Author: Brad (Page 1 of 1367)

The first destination yesterday morning was the waterfront near the meat district. The buildings there were industrial looking.

But they had fancy stores in them, because the area is gentrifying.

Denis had heard about a place called Little Island, which is a man-made patch of land on stilts in the ocean.

The island had parklike accoutrements and some nice landscaping.

The views of the river were expansive and, because of the clouds, dramatic.

But being on stilts was weird, and a little unsettling, once I got a close up view:

We had a late breakfast at an area diner. It was delicious. As we were paying, someone came in and talked to the owner about filming something in the diner. Their conversation was short, and then the person left, so I could ask the owner if that happened often. He said yes – scenes from “The Taxi Driver” and “Law and Order” had been filmed there. Cool!

Nearby was something called The Highline. It is an old elevated train track that has been converted to a walkway. It was beautiful. We walked almost the entire length, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As we neared the end of the path, we saw Stark Tower, the Avengers building.

Then, at the actual end, there a bunch of weird buildings. This was the weirdest one. It’s a spiral walking path that leads to an observation level.

We didn’t walk up, because we had other destinations in mind, and time was ticking.

As we headed to another part of town, we went past Penn Station, and Madison Square Garden (which is actually round):

We also went past some churches. I always enjoyed seeing them.

We had a quick break at the hotel, then headed to the Times Square area.

We went to a musical. I wasn’t sure I should post about seeing it. I had heard it was funny, but it had more crude humor than I was expecting.

Yesterday morning, we took the subway to our destination for the day. The subway corridors are full of mosaics and tile work. I was wondering how old it is. Were the original walls decorated with mosaic, so now they do it with modern constructions as well? This one doesn’t look old-old to me.

Our main destination was the Freedom Tower, and the 9-11 memorial.

The memorials are downward-falling fountains, with names around the edges.

One of them was being repaired, so it didn’t have water in it.

We didn’t go to the museum, but I’ve been to it before, and it’s really moving. Right next to freedom tower is a shopping complex called the Oculus. I think they say that because it kind of looks like eyelashes.

The shops inside are fancy, and I wasn’t really interested in going into any of them. We did eat lunch there though.

Nearby was another shopping mall. It was also fancy, and had no stores I was interested in, but it sure was pretty inside:

A couple of blocks away was a Marshalls. Now THAT I was interested in. It was completely underground. The men’s department was four levels down! Sheesh! I got a shirt for ten bucks! Woo hoo!

The rest of the day was walking around. I LOVED it! It was so fun to look at the people and the buildings.

Look! The Chrysler Building!

Look! The Empire State Building!

Look! The largest Macy’s in the world! (…at least that’s what the sign says…)

Dinner was at a Mediterranean place. We sat by the window so we could watch people walk by. I was making a LOT more eye contact than I expected. I think maybe the rule is that people eating in a window are supposed to look at their food so that people walking by can look at them. Being from out of town, I did not know the proper protocol.

After dinner, we went to see a movie. It was also underground. We saw Snow White. I was pleasantly surprised.

I’m in New York City! Woo hoo!

We went through the Lincoln Tunnel. Cool!

And then, returning the rental car, went over the Brooklyn Bridge.

And then took a subway to the hotel in Manhattan.

Walking in Manhattan was exciting. Something weird was happening – something I don’t ever see in LA… water was falling from the sky. It was so strange.

Of course, food will be a main feature of the visit here. For dinner we ate at a dim sum place. It was so good!

Dessert was gelato. Yum!

And there was enough daylight for walking afterward. Look! The flatiron building:

We also walked through a park. It’s early spring here. Cherry blossoms:

And witch hazel blossoms! It’s been so long since I’ve seen witch hazel. It was so exciting!

I absolutely loved the people-watching I got to do along the way. I can’t wait to do more!

It caused me a great amount of guilt, but I didn’t go to church yesterday. I felt so awful on Saturday night, I was afraid I was getting sicker. I went to bed early and slept late. And felt better in the morning. I think the extra rest was good for me.

I did go on a drive to see some familiar sights. The most exciting one was my old house:

I peeked over the fence a little. The pond is still there, which surprised me a little. I couldn’t see the back yard garden. I didn’t want to knock on the door, so I just walked around front. Many of my old plantings are still there. The redbud tree in front is looking big and old now. It was so small when I planted it. Am I old?

But the main event yesterday was meeting up with old friends from BLS. We met in the lobby of my hotel. It was so fun. So! Fun! I have got to come back and hang out with these people again!

We forgot to take a group picture, but here’s the table we all sat at while we talked:

Debbie gave me some presents – a book in Hawaiian that she found at a thrift shop, and a sticker that is quintessential Maryland – a crab and the state flag:

In the evening, I went to an old favorite place:

It has new decor, and the menu has changed, but they still had cream of crab soup, and it was good. Mmm…

We made it safely to Baltimore. The end of the flight was bumpy, but the rest was pretty good. I tried to watch Moana 2, fell asleep, woke up, rewound, watched, slept, rewound, and finished watching. The movie wasn’t the problem. I’m just struggling with this cold. It’s making me so tired. Ugh.

We landed around 4:30pm Baltimore time, which meant we had some time to do a few things. The airport is close to Arundel Mills Mall, which was a frequent weekend visit when I lived here. The sky was very dramatic.

The inside was full of familiar sights.

After a quick mall walk, it was dinner time. It had to be crab cakes. Yum! We went to G&M, which makes good ones, and is also close to the airport.

They were outstanding!

The hotel is in White Marsh, which took us past down town, which took us past. Vaccaro’s Italian dessert place. Walking through the neighborhood was fun.

And the desserts…. mmmm….

It was 8 when we checked in to the hotel, but it felt like 11. Whew! One more quick trip to IKEA for slippers and Target for milk and more cold medicine, and then it was bed time.

Today, Denis will be going to visit some of his old friends, and I’ll be hosting some of mine here at my hotel. It will be so fun!