Jacki's News

Welcome to my blog. For my first post you can read all about the trip Kurt and I took to New York. Kurt wrote this diary every evening while we were in New York. He also took most of the photos. I'm a lucky person to have a former journalist/photographer for a bf! Entries in blue are additions I made.

April 2009 Vacation to New York City

Saturday, April 18: Flew from SFO to JFK. Sat next to Chronicle reporter Nanette Asimov on plane. We later learned that Nanette had a famous uncle - Isaac! Checked into fourth floor walk-up apartment on 94^th Street (between Central Park West and Columbus). Yes, a "walk-up" means you walk up (no elevator). Kurt earned his keep by "walking-up" both of our "livin' large" suitcases. Walked down Columbus Ave in warm evening weather for dinner at Big Nick’s and a return walk up Broadway.

Sunday, April 19: We took subway to Fordham Road stopping along the way to let off many Yankee fans attending one of the first games at the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Walked along a Sunday crowded Fordham Road to the university for a campus tour by Ira. This was open house day at Fordham with many trees in full spring bloom. Ira took us on a walk through the Belmont/Little Italy section of the Bronx just south of the campus and to lunch at a fun Italian restaurant. We went birthday shoe shopping with Ira in many kickz (shoe) stores along Fordham Road busy with shoppers and Sunday preachers with loud PA systems. We continued our conversations with Ira in the Walsh Library then left him at his dorm before our return to the upper West Side via the subway. After walking across Central Park, we met Reid at his 11^th floor apartment (not a walk-up, thank goodness) on 92^th Street (near 3^rd Ave). Went to dinner at an Indian restaurant in his neighborhood and talked until 10pm. Took the MTA bus across Central Park to return to the apartment.

Monday, April 20: We walked across Central Park in the rain to Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, which had a memorable exhibit on felt art and design. Both Jacki and I enjoyed the old conservatory of the Carnegie Mansion now made into a yurt of felt reminiscent of a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We took a MTA bus back across town for lunch at Fairway Café and clothes shopping on Broadway. Took subway to New York Public Library on 5^th Avenue where Jacki asked a few reference questions about free WiFi availability and we used one of their public computers in the Great Hall. The NYPL main library is truly magnificent. I consider it a Mecca for librarians - a "must-see" at least once in a lifetime. We walked in the pouring rain around Bryant Park then to Grand Central Station where we had cups of hot cocoa and coffee to wait out the commute rush. We watched as men and women in business suit ran full-speed through Grand Central to catch their trains back to the outlying suburbs. Early in the evening we took the train to the Upper Westside for dinner and more shopping including our favorite NYC convenience store, Duane Reade. We walked back to our apartment on 94^th, arriving soaked and tired from a day of rain. Jacki and I spent the rest of the night snuggling on the couch watching the lightning flashes and listening to the rain hitting the apartment’s skylight.

Tuesday, April 21: We walked to the New York Public Library Bloomingdale Branch (unlike the Main Library of the NYPL, the branches we have seen are nothing to get excited about) to use their free WiFi to send emails to family and look up travel information. After returning my laptop to the apartment we took the subway up to the northern tip of Manhattan. We walked through the beautiful spring gardens of Fort Tryon Park to The Cloisters Museum. We took a guided tour through the Medieval-like museum, learning about such things as Romanesque versus Gothic architecture and viewing the medieval unicorn tapestries. (For an interesting, not great, fictional read on the unicorn tapestries, try The Lady and the Unicorn, by Tracy Chevalier.) Jacki and I then took the subway south to Columbus Circle for an early dinner at a ginormous Whole Foods Grocery Store restaurant where the number of shoppers and choices were truly overwhelming. We then walked to Richard Rodgers Theatre on 46^th Street to attend the musical, In The Heights, tickets to which Jacki had purchased many weeks before. The production about life in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan was extremely entertaining and enjoyable for both of us. After the play and a short walk to admire the Times Square lights, we took the subway back to the Upper Westside where we shared a slice of cheesecake at an all-night deli on Broadway and walked back to the apartment. As we were nearing our destination, Jacki spotted a large billboard advertising an upcoming movie called Dance Flick. The billboard featured a picture of Shoshana Bush, a former Tiburon resident who seems to be making it big in Hollywood.

Wednesday, April 22: We took the subway to Brooklyn, walking first to the Brooklyn Public Library near Prospect Park. There we found that Internet use for visitors cost $3.00 and asked a children’s librarian what to do and see in Brooklyn. Her suggestion for lunch couldn’t be found so we walked in the rain to Tom’s Restaurant to share lunch. We walked back to the shelter of the Brooklyn Museum out of the rain in hopes of seeing the cherry blossoms of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden next door, but the rain vetoed that idea. We next took the subway to the Court Street area of downtown Brooklyn and walked to Rocketship Comics on Smith Street. After looking through the extensive, one-of-a-kind selection of graphic novels and comics, we walked through the homey brownstones of the Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens neighborhoods of Brooklyn. Both Jacki and I admired greatly the three to four-story walkups with large (for NYC) front gardens, many bursting with spring bulbs in bloom. We had a cup of hot cocoa and a cookie at The Fall Café then took the subway to the Soho area of Manhattan. After walking by blocks of expensive clothing stores (one called Yellow Rat Bastard) we walked to and around the upscale Tribeca neighborhood. Finally, we took the subway to Greenwich Village for a walk past the now-fenced Washington Square Park, NYU, and to our favorite Indian restaurant on Bleeker Street. Afterwards we rode the subway home to the apartment.

Thursday, April 23: Every morning starts off with a café mocha from the nearby Mia Café on Columbus and a New York Times from a stationery store around the corner. We walked to a Wachovia Bank for more cash (NYC is expensive!) and then took the subway to Fordham’s Lincoln Center Campus. There Jacki and I met with a financial aid counselor trying to figure out

how the final two years of Ira’s college education could be paid. We walked through Columbus Circle to the southern end of Central Park then to lunch with Reid near his office at the Citi Group Tower at 53^rd and Lexington. Jacki and I then walked to Grand Central Station to get a Metro North schedule then to Union Square. We toured the Strand Book Store on Broadway at 12^th with its 18 miles of shelves then took the subway to Greenwich Village for a snack and hot drinks at Esperanto Café. Refreshed, we took the subway back to our apartment for a brief rest then to dinner with Ira at Big Nick’s on Columbus at 71^st. We walked with Ira back to Fordham’s Lincoln Center Campus so he could catch the Ram Van back to the Rose Hill Campus in the Bronx.

Friday, April 24: We woke up early on this beautiful, sunny day and took the subway to Bryant Park then walked to Grand Central Station. We boarded the MTA Metro North Hudson Line, which traveled through Harlem, around the northern tip of Manhattan, and up the east side of the Hudson, lined with still leafless trees, to the town of Beacon. We walked through Beacon, stopping at the courthouse and library for suggestions and directions, and ended up walking through town on the main street to a waterfall east of town. During our stroll through Beacon we found that half to two-thirds of the storefronts were vacant and the businesses that were open had little appeal. We had lunch at a small deli on Main Street then walked to the Dia:Beacon modern art museum just south of town. Jacki and I thoroughly enjoyed the mind-blowing art housed in the 240,000 square-foot converted Nabisco box factory. Many of the pieces really stretched the concept of art for us and made the trip up the Hudson Valley worthwhile. We took the train back to Grand Central Station, riding through small towns along the Hudson River and could see many little league games being played not far from the tracks. We arrived in Manhattan as the sun was setting in the early evening. We once again stopped at Bryant Park, this time observing hundreds of office workers relaxing after work on the vast lawn or loudly drinking together at the park’s bar. We took the subway to Greenwich Village were we ate pizza outside at an Italian restaurant named Numero 28 at Carmine and Bleeker Streets. We then took the subway home to rest our weary feet.

Saturday, April 25: We had breakfast at a café on Broadway and took the subway for a long ride out to Coney Island in Brooklyn. We quickly scanned the Astro Park amusement park that has fallen on hard times and took a ride on the Cyclone rollercoaster. My voice was sore the rest of the day for screaming during the rickety and terrifying ride. Jacki and I walked along the boardwalk to Brighton Beach, people watching at all the New Yorkers enjoying the sunny, unseasonably warm weather. We then walked along Brighton Avenue under the elevated subway, past blocks of Russian stores with folks speaking in Russian, until we found a pizza shop with food that looked familiar. As we walked through the neighborhood, we felt that we were in a completely different country, with sidewalk vendors selling caviar, and stores selling fur hats and coats. The delis were filled with foods we had never seen or heard of before - the only thing we tried was a delicious pastry that Kurt called an opium roll (I bet you didn't know Kurt can read Cyrillic). We then took the subway back to Prospect Park in Brooklyn and toured the Brooklyn Botanical Garden where many flowering cherry trees were in bloom and thousands of tulips of every type were opened wide in the sun. The gardens were also quite crowded with people enjoying the spring weather and families taking pictures in front of the flowering trees and in meadows filled with naturalized daffodils. We then rode the subway back to our apartment then walked to a Dominican restaurant on Amsterdam Avenue to have a last dinner with Reid. After parting, Jacki and I watched as Reid walked down 94^th Street texting on his cell phone, off to meet up with a friend to hang out for the rest of the evening. We returned to our apartment to pack for the flight home.

Sunday, April 26: We woke up early to a warm morning and carried our suitcases down the four flights of stairs to the street to meet the cab that would take us to JFK. From the back of the cab we could see early risers jogging in already warm Central park and the many tulips on 5^th Avenue beginning to open up to the sun. It seemed like a quick flight home and by coincidence we met Chronicle Reporter Nanette Asimov again at the baggage pick-up. Jacki and I took the Marin Airporter back to her car at Strawberry and returned to Tiburon where the weather was mild and clear. We briefly unpacked then took a walk to enjoy the sailboat party in town for Opening Day of sailing season. We ate and watched the partiers from Waypoint Pizza then climbed the stairs to the top of Corinthian Island to view the festivities and the clear view of the bay and San Francisco.