I have loved New York City since I was a kid. Part of my love was due to the family that still lived there. I love visiting family. Part of my love comes from the energy I feel in NYC as soon as I am on its streets. It is the sounds, the noise, the buildings, the mass of people walking all over the city. No other place I have visited gives me that energetic rush. I am old enough to remember when most businesses in each neighborhood were locally owned mom-and-pop stores. My grandma would send me to the butcher shop to pick up that night's dinner. He would tell me to bring the package straight to my grandmother's before playing stickball in the street or talking to the girls in the park. I mention this now because that NYC barely exists nowadays. I see the NYC that I love disappear a little more with every visit. So now I go to NYC to visit family and try to find the city that I still love and spend time in those parts of the city. This blog post has the photos I took during a week of walking around NYC. I hope you can see and possibly understand why I still love this city.
Day One
Ridgewood, Queens
Dinner at Joe's Restaurant
My Aunt Maryann & Christy
My cousin Terri & her husband Dom
Me & Terri
We had a wonderful multiple course old-school Italian dinner.
Day Two
I pulled my hamstring on my right leg playing hockey a few days before we flew to NYC. That somehow became a very painful lower back injury. I wasn't sure how much walking I could handle. So we decided to take the subway to Central Park because there would be benches available if I needed to rest. We took the R train to 59th & 5th Avenue. Where we found these ceramic tile artworks.
Central Park, Manhattan
We spent the next few hours walking along the west side of Central Park. And yes, I took advantage of the many benches in the park.
The Chess & Checkers House
Relaxing on the Jim Henson bench
Bethesda Fountain
Hiking in the Ramble
Belvedere Castle
All these flowers were in Shakespeare Garden
Heading out of the park to find lunch.
The Upper West Side
We had lunch here. They have a Southern food menu. I highly recommend eating here.
Back into Central Park
We rested after walking around the Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Now on the east side of the park, we decided to walk through the Upper East Side to catch the subway downtown.
Just what we needed on a hot & humid day before getting on the subway to Union Square.
Then we walked down Broadway to the Strand Bookstore. After that, we continued down Broadway.
Grace Church - Greenwich Village
I love the old downtown buildings on Broadway in the NoHo neighborhood.
Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village
We had to get into an air-conditioned building. We found Pasticceria Rocco on Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village. Not only did they have Italian Ice, but they also had some tasty Italian cookies and pastries.
After we left there, we stopped at the Chelsea Market for a drink. We ended up finally connecting with our friends Cindy, Jack & Debbie for dinner at a local pizzeria.
Day 3
Last night we made plans to take Cindy & Debbie to my old neighborhood in Queens. They stopped at my Aunt's house on the way to Laguardia. We took a Q38 bus and the M train to Ridgewood. We walked down Madison Street to my old apartment building. Then we ate at Corato's Pizzeria on Fresh Pond Road. This is my favorite pizzeria. I first ate at Corato's in 1975 at the original location across the street from where it is now.
I can't remember what was happening here between Deb & Cindy.
After Debbie & Cindy left for LaGuardia Airport. Christy & I walked with my Aunt to the local library and a couple of grocery stores.
Day Four
We spent about three hours with our friend Marie Roberts at her artist loft at Union Square. It was so good to spend time seeing her wonderful art and talking about so many different topics. Somehow we talked so much I never took any pictures. Marie has been so inspirational to me ever since I met her in 2010. It is no wonder that everyone in Coney Island loves her. She couldn't join us for lunch but she did give us a few local places to eat.
We chose this place, Pete's Tavern. We enjoyed the drinks and the food. I loved the old-school bar and the fact that it was here 100 years before I was born.
After lunch, we walked around Gramercy Park.
The Union Square Greenmarket
We took the 6 train downtown to here, then we walked up Centre Street.
Wandered through Chinatown and Little Italy.
I think we walked up Mott Street to Houston to catch the F train back to Queens.
Day Five
"Chewin' out a rhythm on my bubble gum
The sun is out and I want some It's not hard, not far to reach We can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach"
"Up on the roof, out on the street
Down in the playground, the hot concrete Bus ride is too slow They blast out the disco on the radio"
Day Six
Manhattan
It took us forever to get to Manhattan today. We walked around for a short time.
Empire State Building
Then we decided to go to Brooklyn.
Carrol Gardens
Giardini Pizzeria
Pasticceria Monteleone
If there is a Heaven, I hope it looks like this.
Caputo's Bake Shop
This day hasn't gone well for us. Bad connections on the subway. The weather is hot & humid and my old man's body is breaking down. So we walked to one of my favorite places in Brooklyn, The Brooklyn Farmacy. It is an old pharmacy turned into a Soda Jerk Ice Cream Parlor. Everything that was good about this place was gone. Robotic staff, you stand in line to order then you get seated. The prices were always high but worth it. Now a sundae is one small scoop for twice as much as the last time we were here. Do not visit this place when in Brooklyn.
Completely disappointed, we walked toward Red Hook along the waterfront.
We gave up on that and decided to take a bus back to downtown Brooklyn. We abandoned that idea because traffic was so bad, it was faster to walk.
We finally made it to Jay Street and took the A train to Manhattan.
Now we have a new plan. We are walking down to Pier 11 to take the ferry to Rockaway.
This is a new ferry service, so this will be a new trip for us and it is a beautiful night to be on the water.
Looking across the East River at Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn Bridge
The Financial District
WTC in the background
Lower Manhattan
The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge leaving Brooklyn...
...landing on Staten Island
Coney Island
The Cyclone Rollercoaster
A happy ending to a strange day.
We took the express bus back to my Aunt's House.
Day Seven
We are on our way to Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens.
But we had to stop to get Christy an Italian Ice
The Queens Night Market is where we had dinner options with food vendors from around the world.
A short walk across the park where Men in Black was filmed.
NYC Parks has free concerts in the parks this summer.
Tonight, Christy, my cousin Terri and I saw MobbDeep and Kool & The Gang.
Yes, we grabbed an ice for the ride home.
The night ended with the Monk
Day Eight
A very tasty lunch at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
We spent the whole day walking around Brooklyn.
These are the things that interested me.
Prospect Park
Park Slope
Another Italian Ice for Christy because she is flying home tonight.
New developments on the Gowanus Canal which still smells awful.
My Aunt Maryann's garden
The setting sun lights up the alley...
...then I heard the Mister Softee truck down the street...
...a great ending to a wonderful day in NYC.
Day Nine
I spent the day with my Aunt around her house. We cleaned up the yard, fixed loose floor tiles in the kitchen, replaced the broken foot-activated screen door closer on her front door, and did what we always do when I visit, we sat at the dining room table with tasty food and talked for hours.
Day Ten
When Debbie and Cindy went to Corato's with us, Deb noticed they sell Corato's t-shirts. When she told her husband Jimmy, my long-time friend who has been to NYC with me several times, he wanted the t-shirt. So I went back to Corato's to get two t-shirts. One for Jimmy and one for me. I had to get one because I've eaten there for most of my life, maybe Jim has ten times. Since I was there I had to have one last slice. Because I'm going home today.
Sure I just had a slice of my favorite pizza but my Aunt has a plate of veal cutlets and pasta for me when I get back. I finished this plate and hurried through a second plate because my taxi should be here any minute.
Just in case you haven't been to LaGuardia Airport recently, it now has beautiful, modern terminals.
