New York is Rome itself

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Already the last week of September. I always see October as the start of Fall. Can't believe it's going to be Fall. (technically, it already is!)

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We're heading out to New York mid-October. Hurray! Some of the things on my to-do list that we didn't quite fit in last year: walk across the Brookly Bridge, take the Staten Island Ferry, go to Little Italy & China Town, top of the Empire State Building, spend some good quality time in the Park, take my bugaboo to FAO Schwartz (it was closed last year) and eat more signature NY Black & White cookies (last year I only discovered how delicious those are on my last day there). Those are all pretty touristy things, I do understand. But last year I pretty much spent 4 days walking the entire (well, not the ENTIRE) city. So this trip I want to try to do some of those cheesy things - like the Empire State Building. We'll be staying right smack dab in Times Square, again, care of my husband's employer - whoopee! When he travels for work, it doesn't make sense for me NOT to go. With hotel accommodations paid for, why not?

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Last year my son was just under a year old. While my husband was working, I'd take the baby out into the city and he'd instantly fall asleep. I like to think that the whirl of the city was like a lullaby to him. He'd sleep and I'd walk. One day we walked all the way from Times Square clear to the tip of Manhattan. And it wasn't a straight line sort of walk. We meandered along the way. We took the subway back though. I think I would have died had we tried to walk back. My husband and I just loved that city. It was the first time for both of us. He's since been back - but this will be only my second time back. I'm just like my son. I could easily find a bus bench somewhere and fall asleep to the sounds of the city. If we didn't have so many connections here (family that we don't want to tear our son away from) I think we could be very very happy in New York. It's everything you could possibly need plus a whole bunch of stuff you wouldn't ever think to ask for. I will always fondly remember us having dinner with a friend, who also happened to be in town, at Chez Josephine - a restaurant run by Josephine Baker's son. I think we were the only group NOT heading out to the theater after - so when the restaurant cleared, Jean-Claude moved us out of the corner to a wonderful center table and proceeded to wine and dine us with such hospitality and warmth. He even took our son over to the piano and let him bang on the keys for a while. Not sure if I even want to go back there for fear of trampling over this already wonderful memory with one that couldn't possibly be as good. I just don't think that meal could be topped! It was the pure essence of New York!

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"If I'd lived in Roman times, I'd have lived in Rome. Where else? Today America is the Roman Empire and New York is Rome itself"

- John Lennon