NYC ~ June 4-8, 2009

Hi! I'm writing from the desk of Ruth Hardinger on N.Moore Street in the Tribeca neighborhood on Manhattan island!! Rachel and I organized a trip out to NYC to visit our Aunt Ruth and Uncle Michael for a few days. It is a break from reality, a vacation, a breather, and at the same time, different and exciting. Rachel and I are literally in a different world! We planned our flights to both arrive on Thurs, June 4th with in minutes of arriving at the same time. I flew from Waterloo through Minneapolis, then onto Newark, NJ. Rachel flew from OK City and through Atlanta, GA. My flight was an hour ahead of time, and Rachel's was an hour late. So when Ruth and Michael came to pick us up, we ended up sitting at the McDonald's restaurant in the airport drinking decaf coffee until Rachel's flight came in. Rachel's flight landed around midnight. I had gotten in around 10 pm. They drove us back to their place and we were warmly greeted by their two dogs and two cats, named Ishtar, Xoxo (pronounced HoHo), Balam and Seven. Balam is the black cat with white markings, Seven is the white cat who is so named for her seven fingers on each paw. Balam is by far the cuddliest cat, and very sweet. Ishtar is the only female. Both dogs are smooth collies. All of us were so excited to be there, we couldn't just go to bed when we got there. We decided to take a late walk and get the dogs out moving that night, so we walked just a few blocks west of their place and ended up walking on the promenade by the Hudson River. New Jersey is right across the river. We walked for a long time in the light rain. We all got wet but enjoyed the conversation. Nobody else was up walking at 2 am, we had the whole thing to ourselves. We eventually got ourselves to bed around 3:30 am. Everybody slept in Friday morning - we all rolled out of bed around 11 am and ate some fresh fruit and granola with the most delicious maple syrup on it. They have the best maple syrup here. Dave would have LOVED it. They get it from a place that gets the maple drip right from the trees, it is boiled down to make syrup, and bottled locally. The flavor of the day was really relaxing. Ruth and Michael set their own schedules and work when they want to, so they had freed up most of their time this weekend to spend time with us, which was great. They enjoyed a lazy breakfast with us and then we all got ready. They did have a couple things to do work-wise, which were mostly showing properties to people looking at their listings. Rachel and I decided to take a walk downtown to see the site of Ground Zero. Neither of us had been to NYC in about 10 years so it was very different this time. The only down side to this walk downtown was the fact that it was raining pretty hard. We had to borrow jackets to shield off the wet cold breeze. Cameras in hand, we got to the site, and found it REALLY hard to see. Construction was well under way for a new building, but the 15 foot tall fences covered with fabric made it nearly impossible to see what was going on. We got advice from a guard to go to the third floor of the Winter Garden building, so that is what we did. We met Ruth and Michael back at their place at 3 pm for lunch which was fresh fruit and yummy bread with peanut butter and honey. She planned light meals throughout the day with plans for a larger dinner. Rachel and I crashed on our bed and took a two hour nap. The room where we are sleeping has no windows, which makes for a sleeping atmosphere that makes you wonder what time it really is! Ruth had been working in the kitchen during our nap and woke us up in time for the meal to be served. She baked a whole chicken with fresh thyme leaves (from her upstate farm) along with potatoes and veggies, and steamed asparagus. It was delicious. We hurried to finish our delicious meal so we could take off in time to make it for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's performance that night: Youssou N'Dour. He is an african music artist, one of R&M's favorites. He was really fun. His music just made you want to get up and dance. I suppose you could google his name to get a sample of his music. http://www.youssou.com/. The concert went from 8-10:30 - we got home late and listened to a little more music while reviewing some of Rachel's pictures on her computer from the day. I suppose I'll get around to posting some pictures of our trip later. We've taken hundreds already!! :) Saturday morning we woke up around 10 am, enjoyed more fresh fruit and granola with maple syrup, mused over articles in the New York Times, and then showered and got ready for the day. We took off for a walk to the Whole Foods stores to pick up some groceries. We were amazed by some of the produce items. Morel mushrooms selling for $59.99 a pound (Selena, I was thinking of your brother!), ostrich eggs for $50 each, all sorts of things I've never seen in Iowa. On our way back we stopped at a local bakery and picked up a loaf of bread for lunch and some sweet delicacies to eat for "dessert" after lunch. We ate a small lunch and then took off for some more sight seeing adventures. R&M had an exhibit they really wanted to see: Ernesto Neto's creation. I can't even describe the big piece of art that it was, you will just have to look it up. He calls it "anthropodino", and used tulle fabric to design an ENORMOUS piece of art that you can walk into, and parts of the tulle were tied off and large pieces 40 or 50 feet long dangled from the ceiling and held spices and things, it was just indescribable. Google "Ernesto Neto" and see some of the images. We made a stop at a divine imported chocolate store. We called it edible jewelry, the store was that pretty. We indulged in some yummy chocolate and lattes, took our treats to the middle of Central Park and sat down to eat it. A nice lady took a pic of all of us together, it is a great picture. Taking in the atmosphere, the different people, and what everybody else is doing is so much fun. We spent the next few hours walking around the Metropolitan Museum of Art, mostly in the african section, in modern art, and enjoying the rooftop display of tangible art and the view from the top. We could see the entirety of Central Park and the bottom half of Manhattan to the river from that view, it was beautiful. We ended up getting home from that adventure late, by 9 pm, so they fed their dogs and took them with us as we walked to the Indian restaurant we had reservations at that night. R&M know the owners of Salaam Bambay by name, and asked for a table by the street, so we could have the dogs by us, so they sat outside right next to us. We didn't know the food there at all, so Ruth ordered everything. We tried a couple appetizers (Rachel has all this written down, I don't have it in front of me), three different entrees (we split them all), lots of sides...there was shrimp, lamb, seabass, spinach & chickpeas, rice, bread, mango chutney, yogurt sauces, just amazing different flavors with each bite. We all got super full, but had enough room to taste two or three bites of rose ice cream. The ice cream is flavored with rose water - water soaked in roses. It was so crazy - the ice cream tasted exactly like roses smell. Rachel and I also spent more time on the town by ourselves, exploring parts of "the meat packing" district. Sunday was spent mostly shopping. We had a plate of fruit and took off for the morning. After getting dressed and ready to go, Rachel and I went straight up West Broadway and first hit Anthopology (a clothing store) and countless others just looking at the clothes, newest fashions, gawked over the thousand dollar items, many shoe styles, and smells of the city. After a few hours, R&M met us with the dogs on a point on West Broadway. They had to give a client a showing of a property while we shopped, so they had the time later on to meet us. We walked through Little Italy, Chinatown, and then back to their place. We each got a Manhattan magnet from a street vendor, I found a piece of artwork to frame as the start of our bedroom redecorating, etc. R&M picked up a case of 12 mangos, it was a nice random shopping trip. My feet and legs are so tired from walking. We rested for a little while, changed clothes at their place, and then spent some time in their art studios learning more about their current works of art in the making. Ruth explained her folded paper graphite abstract art, and Michael gave us a painting demo. We had dinner plans at a place called Zutto, a japanese place. They had reserved an outdoor table, and Rachel and I had some fantastic firsts. We tried some raw sushi (one made with salmon and rice, dipped in soy sauce and wasabi, and the other of tuna and rice), and we both even took some hesitant bites of eel sushi. It all tasted pretty much the same to me...I'm sure the other three in my company would disagree. It was better than I thought it was going to be, but still not the taste I could appreciate to eat for a whole meal, so I opted for the teriyaki steak and an avocado cucumber salad instead. It was still delicious. We probably spent two hours after dinner just sitting and enjoying the night, talking away. The weather was absolutely perfect, warm, sunny, and the nights didn't get chilly. We loaded the dogs into the van and drove up to Times Square for a last touristy fling. It was jam packed with people, just sitting around on the closed off streets on lawn chairs, just sitting there. The streets were filled. we took lots of great pictures. I called it an Electronic Ocean of lights. Like a little mini Vegas strip. Rachel and I enjoyed the Hershey's shop. I got a Reeses peanut butter cup coffee mug and she got me a Reeses sweatshirt for my birthday. I got Violet a big pack of different Bubble gum flavors. I know she's gonna love it. We drove a way home with intentions of stopping by one of their favorite bakeries, but it was closed, so we kept driving, and got home around 12:30 am. They walked the dogs a little more, and I spent a little time catching up on this blog. They are back in, Rachel and I need to clean up and pack up - a limo is coming to pick us up to take us to the airport at 10 am. My flight leaves at 11:25 am, Rachel's leaves at 11:38, so we timed the flights well. I miss my family so much, I'm really excited to come home. I will always appreciate the generousity of R&M to treat us to such a wonderful weekend away from reality. We loved it!!!!! Will remember: snowman with a sword, truck heads, and fabulous happy horses.