Tuesday of this week.... Pat and I jumped in our ol' RAV4 and this time headed up to Manhattan. This is our third annual pilgrimage back to New York in the merry month of May to celebrate Pat's birthday ....thanks to the loving kindness of Pat's sister, Elizabeth, who owns a "time-share" suite at the Manhattan Club on 56th and 7th Avenue.This year was special...we celebrated Pat's 70th birthday (yeah...the big 7-OH!)
So classy! The more plebian elevators only go up to the 26th floor. Then, on the 26th Elizabeth led us by the hand over to the penthouse elevators that took us on up into the more rarified atmosphere of the penthouse suites. You know...the ones "up in the clouds"...with marble-encased bathrooms...the suite itself: plush here, plush there, plush everywhere ("so this is how the other half lives!")....and, of course, a "view to kill for!"
All around us! These steel, glass and stone structures reaching up to the heavens! Very uplifting! Very humbling!
We spent 2 nites and parts of 3 days in "sin city"....livin' it up! Pat and I retired from Long Island 13 years ago. But for this short interlude we were once again.....(accent and all) real Noo-Yawk-uhs!!The first night, a great dinner over at McGee's Pub. Followed by a "must walk" down to Times Square, a few blocks away. Something new this year! Broadway thru Times Square is now a Pedestrian Walk. No cars! Hundreds of folks were sitting out in the middle of Broadway on folding chairs taking in the sights....like in the town square of "Small Town" USA. Of course, there was a battery of police cars blocking the backs of these brave souls against the onrush of crazy New York traffic!
And, oh, the color! The glitz! The pulsating mass of humanity! The foreign tongues! Pashtun! Urdu! Iroquois! Brooklynese! Almost makes you wonder...could Times Square really be....like....the very epicenter of world civilization! I dunno'!
Next morning we decided to hike (15 blocks!) over to the Hudson down in the 40's to see the newly renovated Intrepid Aircraft Carrier Museum. Past May visits we had toured many of the high-brow museums up by Central Park. The "Intrepid" experience turned out to be great, too! Highly recommended!Quick stats: commissioned in 1943. 900+' long by 192' (today's nuclear carriers are 1100+') long etc. Fought valiantly in the Pacific, WWII. 3,300 crew. Smashed into by Japanese Kamikaze suicide planes five different occasions. Retrieved Gemini space flight astronauts in the mid 60's. Finally, decomissioned in '74. Now a part of the Intrepid Sea, Air, Space Museum since '82.
Who knows...maybe Pat could have been a Navy pilot back in '57....but decided to enter the convent instead. Ha!
Never had a chance to fly one of these babies off the Intrepid during the Korean War in '51. I was busy being a monk!
The Concorde is also a part of the Museum. So sleek and futuristic next to the Intrepid along the the Hudson. Paris to New York....4 hours! Of course, it's now grounded and obsolete....a forerunner of future supersonic craft....waiting for a successor.
Uh....Pat and Elizabeth....you can board this beautiful Concorde....but you're not goin' anywhere! No Paris!
Saw the Broadway musical"Mamma Mia!" Wed. nite! The best musical comedy we've ever had the pleasure to see, hear and stomp to!
After how many years on Broadway....a full house the nite we went. Oh, man! These three dolls could sing....and dance... and prance. The supporting cast was.....like....outta this world, too!
That's about it! Great time! Thank you, Elizabeth!
This afternoon....back to dear ol' buccolic Pike Creek Valley. It's so quiet....so peaceful....so evergreen down here. We're home!
