More from the night stroll!

A Stroll to Rockefeller Center, at night!

Here come the videos from a stroll down Seventh Avenue this evening, and down to Rockefeller Center:

High and Low Culture (yummy) part two!

Looking for food after concert, heard about Burger Joint in of all places one the swankiest hotels in NYC, Le Parker Meridian, and the burgers were great, we brought them back to the room with the great fries!

Highly recommended, right sized burgers and right size prices, unlike most of the NYC food which is to large on both counts!

High and Low Culture (but yummy) in two hours! Part 1

Concert at the Pantheon of Symphonic Music in America (if not the world) Carnegie Hall for a concert of Contemporary Music, Mom said it was OK, the soloists (including Dawn Upshaw) were great, the Orchestra of St. Luke's played well, and the composer John Adams did well, I've seen him up close and personal many times.

Saturday evening Mass at St. Paul the Apostle

Home church of the Paulist Fathers, first American order.

Here's the Altar and Sanctuary:

Rainy Sunday in New York...

Which isn't much fun for trying to move around with Mom. but we did! Cabbed it to the Linen store again and bought some lovely sheets (Mom's sheets are, say exchange the 2 e's in sheet with one o), a couple of cotton nighties, and more hankies, don't worry, they're shipping them home.

Little while ago we attempted MOMA again, the walk wasn't too bad, only half of me is well soaked (try walking and holding umbrella and Mom in the rain). Got to the museum and found what's in the video, so we stayed, dried off for a bit, and then came back! Concert tonight is only across the street! Yay!

Saturday even busier on the Streets of New York!

I didn't think it could be busier than Friday, but here's Saturday and 10AM on Fifth Avenue and there's a sea of people out. Made it down to St Patrick's again and there's a huge crowd outside, a Band playing Andes Music, cars with Mexican Flags, after a stroll for warming up through Saks Fifth Avenue we try to make it back to church and are met with a mariachi band, a stacked full church, and then it hits me, its the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Coming back to the hotel was almost scary with the number of people around Radio City, 5th/6th Avenues, street vendors (big thing appears to be $5 Pashminas and $10 'cashmere' scarves (bet the only part that's cashmere is the 'cash' that you spend to get one!)). Had a brunch of Eggs Benedict before coming back to the hotel, huge lines outside the Carnegie and Stage deli for lunch around 2PM and they are still there at 4:30! Concert this evening, might shoot some video!

Recession, what Recession!

Wow, NYC is full of people, and they are all spending money!

Friday morning we slept in until about 10AM and then we went out to 84th and Madison Avenue to a linen store that's been there for 38 years. I found Schweitzer Linens a year and a half ago when Mom's supply of handkerchiefs was pretty depleted. Schweitzer has linen and cotton hankies, about the only place that we know of that still does, so we did our little bit to help the economy too! Cabbed it up and back, then set off on foot for Museum of Modern Art, which again was packed and loud and noisy (not the best place for a dementia patient); I can remember when museums were places of relative peace and quiet, not here. There's groups of people sitting on the floor hearing talks about the art pieces, people yapping on phones saying where in the museum they are, there's multiple cafes and food spots, clinking silverware, banging glasses, its a real sensory experience. And then there's the art, only at MOMA could they hang Edward Hoppers and George O'Keefes in the elevator landings!

Gift store at MOMA and the Design Store across the street, packed and busy.

From there down to Rockefeller Center, see tree, ice rink, and its packed too. Up 5th Avenue to 58th, Bergdorf Goodman has really neat Christmas windows, stores are packed, 5th Avenue is wall to wall people, and this is about 2:30 on a Friday afternoon. People walking and texting, yapping on phones, about 1/3 of the people have white earphone cords running down their necks, must be the way that the government controls people (just kidding, I know its iPods/iPhones)! Back to hotel, grab a sandwich at Stage Deli (split it and still couldn't finish), back to hotel, and then Mom and I decide to head back to Bergdorf Goodman and look at lingerie and robes (were going to try to go back to the Linen store but don't try to catch a cab at 5:15 on a Friday), come back to hotel with on sale nice pink English cotton robe and nightshirt that Mom loves.

Took only a few pictures, its a little much manipulating Mom and assisting with the walking, purses, camera, and with all the people you don't want to lose anything. Then when I wanted to take a couple of pictures at St. Patricks, guess what, dead batteries. And there were about as many people at St. Patricks as there were at Rockefeller Center, and everyone it seems had a camera and everyone is jockeying for position; made me think and wonder if cameras everywhere has led to an increase in rudeness over the last years.

More later and there will be pictures!

Mom eating on plane!

Just a quickie...Mountains from high above

Perhaps a Blessed Trip? read on!

so i figured what the heck I'd try the online checkin thing, since we're flying in the front of the plane....so then I looked at the seat assignments and lo and behold the first row was open so quick like a bunny I snagged them, cool! And printed the boarding passes too! Bingo, front row of Business Elite (f0r the first and last time me thinks!), I'll let you know how it is!

Then I looked and if I told them how many bags would be checked...so I did, and now we drive up to the curbside check at SFO and drop the bags and then go park the car in the International Terminal Parking to save some $$$ and not have to shuttle the bags and us on the trolley on the Air Train or whatever its called. We'll see how the drive and timing goes in the morning as to where we park the Snaab!

More later from NYC!

This is a video test

to make sure I can do this!

One more test drive!

Mom at the Lone Cypress Pebble Beach CA!

one more test drive!

let's try this one:

Raining on the Central Coast

Let's hope its not so bad at SFO on Thursday since SFO can get really backed up when it goes IFR.

First Blog!

Here's the First one before we're off to NYC! More to come!