New York, New York

January 22  (George Washington Bridge)

New York is full of big things, of course. From bridges to buildings to traffic to people and everything in between. But memories from this weekend were filled with small bits too. The subway stop a block away. The fact that there are 3 grocery store/deli spots within that block. The marvel of high skyscrapers against a blue sky. The people who were so kind, offering to help when we were confused about where to go in a subway station. The dogs being walked, mostly clad in sweaters or rain jackets against the weather. (I even saw my first diapered dog.) The public transportation.

We spent the weekend in New York City, living it up in an apartment that belongs to friends of my parents. The apartment, really 2 units together, is larger than our house in every respect. From the ceiling heights to the room sizes. The 6 bathrooms (!!!). The closets and general storage scattered throughout the home. Needless to say, it was pretty luxurious. Getting a parking spot on the street right in front of the door was a huge bonus – that the car did not have to be moved until Thursday (Monday was a holiday) was kind of the icing on the cake.

The point of the weekend was to go see Honeymoon in Vegas, a new Broadway show that had its official opening this week. My brother’s friend, David Josefsberg, has the leading “supporting” role, if that makes any sense, and we wanted to go cheer him on – we’ve been entertained by him for years in Vermont. So the show was the focus, but we turned it into a full-on weekend extravaganza.

What a weekend.

My mother-in-law flew up from Texas. My parents drove down from Vermont. My brother and his family drove out (or trained out, depending) from Connecticut.

And we just played. Dinner out on Friday night. Bagels on Saturday. Left the apartment at 9:30 on Saturday morning for a full day of walking, subway-ing. We saw Grand Central and the Empire State building playing peek-a-boo between buildings. We watched skaters in Rockefeller Plaza. We wandered Times Square in the daylight.

And we saw the show.

The show was unbelievable. Run and see it. The sets. The music. The script. The actors. Absolutely incredible. So good we all talked about waiting in line at TKTS in Times Square to see if we could score seats for the Sunday show . . .

And after the show, our day was not over. We got to go backstage, standing on the stage with David as he signed our playbills. We all walked en masse to a local bar where we talked some more before David had to head back to prep for the 8 pm show. Then dinner. Then more walking in Times Square, this time with lights blazing so hard it took a few minutes before we realized it was nighttime.

Sunday rained. And rained and rained and rained. So we did what any respectable visitor would do – we grabbed umbrellas and went for a walk in Central Park. And took a subway down for burgers at a bar. And went to the Guggenheim museum. And ordered an orgy of delivery (none of us can get food delivered where we live) for dinner, then watched football and Downton Abbey and crashed hard.

Sun woke us on Monday morning along with the realization that this was the last day. Last few hours, really. Subway hop to the World Trade Center site, where the 911 Memorial stunned us all with its simplicity and beauty, framed in the background by the Freedom Tower. We ate hotdogs and pretzels on the street, and ducked in for a slice of pizza. And then it was time to go home.

I wouldn’t want to live in New York – the bustle would wear on me. But oh is it ever fun to visit!