to the fitness center, and then his NYC office for the morning. I lollied around the dining room having a leisurely breakfast while gazing out the floor to ceiling windows of the Mandarin's restaurant with a view all the way across Central Park to the East side. To the south I looked at the huge CNN red sign blaring away, and to the north I could see the top of the Metropolitan Art Museum. Bill and I met up at noon to take a ride downtown to see the new High Line.
The High Line is a new NYC park, built on top of elevated 1930's freight train track on Manhattan's far West Side. The first section, completed in 2009, begins at Gansevoort and heads up to 20th street. The second section, completed just last June, goes from 20th to 30th street. There are plans in the works to extend it to 34th street. When Bill & I lived in NYC back in the '70's, one would never venture to this side of town, known as the
Meatpacking/Hell's Kitchen district. At that time it was industrial, full of trucks, cobblestone streets, lots of noise, and shall we say... "shady" characters. There was very little nightlife that most people would feel safe participating in. TIMES HAVE CHANGED! This area is hopping with clubs, art galleries, cafes, and boutiques including Scoop, Tori Burch, and Stella McCartney to name just a few. A French Reality show was being filmed, as well as a new TV series called "The Unforgettables" (due out soon on CBS). After we donned our sunglasses to avoid being "discovered" by the paparazzi lurking about, we walked up the flight of stairs to the start of The High Line, 30 feet above the street.
Suddenly you are away from the hustle & bustle of the city life, and are transformed into a park full of wild native grasses, sunflowers in full bloom, and sycamore & oak trees, birds & butterflies. As you join the other people strolling along the wide path above the city streets, you pass by wooden sundecks, stone benches, wooden lounge chairs, a stream, a wide expanse of lawn, and a tunnel full of vendors selling ice cream, coffee, and fruit drinks. There were many areas where people were relaxing reading a book, children skipping about, and couples sharing a kiss! It was really beautiful, and I highly reccommend you visit The High Line on your next trip to NYC.
Afterwards,
we headed back for lunch in an Italian restaurant with a French owner. We know this as our waiter haltingly told us this in his broken English, right after he dropped my water glass which crashed to the floor sprinkling chips into
my bowl of soup! It was his first day, poor fella.
After a rest back at the hotel, we headed off to the 2011 U.S. Open . We arrived a little late, and missed the women's singles where Caroline Wozniacki played (and beat) Arantxa Rus. We found our excellent seats (remember - it's our 25th wedding anniversary!!!) Novak Kjokovic was playing little known Carlos Berlocq, and it looked like a rout (but in the end, Berlocq managed to get 2 games off the champ...much to the spectators delight!). and Bill was "in his element", so excited to be here. The men's singles was just beginning.
I decided to grab a cup of coffee, and wandered out to the concession stands. Alas, plenty of beer and soda, but no coffee. An attendent at the elevator says to me, "I think there's coffee upstairs on the upper level" so up I go 3 floors. No coffee anywhere, but freshly popped popcorn so of course I bought me a big box! I return to the elevator and the guard there says "Due to security you cannot go down this elevator... only up. You have to take the stairs". I'm fine with that, and down I go only to discover that now I am OUT of the stadium...without a ticket (forgot to bring it), cell phone (why would I need that?), or a wallet with ID (I had $2.00 though...)
So I'm standing on the sidewalk and the ticket guy is saying to me "You need a ticket to get in" and I'm like "But I don't have it - my husband has it" and he's like "No ticket - No entry". Meanwhile I'm hearing all the cheering and thinking Bill must be frantic, wondering where I am. Finally I grab a passing security guy to which I proclaim, "Look at me, I'm just a housewife ...I'm not trying to scam you...please take me in and I'll find my husband who will show you my ticket!" He takes pity on me, and up we go to the Club Level where THEN I can't remember where our seats are???? Suddenly in that big stadium under the lights every seat looks the same!! I say to the guy "Oh I'm over here...well no maybe over here...no that's not right..." FINALLY all flustered I locate Billy, who upon seeing me says, "Oh hi honey, being as this is the U.S. Open, will you make an exception and share your popcorn?" Lord have mercy...
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