Day in the City

Today I rode the train with Greta into the city to meet Nadine and start off on our all day adventure.
I got in at 9:30 and called her and she asked where I was.
"Park and 41st," I replied.
"I thought we were supposed to meet on 5th"
"Oh, that's right, I just got here," I said, "where are you?"
"25th and 5th," she said.
"Why are you there?  You went the wrong direction."
We met in the front of the Public Library at 5th and 41st not too much later and so started our day.

We started our trek uptown heading to meet Richie at 11:30 at his new office on 80th street and could do a leisurely stroll on this 60 degree, sunny day.  After a few blocks we stopped for coffee and the bathroom and spent about 40 minutes catching up on what's been going on since we last saw each other in August.  From there we headed out again thinking we probably needed to pick up our pace but couldn't resist stopping in to see the new Uniqlo store at 53rd and 5th

that just opened the previous Friday, October 14th.  Too bad we didn't have time to shop, or maybe that was a good thing in disguise.  The store looks like an Apple store, all glass and a big escalator that goes directly up to the third level.  We didn't have time to see how to get down to the 2nd level and explore what was there.
We got to Richie's new basement office, his previous office on 92nd where he had been for 22 years was inherited by his landlord's children and they wanted to sell the 5 office suite after converting it back to its original 3 bedroom apartment state.
Now we had a whole new area of eateries to explore but today we only had time for dessert since we were having lunch with Aunt Harrie later on.  We went to The Best Chocolate Cake in The World on Madison Ave and shared the sampler plate.

After spending till 1:00 with Richie we caught the crosstown bus through Central Park and then took the train down to see Aunt Harrie.  We got an update on our cousin Bob's marriage which we also heard from Richie along with seeing the link to an article that appeared concerning it in The Chicago Maroon.  We all wish them well and hope that one day we may see our cousin again and meet his new wife.

We had a wonderful chat and then went to lunch at Meme Meidterranean a few blocks away on Hudson St.  From there we went back to Aunt Harrie's for some more chatting and then it was time to go to the 911 Memorial.  Whew!!  What a busy day we're having.  We took the subway down to the memorial.  And I can't say how helpful most New Yorkers are.  At any time that we were looking a little confused about which way to go, some helpful individual would ask if they could help.  Who would ever believe we were native New Yorkers!!  On our way to the site we passed "Occupy Wall Street".

We spent 1/2 hour snaking through the line to gain admittance to the memorial.  Our tickets were for 5:00, we got there at 5:15 and were in by 5:45.  How different the feeling was once you stepped inside.  Very sobering.  Impossible not to be moved by the atmosphere even though there was all kinds of construction going on around it.

The 1% at "Occupy Wall Street" on our way home.

Nadine and I went to a subway station and were happily surprised that we could each get the trains we needed from the same track.  I got to Grand Central and was able to hop on my Metro North train that left within 5 minutes of my arrival.