Yorker.

But we ate cannoli's and black and white cookies (and yet, somehow racial harmony still eludes us). We wished we had time for a good pizza.

I mean a good pizza. Like Joe and Pat's on Staten Island or L&B Spumoni Garden in Brooklyn or Patsy's in Harlem. Or others.

So that didn't happen. But it didn't deter from an exhausting, yet successful day.

No stress. No trouble. Few problems. Just family. Laughing and enjoying time together.

So simple.

** Incidentally, the day started with a train delay in North White Plains. The minute I heard the announcement of a "situation" at the Hartsdale station on the Harlem line, I knew something was wrong. Indeed, we found out someone was hit by a train in Hartsdale. The speculation, of course, is suicide. We saw the scene when we came by some time later. My heart breaks for the persons' family, and while we make the best of circumstances, the inconvenience is nothing by comparison to a loss of life. Again, there is help.

So I leave simply with some pictures from today. I was encouraged to go. The joy of watching my great-nieces enjoy their first New York City experience like this was wonderful.

Quintessential New York. The black and white cookie. 

Thanks to Stephanie for this one. I ran over to be silly. I stayed in the picture.

First subway ride for the girls.

Billy Joel said "...between you and me and the Staten Island ferry..."