The New Yorker Way

Bill and I had a day to spend with each other. We decided lets go to the City and visit the Met and I really wanted to see the JW Turner collection. It couldn't of been a more beautiful day. The sky was blue the sun was out and our moods were spirited. After all it was 1o am and we had a lot of energy for middle aged persons. At any rate we take the train from South Norwalk to Grand Central and we decide to walk 40 blocks, instead of taking the subway. Okay, so that may be a lot . But it was so fun. I love the smells and the noises of the city. The smell of side walk venders, the pretzels and the hot dogs and the sausages. Need I say more. Oh what day. As we were walking up Avenue of Americas and then we decided to move over to go up 5th avenue and I got this wonderful shot as I passed Central Park. Oh we even passed the Central Park Zoo and I realized we could have went there for free because we have a family membership at the Bronx Zoo. Oh well, another missed opportunity to be found on another day. Look at this awesome picture. I must say I am one proud mama.
So we get to the Museum and on the sidewalks on our approach are all the art venders. These venders are there selling the stuff everyday. Maybe one of the days I will bid sympathy to one of these venders and actually buy something. So in a distance I see the museum and I am actually excited. One, because I love this place, two, because I'm really hot from walking 40 blocks, and three, I am a bit tired. So much for the energizer bunny in me, now I could use a motorized wheelchair. Here is my view of the giant sign of the exhibit that will be featured for the next 2 months.

The Turner Collection was ever so amazing and was well worth the walk of 40 blocks. Thrown in for an extra bonus for us was some wonderful black and white photography exhibits by other talent. But I must say the Turner collection was breathtaking. Turner is a British landscape artist who had the amazing talent of capturing moonlight, sunlight and all the shadows and bursts of light that come with reality of life. I have seen a few of his paintings before and I have always wished I could see his whole collection someday. Bill who didn't know much about Turner was instantly a fan and in for big surprise. The historical stuff he painted and the stories he protrayed were just what the imagination ordered. My only disappointment was his dogs in the pictures. This may sound a bit crazy but they all looked like they were malnutritioned. Go figure. It reminded me of some pictures I have seen of the sick looking dogs in the burial grounds in Belize City, Belize. Also among Turners collections are his 2 trips to Italy. Venice and Rome are included in the collection. Oh that made my day.

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So we are done at the MET and we decide to take a Taxi cab back to eat near Grand Central. We flag down a taxi cab and some one cuts right in front of us like we weren't standing there. It's always a treat not to be noticed on purpose. So we jumped into the next cab. And low and behold finally after the last 2 trips into NYC we get a friendly taxi cab driver. He asked us about everything, including politics and I was wondering if the question he asked about who we liked for president was trick question. I am now wondering about whatever we answer, will the meter go up faster. Or will he dump us off in a bad section Harlem. Well at anyrate, I declined to answer, but my wonderful companion for the day, Bill chimed in. I now was having mental talks with myself. Saying in my head, "Don't worry Lori, not everyone is passionate about these candidates, it will be okay." Quite surprisingly the driver was on the same page with us. Hmm, friendly taxi driver on the same page is an extra perk for the making of a most perfect day in the city. He lets us off and we exchange addresses and invite him for dinner on Monday, (not really, just kidding). And we are off for the food adventure in the city which could be an adventure all by itself. So we start browsing some of the menu's on the windows outside. So if we even decide to get hamburgers I'm not paying 20 bucks for one. So we find this little Irish pub that is right near Grand Central. Plus it was fairly empty. Not really sure if this was a good sign or a bad sign but considering it was only around 3ish in the afternoon, I was not too concerned. We eat and the food was great, the service was rather slow, although after glancing over at the bar, I realized why. The waitress we had and the bartender were doing shots, okay, we should be happy that we even got our meals. So we are sitting in the restaurant and now I am eagerly awaiting the next part of my New York experience. Which I have not wrote about yet. My idea was let's pay alot of money for Met's tickets and take the 7 train to Shea from Grand Central. Now that is totally being a New Yorker. How cool is this. I had the best idea of all. I'm glad my brain is still working and I have these great brainstorms. So we hop on the 7 train.

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So we are on the 7 train and it tooks us about 30 minutes to get to Flushing. One of the reasons I wanted to go to Shea Stadium was because this will be this ballparks last year. I have some fond memories and some sad memories of this stadium and so I am a bit on the sentimental side when it comes to the New York Mets and this stadium. Now at the end of this season the old outdated stadium will be torn down for the new Citi Field. So I have seen this park in all kinds of circumstances even when we were sharing it with Yankees and the Jets. And we always came by car to the stadium and I could remember as we would drive over the Whitestone Bridge anticipating as a little girl those funky Shea stadium colors, orange and blue. So I could remember always wondering what it was like to be a true New Yorker and take the 7 train to the stadium and so we did it. When we arrived we started through the turnstyles to an open stairway and this was my view of the stadium, my last view, maybe.

And this will be it's replacement below. The new stadium called "Citi field" It is beautiful. In my mind I kept thinking will I even be able to afford this whole event ever again. Will I be able to take my grandson to his first ballgame here. So check out the new masterpiece.
So I got my tickets through stub hub the day before and I wanted the 1st base side right over the Mets dugout. Oh I did it again, what awesome seats. Oh I so wish I had my other camera. Why do I do this to myself everytime. Here our some of my memories of the night. Including a up close and personal with Mr. Met himself. From the national anthem to the Mets winning the game it was my perfect storybook ending to a "New Yorker Way" kind of day.