Day 14 – New York to Home - Monday

Our vacation is over and we’re now back home.

Good bye east coast.

It’s been a long two weeks.

That’s snow below us as we fly over Colorado.

Shelli and Em picked us up at the Long Beach Airport and then stopped on the way home so that we could get a Mexican food fix.

Other than seeing our family, this is the best sight ever.

In the words of Dorothy, “There’s no place like home”. 

Thank you everyone for following along.  This was a great way for us to share our vacation with our friends and family and a great way for us to remember our vacation.

Love to all,

John and Robin

Day 13 – Bay Ridge, Brooklyn - Sunday

Our last full cay of vacation and we spent it with John’s family.  John’s brother Bill has been in the hospital since Wednesday but he was able to come home today.  Thank goodness he looks great and is going well. 

The day started off slow for us, we walked around the familiar neighborhood looking for just the right place to have breakfast.  We ended up at a small restaurant called Paradise Diner.  Although it didn’t have that old diner look it had that old diner food and waitress.  She called me “love” the entire time and I was feeling very special until I realized she called everyone “love”.  She had a wonderful Brooklyn accent.  It was nice to sit and have a nice quite breakfast. 

As we finished breakfast we got a phone call with the good news that Bill would be coming home.  We finished up eating and head over to the house.  While waiting for Bill to get home, John’s niece Becky and I walked to the local tattoo parlor, no I didn’t get a tattoo, we went so that I could buy John a T-shirt.  The name of the place is “Made in Brooklyn” and I decided John needed a shirt from there.  After all, he was “Made in Brooklyn”.  Unfortunately it was closed, so the shirt will have to wait for another time. 

On the walk back, Becky and I stopped so that I could take a picture from the other end of the street.

and then a picture from across the street.

This is a two family home.  Bill, his wife Elvira and daughter JoAnne live upstairs.  John’s niece, Elizabeth and her daughter Becky live downstairs.  When John was little, his Mother and her three sons lived downstairs and they rented out the upstairs.  that changed many years ago when it became all family in the home.   You can’t really tell from the picture but the outside is all decorated for Halloween.  I guess I need to do that when I get home.

So here’s some of the family photos.

John and brother Bill

Robin and Elvira

Becky and her Grandpa Bill

Becky and JoAnne.

JoAnne and John (John is JoAnne’s uncle and godfather)

Bill and his sister-in-law Elvira.

By the way, in case your wondering we did have pizza one more time this afternoon.  Then more cheesecake and leftover Italian food from last night.  I am definitely going to have to go back to Weight Watchers after this trip.

We are now checked in to our hotel near JFK airport.  The TV is tuned in to the Angels and we’re happy we’re headed home. 

One more update tomorrow to finish out the trip.

Thanks for hanging in there.

Love you all,

John and Robin

Day 12 – Manhattan to Brooklyn - Saturday

I don’t have wireless in our hotel room so I’ll write this now and publish tomorrow when I have internet service.

Today was our last morning in Manhattan before heading to Brooklyn to see John’s family.  Unfortunately the day started off with rain but we still ventured out. 

The last thing on our wish list for Manhattan was a corned beef sandwich.  I plugged in Jewish Deli on my Iphone (love my Iphone) and sure enough we found Ben’s just a block away in the middle of the garment district. We each had a bowl of chicken soup, John had noodles while I went for the rice.  Yum, it was very good.  Then we split a gynormous corned beef sandwich.  I looked up at the ceiling are realized the ceiling was draped in painted fabric (remember we were in the middle of the garment/fabric district).  It was wonderful so I took a few pictures.

 

Then it was time to head to Brooklyn.  Here’s a picture of Brooklyn as we approached to Brooklyn Bridge.

And a shot of the Bridge.

Got to see some “Fall Color”.  The news says this is the peek but I’m having trouble finding it.

One last look at Manhattan.

We finally make it to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.  Here’s a shot as we approach the corner.  The church on the left is St. Anslem where John’s family went to church  and attended elementary school. 

And here’s a shot as we walk down the block.  His house is the third from the corner.

John’s brother Bill and his family still live in the house.  It’s been in the family since 1938.  Lot’s of memories. 

More family pictures tomorrow.

Hugs,

John and Robin

Day 11 – Manhattan - Friday

Another great day in the “Big Apple”.  We started out by stopping at the hat store we’ve been walking by several times a day. 

It’s kind of hard to see the new hat so here’s a close-up.

Pretty dapper, don’t you think?  It’s made by Stetson and we think it’s going to be his new lucky poker hat. 

Next it was back on the subway so that we could ride the Staten Island Ferry.  It is actually free both ways, which is amazing.  We rode over to Staten Island and then they make you get off so that you can get on another ferry for the ride back.  It probably takes about 1/2 hr each way but it’s a fun ride and you get to pass fairly close to the Statue of Liberty.

This was on our way to Statue Island.

And then again on the way back.

This isn’t actually the ferry we were on but it’s just like the one we came back to Manhattan on.

Next, back on the subway and off to Chelsea Market.  Chelsea Market is located on the street level of the building where The Food Network is located.

This is a shot down the long hall of the market place.

Here I am near the entrance.  Unfortunately The Food Network isn’t open to the public.

Another subway ride and look what we found.

Is that fabric?

and more fabric….

Here’s John sitting patiently (in his new hat) waiting for me.

Here’s the happy shopper leaving the famous “Mood” where Tim Gunn takes the designers on “Project Runway”.  I only bought one piece of fabric, but it’s gorgeous and of course I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it but I love it anyway.

After all that excitement we stopped at Starbucks and then headed back to the hotel for a little rest. 

Tonight we made our way to Greenwich Village for dinner and then back to the hotel to put our feet up.  We certainly have been doing a lot of walking and climbing up and down subway stairs.

Tomorrow afternoon we head to Brooklyn and a visit with John’s brother Bill and his family. 

Take care, we miss you all!

Love and Hugs,

John and Robin

Day 10 – Manhattan - Thursday

We had another great day in New York City. 

I had requested tickets to The View about 6 months ago but hadn’t heard anything before we left on vacation.  last week while in D.C. I got a phone call and email from someone from The View asking if we’d like to attend a taping today that would be shown tomorrow on Friday, October 23rd.  We were thrilled because since it is a taped show we didn’t have to be there until around 11:00 am.  That left us plenty of time this morning to sleep in a little and have breakfast before heading to the subway and to the studio.

We arrived a little early and waited in line with the rest of the audience.  I was surprised to find out that there are about 200 people in the audience.  On TV it looked smaller to me.  Fortunately, all the women of The View were there,  Woopie, Joy, Sherry, Elizabeth and Barbara.  They all looked great. 

Here’s a few pictures from the show.

During each of the commercial breaks some one was always fussing with somebody's hair or makeup. 

Sherry came up into the audience to pass out black M&M’s that were part of the Martha Stuart segment.

Before Elizabeth’s fashion show segment she spent some time talking to the audience.

The couch.

Elizabeth and Sherry getting ready for the fashion show.

We had a great time (even John enjoyed it).  I have no idea if you can see us during the show but we were sitting in the center near the top.  John had a blazer on (the audience guy called him the professor) and I had a black shirt on.

We each left with a Martha Stuart cookbook, a DVD set of season 2 of Mad Men and $100 gift certificate for QVC.  Not a bad haul.  We were told the audience that attended the morning show left with NADA, not a darn thing.  Guess we lucked out.

After that it was almost 3:00 and since we were lugging our bounty with us, we headed back to the hotel to drop everything off.  Our plan was to head to Central Park and the Apple store.  Of course we had to stop and have a bite to eat along the way.  Then we jumped on the subway again and head to 5th Avenue. 

After a stop at Trump Tower for a cup of coffee we finally made it to “The Apple Store”.  This is the mother ship of Apple stores, it is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day and I’m told it is always busy.

A shot from outside.

This is just a portion of the inside of the store.  It’s even more crowded in other areas. 

We finally made it to the edge of Central Park.  I’m still trying to take pictures of the fall colors but I’m failing.  It’s just the beginning of the change and although we’ve seen some gorgeous trees, I haven’t managed to get any pictures.  But I still like these pictures of Central Park.

It’s hard to believe this is right smack dab in the middle of this great big city. 

We ended the day with a drink at Hurley’s Tavern instead of going to Greenwich Village as planned.  We were just to tired from all the walking and activity.  We stopped on the way back to the hotel and got a couple of pieces of pizza (John’s in heaven, pizza just about every day). 

We have another big day planned for tomorrow.  See you back here with another update on our adventures.

Go Angels!

John and Robin

Day 9 – Manhattan - Wednesday

Sorry, I’m a day late updating Day 8 but we didn’t get back to the room last night until midnight and I was just too darn tired.  So here it goes.

We left Philly on Amtrak and cruised our way to Penn Station in New York City. 

with our luggage in tow, we walked about 5 blocks to our hotel.  I just love Holiday Inn Express, the room is very small (all hotel rooms in Manhattan are small) but it’s has lush bed linens and towels.  A very change from the hotel in Philadelphia.

After we got checked in, we headed to the subway, bought multi-day passes and boarded the “A” train for Brooklyn.  Actually, it the first stop in Brooklyn right at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge.  After reading various recommendations, we decided to walk the Brooklyn Bridge but do it from the Brooklyn side so that you are looking at the NY skyline all the way across.  It only takes about 30 minutes or so depending on how many times you stop to take pictures.  I won’t bore you with all the pictures but here’s a few.

This is in the sidewalk as you approach the bridge.

On the wall as you get closer.

Looking out across the bridge at the NY skyline in the background.

It was a warm hazy day but you can make out the Statue of Liberty.

John with the Manhattan Bridge behind him.

Robin with the skyline off in the distance.

More skyline.

Looking back across the bridge with Brooklyn in the background.

We then jumped on the subway and headed back to our hotel for a short rest. 

Off we went to Times Square to have a cocktail at the Blue Fin.  A favorite place of ours to people watch while having a glass of wine.  Then we were off see Mama Mia at the Winter Garden Theater. 

Here we are in our seats waiting for it to start.  Can you tell how tired we were? 

We didn’t eat until after the show but we went to one of our favorite little Italian Restaurants, Trattoria with thankfully was on our way back to the hotel. 

So now we’ve had a good nights sleep and are ready for “The View” later today. 

Love to all,

John and Robin