Friends come to visit

Doug and Sandy, our good friends, he was our best man, came to visit for a few days.  Here we are heading toward the Staten Island Ferry terminal.  Sandy kept trying to pet the security dogs (which is frowned upon!)  

This is a shot of the next ferry bay which I include to show the beautiful architectural details.  It's a ferry bay but it's got the same decoration as the main hall at Ellis Island. 

 Another ferry going the other way.

Here we are checking our pictures! 

This is where we had dinner.  Daniel Boulud has 6 restaurants in NYC.  This one is close to Lincoln Center.  It was quite exquisite. 

 Ed and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art while Doug and Sandy went to see The Book of Mormon on Broadway.  This is a sculpture by a contemporary Chinese artist.  We loved it.

We had a drink at the top of the Marriott in the theater district to see the view at the revolving restaurant.

Kinky Boots, The Rockaways, Rockefeller Center, Central Park

So you know we always try for the lottery and once again we won!  Kinky Boots won everything a year ago and I must say that the guy who played the transvestite lead was fabulous.  I think he must have been the guy who won the Tony a year ago.

Here is the crew waiting to see who will win the Lottery.

We had read in the NY Times that the beach at the Rockaways was where there are art colonies, etc. so we took a ride out there on the subway.  It takes about an hour to get there.

The beach goes on for miles and there are maybe 8 subway stops along the way.  I believe it would be possible to have a great condo out there but there is no infrastructure that we could see except for another crappy beachtown frequented by beggers and bums.  Maybe they want it that way to hide what's really there.  What do I know?  But it's definitely hidden.

This is the Jeff Koons' flower sculpture in Rockefeller Center erected over the Prometheus statue.  This is the Summer of Jeff Koons.  They have devoted the entire Whitney Museum to him.  Look it up; what can I tell you.

This is in the window of the Legos store which is right on the plaza.  Lots of legos.

Can you imagine they are in the process of cleaning St. Patrick's.  The spires are finished.  What a difference!

 Ed wanted a picture of this motorcycle in a dress shop window.

 A shot of the boat basin in Central Park.

This is the famous Bow Bridge designed by Vaux, Olmstead's partner.

Matilda, the musical, Prospect Park, Frankie's Restaurant

Our strategy is to attempt to win the lottery at all the Broadway shows we see.  Why?  Because we get good seats and a very cheap price.  The half-price ticket booths basically have crappy seats in the back half of the theater, but if we win the lottery, we are many times in the front row or the loges.  It's terrific.

These are the lottery hopefuls.

This is a very good burger joint which I believe is only in New York.

This is "the great meadow" in Prospect Park.  We took a guided tour on a Sunday afternoon and learned a lot.  This is the park that is the heart of Southern Brooklyn, designed by Olmsted, unfortunately, Brooklyn doesn't seem to have the money to spend on it to keep it looking like Central Park.

 They lost so many trees to Hurricane Sandy and winter storms that rather than haul them off, they turned them into innovative things.  This is a "cave" for a little boy.

At least their carousel has been restored.

 This is a very charming Italian restaurant with a wonderful patio/garden.

Smorgasburg

So on the weekends many, many food vendors gather on Saturday in Williamsburg and on Sunday in the Brooklyn Bridge Park.  Mitch, Suzanne and Luke walked over the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan and met us at the Smorgasburg.

Anything you could imagine from whatever country was possible to eat.  Really fun!

I have heard it said that there is a water feature in every park in NYC.  From what I've seen, this is true.  Luke was a good boy and did not get too wet since they were on the way to the airport.

This is Brooklyn's arch which is the gateway to Prospect Park.  The kids are gone now, flown back to Athens.  Hopefully, they had a wonderful time.  I know Ed and I did.

The 4th of July & celebrating Mitch's 40th

This is our 4th of July dinner.  The chefs here were on the cover of Food and Wine in July.  It's very close to our house.  Very good!  Another birthday candle for Mitch.

We watched the fireworks from one of the piers in Brooklyn.  They were really, really good.

Here is Luke on this way to the Statue of Liberty.

Many panoramic views from the parapet.

Approaching Ellis Island.

That night we went to Suzanne's favorite restaurant in Soho, Balthazar.  Another stellar meal.  What a trip for them!

Mitch, Suzanne & Luke come to visit

Ed stood in line in Central Park (arriving at 7 a.m.) to get Senior tickets for Much Ado about Nothing.  This is the stageset.  We were in Row 3.  They take care of the seniors in NYC!

We walked from the kids' Math Museum on 23rd Street to Babbo in the Village for dinner.  Suzanne had made all the reservations one month ahead.

This is Mario Batali's restaurant.  It was very good!

 This is the ad for Much Ado outside the theater.

This is Luke in the Math Museum.  They stayed for 2 1/2 hrs.  He only was willing to leave when they closed the place!