A New Day - A New York

Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath

and a glass of good wine.

St. Thomas Aquinas

My first impressions from the night before of New York City were not favorable.  It was a sorry place. 

Rude, intolerant, tense up-tight and rushed were the prominent mannerism I had seen displayed in New York City, a sorry and base set of circumstances under which to try and conduct a pleasant life.  

I will try anything twice. 

- Mark Suneson

My initial day in the City was one of frustration and great malcontentment.  
It was a sorry place.  
Into bed, a room surprisingly quite above the madding streets for a night's sleep and the promise of a good warm shower in the morning.  Let us go forth with a new day, and I will once again try an enjoy the journey.

The sun was unseasonably warm for a late September morning as it burned through our window three floors above the hustling pavement that was but a block from the East River.  The mounds of sacked garbage that had been heaped high on the sidewalks as we came back to our hotel late the previous night had been removed.  [I don't know where all of this refuse goes, but I have heard that there is a fleet of scows that sail into the ocean and dump all of the waste from New York, probably offshore New Jersey].  

Garbage from last night now gone.  Open, garbage-free sidewalks were a good omen for my second day in town.  I'd like to have a good day. I needed to have a good day. 

It was to be a day of adventure orchestrated mostly by our knowledgeable and capable hostess, Kaileen, with some input from us out-of-towners.

Breakfast at a New York Deli

I wanted breakfast. I was not interested in paying extravagant hotel prices for a meager breakfast in their lobby diner.  Kaileen and Grant did not seem to want or need much in morning munchies, but for this day and this time, I needed a civilized start to the morning.  How about a deli breakfast?   Kaileen knew just the place and so we walked to a busy corner deli that she knew.  So New York.

Sue orders her breakfast from the displayed choices behind the deli counter

Kaileen and Grant split a morning bagel in New York corner deli

After my lox omelette and OJ I was ready for our adventuring and sight-seeing.  We had agreed we were not going see the big tourist draws in the city on this trip; no Statue of Liberty, no United Nations Building, no Empire State Building, no 9-11 Memorial and not interested in Trump Tower.  It was a mile walk to where Grant would begin his position as journalist and feature writer for Wall Street 24/7, located at 5th and Lexington.  His office, we were told, would have a free beer tap available to employees and overlooked the Financial District.  So we made it to the front door of his new work location, but did not go in.  I guess we were not yet worthy to see the interior.

Fountain and Impressive Entrance
to Grant's Office Building af 5th & Lexington

It was then a short distance from Grant's work address to hoof it to Central Park, which I was hoping would assuage my jangled soul from fighting New York street traffic the night before.  We walked past a golden statue of General William T. Sherman and into Central Park.  We paused to watch people launch RC boats into a pond and traveled along the shaded and well kept trails of the famed Central Park.  I did like the relatively tranquil place in and of its own, with glorious outcroppings of schist; but perhaps all the more for its respite from the hassle and hustle of the surrounding city.  Kaileen led us to Belvedere Castle, a stately towered and turreted stone weather observatory of a bygone age.  We ascended the stone steps and took a commanding view of the turtles in the pond below us and of the large buildings edging the Park.

Belvedere Castle
Central Park, NYC

Cockatrice over Belvedere Castle Transom

Sue, Grant and Kaileen on the Parapet of Belvedere Castle 

The view from Belvadere Castle Parapet built upon Central Park Schist Outcrop

Kaileen and Grant
Above Central Park on a warm September morning

With Autumn colors just beginning to manifest, we strolled up and down some small wrinkles of pleasant topography and pause for some photos at the Oak Bridge while a couple struggled in a row boat below us.  The photo of Grant in Central Park with the New York skyline behind him was to be a subtle facebook post to let every one of his fb friends know, he was at last in NY.

Proof positive that Grant and Kaileen are at last together
In new York City

We four worked our way across the paved park trails which brought us out at the New York Museum of Natural History.  Kaileen stepped up and got us into the exhibit halls where the preference of the parents were catered too, escorting us through the labyrinth of exhibits halls first to the rocks, gems and minerals and then to Dad's special interest, Reptiles and Amphibians.  Teddy Roosevelt had numerous quotes of his engraved into the walls of the museum's entry hall covering conservation, government, manhood and the nation's natural heritage and treasures.  Bully! Bully! Good ol' Teddy!  

A fond look at a Galapagos Tortoise

With way too much to taken-in in a day, we were out of there and on to catch the subway to a lunch spot.  Again, with Kaileen as our guide, she had selected a favorite Vietnamese pho shop where we were seated at a large wooden common table with other guest while we all slurped our pho and inhaled our vermicelli. Good and tasty cuisine - one of my favorites.

Vietnamese lunch in Manhattan

A ride on the New York Subway

After lunch Grant took his mother by Murray's, an expansive cheese shop so she could oogle and ogle over the selection of cheese (Murray's- soon to be a source for many well received Christmas and birthday gifts for his mother).

We walked back through Washington Square to catch another train, but not before I had a bit of repartee with a blackman who cajoled and pleaded with me to have a seat and play a game of chess on the board he had set out.  Others in Washington Square were also on the lookout for chess players to challenge.  I waved my hand and told him, "He would bust my chops in just a few moves if I took up his challenge to play a game."  He quickly replied, "I don't want to beat you, I want to teach you!"  I appreciated his offer, but did not have time that afternoon to play Queen's Pawn to QP4.  He reluctantly let me go, but I had to admire his ardor.

We descended to the subway where I watched a large rat trundle between the tracks as we waited to change trains and get back to Manhattan's Upper Eastside.  We quickly boarded and left the subway rat behind, though I am sure more were in the shadows at our stop where we climbed the stairs up to street level.   It was late afternoon, and we had walked several city miles.  Mindful of St. Thomas Aquinas cure for sorrow, I'd had a good night's sleep, a warm shower to begin the day and now for a good glass of wine.  Grant and Kaileen recommended we stop for some refreshment at the Spotted Dog.  We sat down at a sidewalk table, and ordered drinks all around.

Though first impressions are difficult to overcome, the second day in New York City was better than the first. 

Cheers!

To Grant and Kaileen and the fulfillment of dreams!

I was quite pleased to see Grant and Kaileen together and they both obviously are enthusiastic about New York life and opportunities.  It is good, so very good, to see all of this come to pass for him and Kaileen.  I am well pleased and satisfied for them.  And after all, it really is about them and their choices.

As I said before,

CHEERS!

If you can make it here, You can make it anywhere 

-Frank "Ol' Blue Eyes" Sinatra