Day 47, June 1, Settling Into NYC

Today's summary will be relatively brief. Having dressed for the day, we went downstairs to grab a quick bite of breakfast. As it so happened, we could not get breakfast in the hotel, so Doug grabbed coffee and a pastry, then headed to the Sheraton Times Square Hotel three blocks away, for the morning choral practice. Patrise walked with him to the corner, to eat breakfast at a diner next door to the hotel.

While Doug was at the concert practice, Patrise went back to the RV in Jersey City, to get additional, critical materials. While she was there in the RV, she participated in a 10am client call. She eventually returned to the hotel room about the time Doug's practice was ending. Patrise had brought sandwiches for lunch back to the room, and she had already eaten her's; so Doug ate his sandwich.

After the shortened lunch, we made our way to the Circle in the Square Theater, to attend a 2pm matinee of a play we planned to see, American Buffalo. We stayed for the entire play, however, neither one of us enjoyed it. We would not recommend it for anyone to see, despite the two heading actors: Laurence Fishburne and Sam Rockwell. After the play, we went shopping for Patrise's birthday present. (Her birthday was May 8, but we had always planned to shop for her present somewhere along the journey. We thought NYC might be a good place; although the merchandise was of great quality, Patrise was not comfortable with the higher prices, so we decided to delay any purchase for now.

After shopping we made our way across town to a restaurant named Avant Garden for dinner. The meal was extraordinarily delicious! We would recommend it to anyone. After dinner, we returned to the hotel and met Doug's cousin William "Billy" Hooker. Billy and his wife Donna are longtime NYC residents. His father and Doug's father were brothers. (Both are now deceased.) The two of them knew of each other, but never met each other growing up. It was not until well into their adult years that they had ever met. Since then, however, they have stayed in touch.

Billy is a career musician, having begun playing with jazz bands and combos when he was fourteen (14) years old. By the time he was a freshman in college, he was playing gigs five nights a week. He spent a good part of his career as a teacher also, and retired from the Connecticut public education system several years ago. Patrise and I learned more about Billy's life -- most people call him William -- this evening, than Doug had ever known in all of the years before.

Tomorrow evening, we will have dinner with Billy and Donna. We look forward to getting better acquainted with the two of them. In addition to dinner with the cousins, our agenda includes a tour of the United Nations, a nail appointment for Patrise, and a dress rehearsal for Doug.

Some photos from today:

(Neighborhood scene)

(Neighborhood scene)

(Neighborhood scene)

(Neighborhood scene)

(NYC has a large fleet of hybrid buses, as the city works to reduce its carbon footprint.)

(Neighborhood scene)

(Neighborhood scene)

(Neighborhood scene)

(Neighborhood scene)

(Neighborhood scene)

(Neighborhood scene)

(Skyline view along the river)

(The United Nations headquarters building. We will visit and get a tour tomorrow.)

(Skyline view along the river)

(Neighborhood scene)

(Neighborhood scene)

(Neighborhood scene)

Good night; we'll fill you in on tomorrow's activity at the end of the day.