Mornings

Our weekend is here - TGI the weekend. After another rough week at work, our first full work week since December 21st!, we struggled to get to Friday. We decided on the train yesterday morning that we were going to get out of the apartment and embrace New York this morning. Last night was chill out night with KB-cooked chicken with roasted red pepper sauce, creamy parm orzo and broccoli and higher-quality-than-usual red wine and movies. Craig slept through part II. of the first movie and I missed the second movie altogether!, but that didn't bother me much as it was the Bourne something or other and while I can get into those if I last through the first 10 minutes, I don't feel as though life will stop if I miss any of Jason Bourne's (is that even his name??) misadventures. This morning I was out of bed before 9 and woke Craig not long after so we could get our "early start". By 10, we were walking down 2nd Avenue in search of a place for breakfast. We had discussed a place called Vynl at 78th but weren't completely sold on it (I thought maybe Big Daddy's, a new diner further north, might suffice, until we saw that it didn't open until 11) but wound up at Vynl anyway and would you look at that!, we were seated at the Prince circa 1984 table as shown above. The food and coffee were alright but more fun than that was the rock'n'roll atmosphere, and there are 2 other locations of Vynl in Manhattan, one on the West Side and one, what do you know, in Hell's Kitchen, which we speculated might be the original location.*After breakfast we headed west on 78th to 5th Avenue. We elected today a
perfect Central Park Stroll Day because the weather is milder than typical for January 12 (Happy Birthday to my Dad, by the way!!) and we were bundled enough to keep warm in the shade of the buildings en route to the Park. We entered the Park at 77th and wandered south, borrowing 731 Lexington (a newer NYC landmark skyscraper) as our indication of our location in the Park, but also really just meandering and snapping photos for the other blog site (to be updated eventually this weekend after our Saturday night with Michelle and Al.) We walked the Mall, which we've never done before and which we fantasized covered in a thick veil of snow for a Christmas card picture someday, and we rounded the southern tip of the Park where Wollman Rink is located (unfortunately, no one was skating because the zamboni was ice cleaning).
We continued to walk west and head north along the perimeter of the Park, snapping photos for memories and holding hands and taking great pleasure in the fact that Central Park is virtually our back yard. We detoured a bit on the west side to see Strawberry Fields, which I haven't seen in years, not since a trip years ago to New York with Craig when we first fell in love with all things New York (and I will say this much: I had no internal New York compass back then, and since I have one now, the actual location of Strawberry Fields versus what I imagined - so to speak - its location to be when I had no idea where I was ever when in New York, is drastically different!!!)
It's neat to stand at this memorial regardless of your adoration level of the Beatles or John Lennon. There's a distinct experience of love for humanity that one feels in the spirit of their music, standing here where a guy sprinkles rose petals and mumbles about peace and sways a little to the 60's music playing from a nearby boombox. The memorial is always re-decorated with flowers, cards, peace symbols, small guitars as seen above - it's a pretty cool thing to see when you're in New York, regardless of music connection one may or may not have.*After this, we headed east again in the direction of home, stopping for some roasted nuts and a water. I scheduled an appointment to clean up my eyebrows on 86th Street so Craig helped me kill some time at an interesting old coffee shop between 2nd and 1st on 86th. We had vanilla lattes and then I went to my appointment and now we're home, resting for our evening plans. We're meeting Michelle and Al, our friends we met in Mexico, for dinner at Dos Caminos at West Broadway and Houston Street. It's funny that I arranged to meet them at a Mexican restaurant, since we met in Mexico!, but Craig and I have been meaning to go to Dos Caminos for a while now. They are operated or owned by the B.R. Guest corporate entity which boasts many eateries in the City, but regardless of "chain" status, we've heard Dos Caminos has excellent guacamole. I bet they serve a mean margarita, too. After that, we will hit a couple of bars. Other friends of ours might meet us out also.*I love living in this City, if I haven't made it abundantly clear already, time after time, word after word. Living here is like living in a million different places all at once - it's like meeting a dozen new people every time you turn around, it's like learning an ounce more about yourself every time you step foot in another direction. Times like today where we walk and take it all in are important. Some people might take this thing for granted, living here, but I never want to do that, not if we are here for 1 more year or here for the rest of our lives. New York City is amazing, abundant, admirable and important. Living here is so...right.
Here's to more New York for Craig and me and for everyone else who gets to have it too!**