Good morning Manhattan!

Waking up on a beautiful morning, peering out a window,  I can see the Hudson River.  

 I check in on Facebook to see stories of all the destruction from the storms that hit the Twin Cities last night!  Trees down, power out.  I guess I am glad to be out if town, but worried about all those back at home. I saw mom posting about no power and forgetting about the time change, I texted her to see if they were OK.  They were, she was sleeping...OOPS!

Yes Dad, those are Lox!

John & Joan

Today it is real bagels for breakfast, excellent coffee and off on our first Subway ride to catch the Circle Line Cruise around the island.  We walked to the subway station and bought our 7-day Metro cards, snapped a couple subway pics (I think only a tourist would do this) and hopped on the downtown express to 42nd Street and Broadway!  We stepped out of the subway station and looked up at a different land!  It is bright, constant movement, a little gritty and just awesome!  I love this city!  We hiked all the way down 42nd to Pier 83, to get on board the Circle Line.
We found a fruit stand and Stella took her first bite out the Big Apple!  Docked along side our boat was the  WWII Aircraft Carrier USS Intrepid Museum.  Exterior shot only, it did not make 'the list'.   We had lovely air conditioned seats and could wander out on the bow to get pictures.  The iPad even took some great shots through the windows!   We cruised around the whole island of Manhattan and got to take in the enormity of it all.  From the skyline of lower Manhattan, to the beauty of the George Washington bridge spanning the Hudson River, we got to see it all.   The sights along the way included, Ellis Island, Liberty Island (sadly, both closed due to hurricane Sandy, re-opening July 4th), New Jersey Central Railroad building, the Upper East Side (where you can't be too rich or too thin...I will stay away....), the UN Building, Roosevelt Island, The Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, Mount Sinai Medical Center, Randall's Island, the Cloisters Tower, the Little Red Lighthouse, Riverside Church Gothic Tower, Joan & John's place,  and bridges, spans and spans of bridges.  

Manhattan Skyline

Upper East Side

The UN Building

Beautiful graffiti in Harlem near "Crack is Whack" playground!

Low bridge, high water, will we clear it?

Beautiful girl on a boat!

USS Intrepid

We hiked back up 42nd Street, and Stella has a genetic homing beacon for ice cream and found this ice cream truck for a cool tasty treat!  We gained just enough confidence riding the subway, to ensure navigation errors later!  Stella looks like she belongs...all plugged in!

We stopped at the Westside Market, like no grocery store we have ever seen. An aisle of cheese, yes, just cheese. Lots of fruits an vegetables, and they are much fresher without the added truck or train transport time to Minnesota!

Lots of walking for us all today, but as my family took a much needed siesta, Joan, John & I walked up Riverside Drive to see Grant's Tomb. Due to a recent renovation job, the entire structure is closed off after hours to keep skateboarders out. We will stop back again tomorrow to take a closer look. (We never made it back...first lesson from the book "So Much To See, SO Little Time")   Next door is Riverside Church,where Joan spent many years as a minister and began a counseling center. We got a quick look in the Nave, just before a wedding ceremony was about to begin. We could not even pretend to be guests since the entire wedding was Chinese!  Joan walked me in anyway just to show me the pulpit.  The pulpit from which martin Luther King Jr. gave his anti war speech, and the space which was filled with African drummers and dancers the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison and entered this sanctuary.  I had goose bumps as Joan described it for me saying it was one time she truly felt she was in the presence of a Holy man.

Grant's Tomb

View of Lower Manhattan

 The space where Joan and John had offices is being renovated to create new office space for the clergy. Joan's key still worked so we got to look around the space.  The views are simply amazing. From one window,back in 2001, Joan watched the smoke rising from the fallen Twin Towers, knowing John was downtown at a clinic hoping all was OK.   A bulletin board was still hanging with cartoons and I got a picture for posterity.  My favorite is the two polar bears looking at a lone, sad bear and the caption reads "yeah, he's bi-polar".  (Counseling Center humor!). We returned via the Barnard Campus garden, where I saw a lovely green ground cover I would like to plant. When I return home we can play "name that plant" again!. 

Mille Fueille

We returned and rousted the family for dinner at Le Monde, a little French bistro around the corner.  The French onion soup was wonderful, and the desserts were amazing.  The millefueille (or as i say "milly filly") was especially good!  

After dinner we were too tired to walk any farther, so we retired to the living room, to join John at the piano for a show tunes singalong!  My favorite part of the trip so far......NO T.V.