I went to New York City to see my daughter Annabelle from Wednesday, October 16 through Thursday, October 24, 2019. It was a wonderful trip. Below is a summary of what I will remember as a great adventure!
Going to NYC, although it is in the USA, sometimes feels like going to a foreign country sometimes since New York is so distinctly different than others places in the USA.
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
My day began at 2:00 am Colorado time. I had a 7:20 am flight out of the Denver International Airport, which meant I had to be at the airport by 5:20 am, so we had to leave our house in Colorado Springs at around 3:15 am, so I was up at 2:00 am.
After Dan dropped me off at DIA, checking in and getting on the plane went smoothly. On the plane, I ended up sitting next to a retired couple from Windsor, Colorado who were going on a cruise that started in NYC and went to Canada. It was their first trip to New York.
After about a three and a half hour flight, we landed at La Guardia. It was fun looking out our plane's window and seeing the city. I was excited.
After gathering my luggage, I headed for the Super Shuttle. I expected to be the last person dropped off, but instead I was the first since I think most of the others on my plane were headed to hotels in Time Square. I met a couple who were going to celebrate the husband's birthday and a mother and daughter who were going to NYC to celebrate the daughter's 16th birthday by seeing Aladdin on Broadway. Oddly enough, I had just watched most of Aladdin, the newest version of the Disney movie, on the plane and it was so good!
It was raining hard when I arrived at our Airbnb on 85th Street between East End and York in the Upper East Side. My hostess, Katarina, met me outside and helped me carry my luggage up three flights of stairs.
Katarina and I visited awhile over the Keurig coffee she provided and I even took her up on the cookies she bought for her guests. Her former guest, who was from Argentina, Florentina, had been visiting her daughter who was going to an art college in NYC, returned from a trip to the MET. She was soaked due to the rain, so Katarina offered her a robe while her clothes dried. Florentina's plane was leaving in the evening, so she was hanging out at the Airbnb for part of the afternoon.
My daughter Annabelle arrived around 4 pm. After we visited with Katarina and Florentina, I unpacked and settled in a bit and then, Annabelle and I headed out in the rain to have a vegan dinner. We didn't realize how strong the rain was, so by the time we reached the Candle Café at 1307 3rd Avenue, we were both totally soaked! (I wanted to take my socks off...but Annabelle wouldn't let me!)
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| Annabelle's Vegan Caesar Salad at Candle Cafe |
Anyway, we did dry off during our wonderful dinner. We each ordered vegan Kale Caesar salad. I added Avocado to mine!
We were both so wet that we decided to get an Uber back to our Airbnb. (It cost $12.65 to just go a few avenues, but was well worth it!)
My clothes were so wet that I had to hang all my clothes in the window to dry off. Even my shoes were soaked and so was my hat and jacket. I was so happy to put on a dry nightgown and crawl into bed and couldn't wait for our next day's adventure.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
It took a bit to get going on Thursday morning, but once we did finally leave our Airbnb with me on my Razor Lux Air Scooter, our first stop was to a kosher bagel shop called H&H Bagels in the Upper East Side. I loved the food there so much, especially the vegan tofu veggie cream cheese. (I loved am lactose intolerant, so this "cream cheese" was a tremendous treat!)
I realized as I was about to pay for the food, that I'd left my money and identification back at the Airbnb because my waist pack had been soaked the night before, so we had to eat fast and go back to get it and then go to the subway and then catch a bus that took us across town to the east side of Manhattan.
We ended up getting to the Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers just before noon, just in time to skate the 12 to 1:20 pm session. The session cost me $35! Annabelle practiced a bit first and then took part in Ice Theatre of New York's rehearsal while I did some figures on the end. I was delighted to get to watch her do pair skating with a young man named Aaron who is part of the ITNY Company.
After skating, we walked to the subway and then went to Chinatown and went to this incredible vegan Chinese restaurant on Mott Street called Buddha Bodai One. We were very hungry and cold, so we may have ordered too much food, but we did enjoy our Orange "Beef" and Sesame "Chicken" and pumpkin soup and wonton soup and rice very much.
We took a subway ride back to our Airbnb and almost as soon as I returned, I went right to sleep. What a day!
Friday, October 18, 2019
Again it took a while for us to get started in the morning, but once we left the Airbnb, we headed straight to the lower East Side. We didn't have an appetite after that big vegan Chinese meal, so we first went to what we thought was the place my Grandma Fannie was born, but realized it was the area where the midwife's office was, so we then headed for the correct address which was 157 Allen Street. The area was where all the tenement buildings were and was very near the Tenement Museum.
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| This is the Tenement my Grandma Fannie was born in on March 21, 1903 |
We were really hungry after our visit to 157 Allen Street, so we headed for a bagel shop in the Lower East Side. The first place we entered, called Russ & Daughters, was mobbed, so we decided to look elsewhere for a place we could sit down and relax. We passed Katz's Delicatessen, also on Houston Street, which had a huge line. We finally found a place we could sit down and eat and also a place Annabelle could study a bit. We finally found a little hole in the wall type place called Native Bean located at 50 Avenue A. Again I enjoyed a bagel with vegan cream cheese and Annabelle enjoyed an egg sandwich.
After enjoying our rest and meal, we headed to the Tenement Museum where we found out we had arrived too late to go on a tour, but we did enjoy looking at the bookstore and seeing the photos there. We must have left the museum around 4:30 and headed back to our Airbnb. It was a long and crowded subway ride I recall.
Once we returned to our Airbnb, we dressed for the Shabbat dinner in a Sukkah that we were invited to at my college friend and sorority sister Lisa Radetsky's home in the Upper West Side. Annabelle wanted to walk there and the walk really was quite fun (I rode my scooter). It was amazing for me to see so much of the city as we walked. We cut right through Central Park and arrived just before 7 pm at Lisa's home between Amsterdam and Broadway near 91th Street.
Lisa's husband, Alistair, took us to the Sukkah and while we waited for other guests to arrive, we enjoyed talking to Deb who lived in the building and to Alistair. Once everyone arrived, we experienced the most wonderful evening and wonderful meal! Lisa had prepared so many wonderful dishes! We got to know two of Lisa's daughters and some of her neighbors and her daughters' friends. It was fantastic. Thank you Lisa!
After leaving Lisa's home, Annabelle and I walked back to our Airbnb at 85th Street all the way at East End. We must have got back after midnight. I remember going right to sleep. Another amazing day!
Saturday, October 19, 2019
We slept in and that was wonderful. The day before, we had stopped at a bagel shop called Tal Bagels and stocked up on bagels, vegan cream cheese, and Challah, so we had a leisurely morning meal at our Airbnb and then headed towards the Jewish Museum located on Museum Mile (5th Avenue) near 85th Street. The museum doesn't charge admission on Shabbat. It was fun to tour the museum.
After that, we crossed the street and went to Central Park. I really loved it there. The weather had warmed up and it was a beautiful day. I really enjoyed scootering there and I even bought a pretzel from a vendor.
Eventually we headed back to our Airbnb. Annabelle took a nap. After she woke up, we ate some of our Challah and drank some juice and drank coffee. As evening came, we scooter-walked to East Avenue Synagogue at 917 Madison Avenue where a gathering related to Ramah camps was happening. Annabelle only saw one person she knew, her advisor when she had gone to study in Jerusalem during her junior year of high school, but we met a view people and heard some great music and ate Israeli food. I especially enjoyed hearing Tzena, Tzena, Tzena and talking to a man who had grown up in the neighborhood near that synagogue. We realized that we had similar memories of relatives who had come from the "old country" to NYC.
We left the gathering around 9 pm. Our walk home was nice and we went to bed. Another nice day...
Sunday, October 20, 2019
At around 10 am we headed for the subway towards Brooklyn to visit Chana, my study partner with Torah Mates. Chana has 10 children and 20 grand-children, and we were invited to an informal family brunch in their Sukkah. We arrived a little before 11:30 am. In May of 2014, Annabelle, Joel, and I had stayed for a week a Chana's home on 4th Street near the Ditmas subway stop in Brooklyn, so we felt very much at home. What had changed was that the kids were older, some had married, and there were more grandchildren. It was so fun to feel like we were part of her family as we visited. I got to shake the lulav and etrog and Chana guided me through the prayers. The whole afternoon was totally awesome!
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| Chana and JO ANN |
Chavi was now married and had two kids. I got to meet Sarah, who lived right next door. Miriam and her husband and kids arrived late. It was good to see Shaul, who was no longer the little nine year old boy I had scootered all over Brooklyn with in 2014. Chana's husband entertained everyone. Chaviva was now 17 years old and it was her birthday. Chevi was now 20, the same age as Annabelle.
It was raining, so in the middle of our meal, the Davis boys-men had to cover the Sukkah which meant it was no longer really a Sukkah, but we all had so much fun. They explained that during Wednesday night's storm, that the Sukkah had fallen down, so not all the decorations were up.
We must have left their home around 3 pm and headed back to the Upper East Side. We stopped at 240 86th Street and bought some food to make at our Airbnb. We enjoyed salad, dips, bagels, and had a nice dinner.
Another amazing and happy and wonderful day in NYC!
Monday, October 21, 2019
We woke up early with plans to play tennis with our Airbnb hostess, Katarina. We began heading toward the Central Park Tennis Courts, but when we were almost there, Katarina texted me that the courts were closed for the day. At that point, Annabelle and I decided to go out to breakfast at a place called The Corner Café located at 1645 Third Avenue. We picked the restaurant since it was not all that crowded. The service and food was great. I had a bran muffin and Annabelle had oatmeal.
Once we returned to our Airbnb, we decided to head back to Central Park to rent bikes. The weather was great. We rented bikes from Bike Rent NYC located at the south end of the park at 71507 Grand Army Plaza. We paid for an hour bike rental. I got a children's bike and a helmet and Annabelle got an adult bike with a basket. We couldn't rent from the City Bike stalls since all the bikes were too high for me.
It was really fun riding through Central Park, but the trail is only a one way trail and we had to stop at traffic signals on the bike path through the park and ride alongside horses and carriages. There were so many people there since the weather was good.
Annabelle wanted to cut over to the other side of the park at East 79th Street, but I lost her and kept going all the way to 85th, so I ended up riding back alone on 5th Avenue's sidewalk and sort of had to either ride along with those who were walking or ride slow. Eventually, I did find Annabelle and returned my bike and helmet. We ended up riding longer than the our we had planned (we started at 2:45 pm and were supposed to have the bike back by at least 4 pm, but I ended up returning the bike at 4:15. Fortunately, I was not charged for the extra time since I got lost.
We got back to our Airbnb around 5 and got ready for our evening celebration with the Ice Theatre of New York. We treated ourselves to an expensive Uber (non-shared) ride and left for Chelsea Piers at around 5:45 pm. I loved seeing the ride we got in rush hour traffic along the East End. It was so pretty seeing the water and boats.
Ice Theatre of New York's Benefit GALA was quite an event. First there was the show, that began at 7 pm and concluded at around 8 pm. Annabelle was listed in the program as an understudy although she did not perform. The show was so very good too. Of course my favorite part was when the guest stars, Zabato Bebe and Julian Duliere, performed acrobatic acts on the ice.
After the show concluded, we all went off to an area of Chelsea Piers that has a bar and restaurant to continue the celebration. Olympic coach Frank Caroll was honored and the entire Hughes family was honored. I saw some old friends there including Frank Caroll who my family literally grew up with when we skated in southern California, my dear friend Diane Agle who has coached many world and Olympic skaters, and Colleen O'Connor who trained at the Broadmoor with me in the 1970s under Doreen Denny just before she and her partner Jim Millns won an Olympic Bronze Medal in 1976.
There was assigned seating for a very fancy dinner, so we got to know one of the show's performers Theron James who sat right next to Annabelle. I had done an article about him over 10 years ago, and he remembered me.
The outgoing skater and performer, Liz Schmidt, came over to our table and gave me a hug. She just looked absolutely beautiful on the ice and at the benefit. It was so good seeing her.
Finally, it was time for presentations and awards. Frank Carroll's speech brought tears to my eyes. He spoke so much about the wonderful history of figure skating. It was also great realizing that the Hughes family was and is just a regular family who are so thankful that the Ice Theatre of New York gave their famous Olympic skating daughters so much joy in their early skating days.
We left the benefit after the speeches, but not before Annabelle got to sample some of the wonderful desserts. We had planned to take an Uber back but had trouble getting one at Chelsea Piers, so we hopped on a bus that was waiting right in front and that bus took us fairly near the subway and then we were again off to the Upper East Side. We must have returned to our Airbnb after midnight.
Wow...another incredible...an tiring day in the Big Apple!
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Although we went to bed at 1 am, my alarm went off at 5 am and I hopped out of bed ready to skate at Rockefeller Center. We had made plans to skate with JoJo's Starbuck's Cool Workout that began at 7:30 am, but we really wanted to arrive by 7. That didn't quite happen since we got a bit flustered on how to get down to the rink once we arrived to a crowd that was gathering for the Today Show, but eventually we did get down to the ice rink.
The class began at 7:30 am, and I think although Annabelle and I were in a bit of a rush, we got on the ice at about 7:35-40. Just before we got on the ice, we saw JoJo in the locker room area, and it made me so happy when she gave me a big hug.
Emily Napolitan, who teaches at Rockefeller Center's Rink at the Rock, had arranged for us to come had hugged and we had seen and hugged usme the night before at the Gala. ,Emily also greeted us and we felt so very welcome.
JoJo's class is really a ladies' coffee club like class that includes refreshments. The ladies that come usually work or live right in Manhattan and get a bit of exercise before work, but also on that particular day, special guests had come including Olympic Champion Tenley Albright's daughter Elin Gardiner Schran , world-renowned choreographer Douglas Webster, world and Olympic coach Audrry Weisiger, and Olympian Emily Hughes. Tenley Albright didn't skate, but was really part of the activities as she watched closely from the top of the rink.
For Annabelle, skating on the same as those greats was not significant, but for me, WOW!
I was also so very delighted when JoJo introduced me to the group. She even gave Annabelle the opportunity to teach the ladies a beginning spin.
We did simple exercises that included edges and stroking, chennee turns, etc, and it was just plain fun to be with such happy people skating the first thing at the morning at Rockefeller Center! Photographer extraordinaire, Robyn Roth-Moise, was on the ice the whole time with us taking photos.
After the class, there was a bunch of group photos and also Annabelle and I had some individual pictures taken of us on the ice at the famous rink. At the end of the class we clapped and thanked JoJo. And...of course, before she left, Annabelle and I got a photo with JoJo and hugged and thanked her good-bye.
We stayed for some of the public session that followed and eventually I changed into my ice hockey skates and just enjoyed skating around as the tourists watched the skaters below.
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| Tenley Albright and JO ANN |
Just before she left, I approached Tenley Albright and told her how much I looked up to her as a child. She was absolutely so, so gracious and sweet and gave me a hug. Of course, I asked for a photo. I also got to meet Tenley's talented skating daughter, Elin and got a photo of her with her mom and with Emily Hughes.
After we got our skates off, I "played tourist" and bought myself a pair of The Rink at the Rock Rockefeller Center souvenir gloves. What a happy morning!
Annabelle needed to study, and we were hungry when we left, so we took a long walk through Times Square towards a bagel shop called Best Bagel & Coffee located at 225 West 35th Street.
The place was so crowded when we entered, but when someone offered us a table, we took it immediately. Annabelle began studying hard while I waited in line. The place had one line to order, which was quite long, and another line to pay, and then there was quite a long wait after paying. I must have waited about 20-25 minutes before we finally got our food and was so happy to sit down and finally eat.
Unfortunately, almost as soon as we consumed our food, the bus person who worked there told us we had to leave since others needed our seats! I told him we just had sat down, but he said Annabelle had sat there a while, and the place's policy was only 25 minutes. I hadn't even begun to drink my coffee and told him we were not leaving yet. He kept coming back every few minutes telling us we had to leave, but I ignored him until I finished my coffee.
Once we packed up to leave, I complained to the management who had the audacity to tell me that we show have waited in line and waited for our food first before sitting down. I told her that we would have gone elsewhere if we had to do that since we came there to sit down and eat. I did not get anywhere with her, so I just wrote a negative review and recommend not eating there if you visit New York City.
Annabelle and I headed towards Chelsea Piers and found a Starbucks near the rink and we sat down, enjoyed more coffee and Annabelle resumed her studies.
We arrived at the Ice Rink at Chelsea Piers around 1 pm which was about 30 minutes before the free ice edge class that the Ice Theatre of New York hosts every Tuesday afternoon.
I can't even describe how wonderful the class was! And...so many skaters, including hockey players, of so many different levels participated! Elisa Angeli, Ice Theatre of New York's Artistic Director, taught the class. We went from each length of the rink back and forth doing various exercises. The exercises we did started out easy and were mostly edgework and turns, but as the class progressed, became harder and harder. The class ended with a series of spirals after doing fairly aggressive back crossovers in circles.
Annabelle looked so good doing all the exercises and I was such a proud mom. I enjoyed all the exercises so much although I did everything slowly.
The class ran for 60 minutes, but there was still 20 minutes more of ice time, so everyone just skated for fun after.
ITNY's Executive Director Jirina Ribbens took part in the class! After the class we got some photos.
It was hard to say good-bye to everyone,
After we left Chelsea Piers, Annabelle announced to me that she was too exhausted to take a subway or bus, so we set up and Uber that took us to Chinatown and back to the vegan Chinese restaurant Buddha Bodai One. This time we didn't order too much food. We had some sort of dumpling for an appetizer and Sweet and Sour "Chicken" and white rice.
After our early dinner, we set up another Uber ride to the South Street Seaport Broadway Discount Ticket Booth. This particular Uber driver was a "bad apple!" He was talking on Facetime during our ride and charged us for making him wait when he made us wait. I reported him to Uber, but it seems Uber will not do anything about it, so I have reported this to the NYPD. I wonder if anything will happen, or this instance will just be brushed under a rug and will this driver continue to talk on FaceTime as he drives?
We had no idea that the booth closed at 6 pm, so we would have left earlier, but we arrived about 5:40 pm, so we had time to purchase tickets. It was hard to decide on what show to go to, but I really wanted to see the Carole King musical, so we got tickets for the matinee show for Wednesday at 2:00 pm for that show. Annabelle really wanted to see the Off-Broadway show Fiddler On the Roof, but we'll have to see that on another trip.
We were going to take another Uber back to our Upper East Side lodging, but decided that it would be okay to take the subway since Annabelle was now a bit more rested. It was still a long subway ride and a long walk back to our Airbnb, and as soon as I got inside, I was totally exhausted and went straight to bed. Another long and wonderful and amazing day!
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Annabelle and I slept in and took our time. We ate the bagels and tofu cream cheese we had bought and drank coffee and had a leisurely morning. We then took a wonderful scooter-run on the waterfront near East End.
Finally, we knew it was time to head towards Times Square and our Broadway show. Annabelle set up an Uber, but unfortunately, we got inside the wrong Uber! When we got out, we decided to just walk to the subway and we ended up arriving to our show just on time. Whew!
Beautiful, The Carole King Musical, was totally amazing. I am so glad we went. I loved every second of the show. Annabelle may have been the youngest person attending, but she loved it too. The time with her at that show is a day I will never forget.
We were going to eat at Junior's Delicatessen in Times Square, but it was so crowded, that we decided to be "New York locals" and go to a nice Kosher delicatessen in the Upper West Side called Fine & Schapiro located at 138 West 72nd Street (between Amsterdam & Columbus Avenue). Of course we had delicious kosher dill pickles! We also both had huge bowels of soup: I had a lima bean soup and Annabelle had mushroom and barley. We also shared a very thick potato latke. The restaurant wasn't crowded at all and was a very nice place to go after being in crowded Times Square.
We thought about taking public transportation back, but instead treated ourselves to another Uber. We arrived at our Airbnb quite rested. After relaxing a bit, I did some packing and prepared for my departure and travel day in the morning.
Another BEAUTIFUL Day!
Thursday, October 24, 2019
I woke up early and completed my packing and just hung out waiting for the Super Shuttle that I'd ordered for 10:15 am, but it turned out the Super Shuttle was early, so I ended up boarding it early at a little after 10 am. It was hard to say good-bye to Annabelle as she helped me with my luggage.
(We didn't have to be out of the Airbnb until 11, so Annabelle went back in after she said good-bye to finish whatever she needed to do.)
It was a long ride to the La Guardia airport since by ordering an early pick up, it seemed that I had to go with the driver to multiple stops, but eventually we did arrive at the airport just before I really needed to be there, around 11:35 am. My plane was scheduled to depart at 1:45 pm, so I plenty of time to check my bags and go through security and get to my gate. I even had time to buy myself a good breakfast sandwich.
The plane trip felt a bit long. I slept a bit, but also watched some movies and did some reading. I loved the Carole King Musical so much that I had added the book to my Kindle and did some reading on the plane.
My husband Dan was at the Denver Airport and picked me up and we headed back to Colorado Springs. We stopped at Poor Richards for dinner and wow, did I notice the cold! It was good to be be home, but wow, I will never forget my wonderful trip the New York City!
