I [heart] NY

Greetings from Croton on Hudson, NY. 33 miles north of Grand Central Terminal, NYC. It's been a fantastic long weekend. I can't BELIEVE all that we've seen. The first two days brought drizzle, clouds and wind, but today was fabulous. Warm (60's), still and actually some peeks of sun. I'll do much more in-depth posting in the next couple of days, but we've seen  ... Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Chelsea Market (a foodie's nirvana), Staten Island Ferry, a Broadway play (West Side Story at the Palace Theater), Fifth Avenue, Times Square, Trump Tower, Ed Sullivan Theater (Letterman's hangout), East Village (wild!), SoHo (great shopping), Wall Street/NYSE/ASE, Brooklyn Flea Market, Central Park, Grand Central Terminal (I mistakenly thought it was Grand Central Station ... that's actually the Post Office!), Radio City Music Hall, Tiffany, China Town, Little Italy (best spaghetti and meatballs EVER!), Yankee Stadiums (just a brief glance from the train),... And some wonderful food including salmon, two slices of authentic NY pizza (big slices with thin crust that you fold in half), a NY bagel (they don't have sweet bagels here...everything is savory with lots of savory toppings--onion, garlic, seeds, etc, a cookie at Levain Bakery, bread from Amy's Bread, a taste of chocolate at Jacques Torres, ... I ran 10 miles on Friday and Saturday and 8 today, plus many, many hours (and miles) of walking to compensate for my food sins of the last 72 hours. :-)

A HUGE thank you to Kelly and  Ben for their wonderful hospitality, and serving as the best host and hostess and tour guides that we could possible ask for. They're the best!

I'll be home Monday afternoon (my 49th birthday!) and will post when I can. I have sooooo many photos. No celebrity sightings by me, but Ben thinks me might have seen Liev Shreiber and Naomi Watts this afternoon in SoHo, pushing a stroller. Could be! He's also spotted Uma Thurman.

Some things I learned:
1) In NY, as far as wardrobe goes, anything goes. ANYTHING.  Same thing for hair styles and hair color. ANYTHING goes.
2) New Yorkers have been so very friendly and polite. If I were bumped into, a "sorry" or "excuse me" always followed. When running, my "morning!" greeting was always returned. Today on the subway, a lady got on with a front pack with a baby in it. The train was very crowded. Two people immediately got up, and she was able to sit down. At the grocery store yesterday, the lady in back of me offered me the use of her "frequent flyer (buyer!)" card so I could get the sale price on the chocolate chips (so I could make Kelly and Ben some cookies. The clerk wouldn't allow it ... but I did make them their cookies. :-)
3) At least in the burroughs I saw, I thought the city was actually very clean. As I remember it, cleaner than Chicago was when I was growing up.
4) I felt very safe walking the streets. No one bothered us. Everyone kept to their own business.

Until I get home, I'm still Ramblin' Renee ...