The Rainstorm that Led Us to Our New Favorite Restaurant

I can't cook. Well, of course I can cook, and I do it well (when I feel like it), but I can't cook in our NYC apartment. I don't have all my nice cookware, acquired gradually over many years of experience in the kitchen. When we moved from North Carolina to New York City, we brought only the bare essentials. What wouldn't fit in our 3 airline-approved suitcases was shipped in 6 small U-Haul boxes. We had to limit the number and size of items we brought not only because of the cost to get things here, but also because of the size of our living space. We rented a 340-square foot studio apartment. I know that you're gasping at the thought of it, but it's not so bad. When you live in the city that never sleeps, you don't spend much time at home. We could have rented a larger space, but we wouldn't have our saving grace -- the river. We have a very expansive view of the Hudson River, which may not sound like a selling point, but let me explain. NYC is obviously a very busy, noisy, non-stop action kind of place. Tourists go home exhausted after spending a week here, so imagine living here! It's also very crowded on the sidewalks, buses and subways. It's difficult to find peace and quiet. Having spent 18 years living in Montana, we knew that we would need some feeling of space and peace, so a place with a river view was imperative. We couldn't imagine coming home from a busy day at work, after riding home on a crowded subway, to looking out at more action, or worse -- the side of another building. From our 30th floor apartment, we still hear sirens, believe it or not, but at least the activities we see are relatively serene -- ferry boats crossing back and forth from New Jersey, helicopters taking off and landing, and the occasional cruise ship departing or arriving.

Back to the cooking issue... Yes, we have a 4-burner gas range/oven, which I desire over electric any day of the week. I was so happy about discovering Fresh Direct, a service that brings your groceries to you, that I thought I would start cooking. It would be a nice change from eating out so often, now that I have finally tired of it after several months. I was somewhat lazy about the items I ordered, choosing specialty frozen pizzas and pre-made salads. The pizzas sounded so appealing that I ordered 6 at a time, stocking my tiny freezer. Unfortunately, the pizzas have to be cooked at 400 degrees F, which is just the right temperature to produce a puff of smoke which set off the smoke alarm. Nothing was actually burning, but the small amount of smoke accumulated in the tiny kitchen with it's low ceiling and smoke detector in close proximity. This is not the kind of smoke detector one can rip off the wall, yank the batteries out of, and be back in business. No....this is the hard-wired kind and has not only a piercing, repetitive beep, but also a monotone voice that says, "FIRE, FIRE!" Picture Richard jumping out of his chair, asking, "What's happening in there?" while he opens the window, fanning out the imaginary smoke with a towel, the neighbors coming into the hall to ask if everything is alright and a maintenance man coming to the door to find out what's happening. This was all too embarrassing for Richard, so he made a declaration right then and there: NO MORE OVEN TEMPERATURES OVER 350! Okay, I can find other things to cook that won't require such a hot over, but it's too bad I just bought so many of those darn pizzas! It took me a week before I attempted to cook again. It was a Saturday and rather than get another bakery item for breakfast, as we do every day of the week, I wanted some old fashioned oatmeal--the kind you cook on the stove for 5 minutes. Ahh, comfort food! No oven required! Well, comfort turned to chaos quickly as the pot of oatmeal produced a great amount of steam. "FIRE! FIRE!" Oh, crap! We had a repeat of last event, including the towel waving. The pot immediately went into the sink and we went out to the bakery. No oven, no stove, no nothing! Microwave only from now on!

Dining out has lost the thrill now that we HAVE to eat out. Even after a long day at work, we have to go out for dinner. We live in a more residential area, so it's at least a 10 minute walk to the true restaurant row. One night, when neither of us was particularly excited about going out, mainly because it was raining, we walked past one restaurant after another. We kept asking each other, "How about this one?" "Nah, we had that last week." Suddenly, the sky opened up and it poured rain like I've never seen before. In desperation, we ducked into a tiny place we hadn't noticed or heard of. It was an Italian place called Don Giovanni. We peeled off our wet coats, sat at a tiny table, and had the best meal and best service we've ever had! The place is kind of dark, small, and old, making it quaint, but it also had a very hip vibe because of the young servers and clientele. Richard and I usually like our space, but we didn't mind the squished-together tables here. Something felt familiar about this place. We were thankful that the rain pushed us inside. We returned a week later for a repeat experience, and the waitress remembered us! Score! We always love a place where we are remembered. We have a Saturday breakfast place like that, called Kava. They have the most fabulous Ricotta pancakes, but their best asset is their waitress. As soon as she sees us, she puts in our order and pours our coffees. Feeling like you have a home, even if it IS a restaurant, makes you feel comfortable in such a big city.

Road Trips Without a Car

I have always been the adventurous type, plunging headfirst into new places and experiences without much planning or preparation. For example, I love road trips!! At the drop of a hat, I will go for a long drive, having no particular destination in mind, just for the sake of seeing something new. Recently, Richard and I have taken a couple of road trips. We often went on road trips when we lived in other places, but we always had a car (or two) of our own, so it was an easy thing to do. Since having sold our cars before our move to NYC, road trips now require more planning. First, we have to arrange for a rental car. Next, we have to walk to the rental car company to pick up the car. Third, we have to decide on a destination.

Living in NYC without a car means that we only know the city from a pedestrian's point of view. We don't know which routes have the least traffic. We don't know which areas are the most scenic from a car window. Our current version on the city is the dog-eat-dog, pushing, fighting for space, dodging cars that have no concern for pedestrians vantage point. When you're in a car, you see the city from a detached viewpoint. You are cocooned in your own space, surrounded by your music, your smells-- not being accosted by harried city dwellers. I can only partly experience the city this way, as an observer, while riding the bus. From my seat on the bus, I can watch the comings and goings without so much of the tactile experiences. Even so, you hear other people's music (which is turned up way too loud and is coming from their headphones OR they choose not to use headphones); you are sharing physical space with many strangers, some of whom have strange odors and whose bodies may encroach upon your designated space.

It's hard not to take it personally when you don't get to experience the city in your own way. There's just not enough physical space to do so! This is proven by every tourist who stops in their tracks to take a photo of one of the famous landmarks. When they do, it is inevitable that someone runs smack into them! I would like to stop and look up at a building that I find beautiful from time to time, but I know better than to do so! It was only recently, while going out for coffee on a weekend morning, that I noticed that there is a 30-story apartment complex above our favorite coffee shop! We spend so much of our walking time looking down, to escape the glances of strangers, or to dodge potholes, uneven pavement, dog feces and/or urine, trash, etc., that we haven't even noticed a huge building that's right before our eyes every day!

It was time for an escape from the city. We picked up our rental car, which we would have for the next 24 hours, and decided to drive to Burlington, Vermont. We left around 11 am, since this was spontaneous and not a planned trip. The drive took about 6 hours. Richard had been to Burlington several years ago when he was Director of Safety and Systems for Big Sky Airlines. The airline was in the process of establishing a hub in the area, so Richard flew there to set up their computer systems. Richard knew that I would like the area, and wanted to share its beauty with me now. The closer we got to Burlington, the more we liked the terrain and environment. Richard and I find ourselves longing for wide open spaces, like we enjoyed in Montana. We saw many farms that made us long for a quieter, simpler way of life, one that involves being around fewer people. We arrived in Burlington as it was beginning to get dark. We parked the car and went into a big LL Bean store. We enjoyed looking at the type of clothing we used to wear when we spent more time outdoors, but didn't buy anything now. We walked around a very pretty, outdoor shopping area and ate dinner at a pizza restaurant.

We did not stay in Burlington for the night. Instead, we turned around and drove back to NYC. The point of the trip was to enjoy being in our own, isolated space -- not the destination itself. On the long drive home, we found an '80s station on the radio and sang along to old favorites by the Eagles, Styx, REO Speedwagon, etc. It was magical! We haven't felt that relaxed and free in many months. We arrived back in the city very late. Since we don't know any of the parking laws (alternate side parking??), we thought it safest to park in the garage at our apartment complex until the next morning when we could return the car. I almost cried when we returned it...

Gotham Comedy Club

Last Saturday, while I was in the middle of putting clean sheets on the bed, I suddenly stopped, turned to Richard, and said, "We need to go to a comedy club tonight." I stopped what I was doing, went to my laptop, and searched local comedy clubs. The first one I looked at featured some guy I had never heard of, so I moved on. The next one I tried, Gotham Comedy, was one we had walked past several times (on our way to Doughnut Plant--no judgement, please). Rosie O'Donnell was the featured comic for the night. I couldn't believe that tickets were still available! I immediately ordered tickets for the 9 pm show. On any normal night, Richard and I are in bed by 9 pm, but I knew we were both in need of a good laugh. I'm still struggling with the whole feeling out of place thing. We were told to arrive 30 minutes before the show. Thankfully, both Richard and I are natural early birds, meaning we both arrive unusually early for any planned event. Richard arrives at his work by 6:30 am, even though his co-workers don't arrive until anytime between 9 am and 11 am. I arrive at school by 6:50 am, even though I don't have to be there until 8 am. When we arrived at 8 pm, we asked the hostess if we would stand outside the main doors until 8:30. It was a very cold night, so we were appropriately bundled up, just in case, but she gave us a table number and sent us downstairs to a lounge. She was nice enough to remind us that any drinks we ordered in the lounge would not count towards the two drink minimum per person required for the show. I was very happy about that because it was going to be hard enough for either of us to consume two drinks apiece, since we're not big drinkers. We weren't the first to arrive in the lounge, but the longer we sat in the lounge, the more crowded it became. A bouncer came downstairs at one point to let us know that her first show was going on longer than planned, but that they would let us know when to come upstairs by flashing the lights. Richard didn't wait for the flashing lights. He wanted to get upstairs before everyone else. Even though we already had a table assignment, there would be others sitting at our table, and he wanted to be sure we got the best view. We stood in the narrow hallway upstairs for about 10 minutes before they let us into the show area. Thankfully, because we arrived early and got a good table assignment, we were seated in the first row, not directly in front of the stage, but the table beside dead center. It was awesome! We positioned our chairs for comfortable viewing. and then I took a bathroom break. Sure enough, by the time I got back, another couple was seated at our table. They had to turn around backwards in their chairs to see the stage. He he! Sucks to be late!

The woman who hosted the show was hilarious, as was the man who was the opening act! I wish I knew their names! Rosie looked great! She has lost a lot of weight and was dressed nicely, something she said she is making a conscious effort to do. She joked about the troubles she's had in her personal life, which made her very human and relate-able. We never got picked on because the woman with the front and center seat was dressed in an orange, furry jumpsuit. She had on 8 inch gold, glitter platform shoes (which she plopped onto the stage), blue lipstick, and white mascara. She stuck out like a sore thumb in a very average-looking audience. Rosie asked her if she always dressed this way, or if she just wanted attention during the show. Apparently, she always dresses that way. Rosie noticed a man across from us, at the other end of the front row. She asked if he had been at her earlier show. He said that he flew in from California and had been at both shows the previous night and both shows that night. She invited him on stage and took a photo with him, which I thought was very nice. We had a great evening, and left in a cab saying what a great, only-in-New-York experience that had been. We need more evenings like this!

I've Lost That Lovin' Feeling (at least temporarily)

I have had a tough time lately, hence the lack of posts to this blog. I think the euphoric feeling of being in New York, where it has felt like we've been on vacation, has worn off and now the reality has set in. The reality is that I need to adjust to my new home. I have felt homesick, but I have no home to return to. Let me explain. Richard and I left Texas when we were 30. Even though we were both born and raised there, neither of us really felt at home there and wanted to find a new "home" of our own. We chose Montana. When we settled there, in Big Timber, we left behind our extended families, which was very hard. Richard still owned a software company in Dallas, so he had to travel back and forth, between Texas and Montana, every week. I was in a strange place, physically isolated from others and especially from our families. Within a year, Richard's parents chose to relocate to Montana, so we finally had family close by. This was especially nice for our kids, because they had grandparents there for all their milestone events. We even had my grandparents living in our guest house for a couple of years, until the financial fallout which caused us to lose the ranch. When Richard lost his company, others believed that we should have moved back to Texas to get our careers and financial future back on track. Instead, we chose what we considered a kinder and gentler setting in which to raise our children.

We decided to stay in Montana, although we moved to a different area--Kalispell. You can probably imagine how difficult it is to replace a 6-figure income in Montana. Naturally, Richard had a very hard time securing a job. Instead, he tried to start another new business, but it never took off (that's an intentional pun because the business was related to flying). I even tried to get a job, but having been out of the work force to raise my kids hurt my chances of getting anything beyond a typical, minimum wage job. We stayed in Kalispell, limping along financially, until I saw the movie, The Rookie. It focused on small town living, which reminded me of Big Timber. I wanted to "go home." We knew things were not going to improve in Kalispell, so we moved back to Big Timber, the small town that I fell in love with, only this time we weren't moving to a log mansion on 500 acres, but into a 100-year old house in town. Big Timber is not a place that many "outsiders" move to. It is isolated, very small, lacks job opportunities, and is made up of residents whose families have lived there for generations. It is small enough that everyone in town knows everything about you. I grew up in a small town in Texas that was very similar, and I HATED that aspect of it. I suppose it was because I was young and wanted my independence and the space to make mistakes without being under a microscope. I dreamed of moving to NYC as soon as I graduated high school, but went another path. Now here I was, as an adult, choosing small town living for my own family. I was happy to have Richard's parents within a few miles. We continued to have trouble making a decent living, and eventually moved to Montana's largest city, Billings. Although there were many ups and downs, we were at least able to survive. Note: I didn't say thrive.

After both kids graduated high school, we decided that we absolutely must move to a place where Richard's technical skills would offer a respectable wage. He was offered a 6-month contract position in Charlotte, North Carolina, so we moved there. Alli was just about to start college at Tulane University in New Orleans, so she stayed with her grandparents in Montana for a month, rather than moving to NC, and then again a month later to New Orleans. Wes was living with a girlfriend in Billings, so we said tearful goodbyes and headed to NC. Charlotte is a beautiful place, but it never felt like home.  Richard's temporary job turned into a permanent job and I was able to find a teaching position, so things were finally turning around for us. Wes left his girlfriend in MT and came to Charlotte. He was able to get his dream job as a web developer. Alli decided to leave Tulane and transferred to University of NC at Charlotte. We were all back together! Even so, this place wasn't home.

After 3 years in Charlotte, Richard had received enough positive attention on the job that he was offered an even better and more visible position in NYC...my dream city! He accepted the position in order for me to fulfill one of my bucket list items. Now that I'm here, everything feels off, for lack of a better word. Take into consideration that everything in my life has changed. Alli and our 13 year old cat had been living with us in Charlotte, but we left them behind so that Alli could continue to attend college there, and have her cat to keep her company. We left Wes and his new girlfriend. We sold both of our cars. We got rid of all of our furniture. We have nothing familiar around us. We have had to adapt to public transportation. We no longer have wide open spaces or the freedom to go for a drive. On a good day, this feels very freeing. On a bad day, it destroys me. All weekend I cried about wanting to go home, but realized that I have no home to go back to. Texas is no longer home to me. Most of my relatives have crossed over. My mom and step-dad are there, but that's the only attraction I have to Texas. I can't go back to Montana YET because I need to earn enough money to retire someday. (I DO plan to retire in MT!) I have to create a new version of home. I have a great job, in a nice school, working with wonderful people, and I'm paid more that I've even been paid in the past. Richard's job is fantastic and allows us to finally put money into savings. We're in my dream city. I'm sure I'll continue to have ups and downs, but I'm going to have to learn new ways of adapting.

The Week Before Students Arrive

Ahh...Back to work. I love it! I am not someone who particularly likes a lot of down time. I like to be busy and can become depressed if I don't feel like I'm doing something useful. There's not a lot of "useful" stuff to do when you live in a 400 square foot space. Cleaning the apartment takes me about 5 minutes and doing laundry is almost a non-event. I was a stay-at-home mom when my kids were little. I kind of wanted to be a working mom and hated when I would meet someone and the first question they would ask was, "What do you do?" When I said I stayed home with my kids, they practically turned and walked away, assuming I had nothing intelligent to talk about. This really bothered me. Of course I gave my all to my kids, but I also spent lots of time on more visible forms of "useful" stuff, particularly cleaning. I thought I needed a visible form of my usefulness, so I kept my home meticulously clean. Our home in Texas, when Wes was 2 and Alli was a newborn, was about 4,000 square feet. Cleaning took lots of time. The front entry had a very dark hardwood floor that showed every speck of dust. My workload grew exponentially a year later when we moved to Montana, into a 10,000 square foot log home on 500 acres. I had no idea how much upkeep was required on a log home. Every wall in the massive home looked like this (very few drywall walls), which meant that dust collected on EVERY SINGLE LOG!

For some reason, dead flies lined every windowsill as well, so they required regular vacuuming. (By the way, vacuuming dead flies creates a unique and not-so-pleasant smell.)

I feel useful! Work is about to begin! Students at The New American Academy start school next week, so this week the teachers have been setting up their classrooms. Four teachers share our massive, open classroom. There are several different shapes of student tables. No one seemed to want the trapezoid tables, so I claimed them. Most teachers arrange this type of table like so.

I arranged mine like this.

The teachers had never seem the tables arranged this way, and they kept calling other teachers in to see what I had done, each saying, "I've never seen anyone arrange them this way!" They may have been rethinking their decision to shun the trapezoid. It took me many tries to get them just the way I wanted them. I think I've achieved a sort of stadium feel, with all the table groups facing the Smartboard, so that all students can see the Smartboard from their tables, if I ever want to show something while they are seated at their desks. My style is more suited to teaching while students are gathered around me on the rug, but it will be nice to have another option. This is the first time I have not had a teacher desk. I've never actually sat at my teacher desk, but it is a good place to keep all the office supplies and a place to pile all the papers that need to be graded. Instead, I have a traditional student desk, on which sits my very nice Mac desktop computer that operates the Smartboard. Inside the desk, I've tucked all the necessities, like tape, paperclips, pens, scissors, Post-Its, stapler, etc. I love my Smartboard! I have typically had a Mimio, which also requires a projector, but the Smartboard has the projector attached to the front of it, so there aren't wires to trip over, which is the obvious advantage so far.

My kindergarten team worked at breakneck speed to get everything ready because we had an Open House scheduled for Thursday of the week before the start of school. We would rotate students to all 3 areas, which they will be doing during a typical school day. We would each start with our "homeroom" or "house" students. My group will be called the "green house." My kiddos will start the day with me, then go to one of the other 2 houses: Ms. Balsan's red house for writing and phonics and Miss Brittany's blue house for reading.  Each teacher will teach "interdisciplinary" to their own house. Interdisciplinary is science/social studies/engineering, which we plan together. I will be teaching math. I like the way we're doing this because it makes lesson planning much easier. In years past, I've spent up to 6 hours on the weekend working on lesson plans, because I've always taught every subject. I will be using a workshop model, teaching a math mini lesson to the entire group that's in front of me at the time, then sending the majority of students off to work in small groups at math centers while I work with a small group. Then I will see the next house and repeat the same procedure.

Yesterday was the Kindergarten Open House. I wasn't nervous, for the first time in my teaching career. I think it's because I had my teammates in other parts of our massive classroom doing the same thing as me at the same time, with our Master Teacher circulating to help if necessary.  I got to meet my adorable students and their sweet families. I am so excited for school to start!

An Unexpected Adventure

What started as a simple Sunday morning walk to get Underwest Donuts for breakfast, turned into a 14 mile walk. I love an adventure, and Richard knows that he has to wear me out so that I don't get home and begin to whine about not having done anything fun (like a dog--woof!). With that in mind, after we ate our donuts on a bench looking out at the Hudson River, he asked if I wanted to walk to Chelsea Piers. It's a nice, respectable walking distance for a little morning exercise, so I said, "Sure!" We saw some gorgeous private yachts and some not-so-gorgeous homeless men (yin/yang). There is a building across the street from Chelsea Piers that I wanted to see up close, to get the name of, because I noticed they have cool lofts with floor to ceiling windows and structural columns. I love that look! It reminds me of the loft that Tom Hanks' character rented in the movie Big. After we walked past the building, I noticed that Manhattan Motorcars, which sells Porsches and Lamborghinis, was ahead. I had seen it on a prior trip, when I was alone, and wanted to show it to Richard. We both love spotting exotic cars and sending pictures of them via text message to our son, Wes, who is obsessed with them! I took photos, but since the cars were behind glass, what showed up the most was my reflection. We started to head back toward our apartment when Richard noticed the stairs that lead to the Highline. He suggested walking there since it was early and not as many tourists with baby strollers would be there. Awesome! Look how empty it was!

When we got to the end of the Highline at Gansevoort and Washington St., Richard asked if there was anything else I wanted to see while we were this far. I could see the One World Trade Center tower in the distance, and asked if he'd be willing to walk there.

Richard agreed, and in fact, walked me to the building where he used to come for meetings back when he was still working in Charlotte. Behind the building was a nice river walkway. We could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance. I mentioned the fact that Alli never let me take her on a ferry ride, so we decided to do so now.

The Staten Island Ferry ride is free and offers a great view of the Statue of Liberty. If you ever take it, be sure to head to the right side of the boat for the best view of the statue. Since Richard and I have seen the Statue of Liberty before, we sat down and allowed the tourists to get near the rail for a closer view. Once we landed on Staten Island, all passengers were required to get off the ferry, since this boat wouldn't be making the return trip to Manhattan. The majority of the passengers, including the two of us, got off the boat and immediately got back on board another boat that was coming back to Manhattan right away. No tour of Staten Island today, but perhaps another time. Here's a pathetic picture of the city as we were coming back.

We ate lunch at a neat, open air market area with lots of food vendors. I  believe it was called Smorgasburg. We split a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich and tater tots (my idea), and had gourmet popsicles afterward. I had a watermelon mint popsicle and Richard had a peach vanilla one. The entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge was only a couple of blocks away, so we knocked off another "bucket list" item of mine by walking across the bridge. It was gawd-awfully busy! I had to put on my New York attitude to dodge tourists, who have a truly annoying habit of stopping suddenly to take pictures (without concern of who or what is around them), causing me to crash into them! Geez, people! At the end of the bridge, you had to walk down a staircase to get to street level. The crowd in front of us ALL shifted suddenly to the left, opposing any pedestrian traffic that might be coming up onto the bridge. We wondered what was happening. And then I saw what the trouble was...there were blobs of poop on the stairs. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, there was the largest pile of poop I had ever seen. It was the size of a pile of horse poop, but this was definitely human poop (trust me, the smell gave it away). GGGGRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSS!!!!

We were so sweaty that our clothes were completely soaked, and our hips were beginning to ache, so we decided to catch a subway home. The only problem was that neither of us had taken our Metro Cards (bus/subway passes) because we hadn't planned to go on this adventure. Thankfully, Richard had his wallet so he bought us two new cards at the nearest subway station. This time, we were the smelly people on the subway!

Here's our route. Count 'em...14 miles!!

How Can Anyone NOT Love New York?!

I love New York! Despite my occasional rants to Richard about the number of people on the sidewalks or the variety of unpleasant smells encountered between here and the subway entrance, I love it! I especially love the city as I sit on a bench, soaking up the sun and watching all the activity. I love walking everywhere, and often choose to walk instead of waiting for a bus. The bus has to wade through all the traffic and often takes longer than walking, anyway. I don't even mind riding the subway for longer trips. Yes, you sometimes encounter an "original" individual, but most of the time subway rides are uneventful. I welcome the chance to just sit and be "in my head." I love all the things to see and do for free, in addition to all the touristy places. I have enjoyed touring St. Patrick's Cathedral (free), riding the Staten Island Ferry (free), walking through Central Park (free) and discovering new places. For example, on a recent walk to retrieve some library books I had reserved, I took a new route and ended up in the garment district, where there were many wholesale stores open to the public. I bought 2 really cute blouses for $10 each! I love that kind of stuff! I am not a social butterfly, but I do enjoy being out and about. Sitting still for very long is difficult for me. Months of deep snow in Montana that kept most people cooped up at home would send me on an hour and a half drive to town just to walk around the mall. One time I accidentally drove on the interstate when it was open to emergency traffic only! I had no idea. I had a Toyota Land Cruiser, so snow was never an issue. Yes, I loved Montana and plan to retire there someday, but right now I love being in the city!

Last week our 21-year old daughter visited. You learn the meaning of close when you have a guest in your 400 square foot living space! She had never been to New York, so I had all kinds of things in mind for us to do together. Cheap things, since I haven't started working yet, but lots of fun opportunities to enjoy this beautiful city. Alli often asked how long it was going to take to get to the place I suggested. My response would be something like, "It's a short walk." That statement elicited a glare from Alli, because that's the same thing I said about getting to Central Park. Yes, we rode a bus to get from our apartment to 5th Ave., but then we walked the remaining 22 blocks, which only took about 15 minutes, to be fair. We went to Macy's because I wanted to show my little country girl the vast retail space, with its old wooden escalators and every brand she's ever heard of. She couldn't wait to get out of there! We did do a few touristy things, like visit Madame Tussauds and ride The Beast (the speed boat that takes you to the Statue of Liberty and back). Most of the time, however, we spent in the tiny apartment, watching TV shows or movies. Granted, this was Alli's short break between 2nd summer semester and Fall semester of college, but I had my girl here and I wanted a buddy to go on adventures with me. To be fair, I can see the sights any time I want, and I have to respect the fact that New York isn't for everyone. I don't think she'll ever move to New York, but I look forward to her next visit. Hopefully I can get her to a Broadway show next time.