Appendix - Bonus weekend in NYC

After sitting on the Tarmac for 2 hours the inevitable announcement came. "Well folks, we are going to have to head back to the gate..."

Hurricane Arthur managed to block our flight path out of NYC.  For that matter, almost every flight heading south or west was cancelled.  Choices:

1. Head East (Go back to Europe) - tempting..
2. Hang out the airport and hope to get a flight with the thousands of other tired and angry refugees (uhh... not so much)
3. Hang out in NYC !!!

We'll take Door number 3, Bob !

Big bummer factor - The soonest flight we could book for home was for Saturday.  We would miss 4th of July in our hood. Thanks to Brandy, John and Melissa for sending us non-stop updates from the parade, party and pool fun.  Wish we could have been there.

So - time for a whirlwind tour of NYC:

Walking tour through SOHO - with breakfast in Nolita at our fav, Grey Dog (Also best play list ever - from Carpenters to Bob Dylan)

Walking Tours of Little Italy (with an actual visit this time to the Christmas Store - on 4th of July) and China Town (no foot rub this time)

Took the 6 up to Grand Central
Over to Time Square to see the Disney on Acid madness (Jordyn to Minnie Mouse - "DONT TOUCH ME !")

Rockefeller Center

Window shopping on 5th Avenue (starting getting some rain from fringe of Arthur)
Plaza hotel

Central Park Stroll

Bevies at Tavern on the green to wait out the rain

Over to the MET

Back to Grand Central to see Sierra and Lauren and Zoe off on their way out for a camping weekend - had to help them confirm they packed correctly - Check !

Lunch at 12 Chairs in Soho (Israeli food on the 4th of July)
Back to the Hotel for a quick rest
Take the 1 down to 911 Memorial

Over to Wall street

Down to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty

Over to the Seaport to find a place to watch the fireworks
Talked our way past the NYC police to get into a party that I'm not sure we were supposed to be in...

Deb scouted a great place to watch the fireworks (Awesome !)

30+ minute walk back through New York with 3 million other New Yorkers

Watched the fireworks again on the News and crashed hard...

Today its off for a few more sight seeing moments and shopping then back home tonight !!!

Last Night in Cinque Terre

Going for the bulleted list style blog - with input from all...


Murano - lots of glass.  Warning - don't get off the main drag, or its closed down factories with drunk and/or old ladies directing you back to the main drag (known as the yellow paths on the map).  We deleted all pictures of this place...
Burano - picture fest !  Colorful house, colorful house, colorful house, leaning tower, colorful house, lace shop,colorful house, flower boxes, colorful house...  you get the idea
Oh yea - and Oprah endorsed it (notes Cyndi)

Little Red Dots all over our skin.  Hope they let us the board the plane tomorrow.  It doesn't itch, so we have that going for us. No pictures...
Awesome hiking Ex's - Feet not ripped up, Lungs working well
Cyndi is amazingly injury free and mostly healthy despite walking along a 2 foot wide trail with a 1000 foot drop off into the Mediterranean.

 

Jordyn got her day at the beach - Jordyn posed and tanned, Josh and I body surfed, Deb walked the beach looking for sea glass, Cyndi coughed but got better, Josh sat/walked and thought, and we got to experience the Italian time table train experience on the hot platform...

90 year old lady hauling groceries beat us up the long climb to the top of town, and then kept going even higher...  later we heard an ambulance going up the hill. hoping she is ok.  no sighting today - eyes peeled.  Deb thought she just saw her... nope.  Old people here are amazing

We all tried fried anchovies tonight - even Joshua.  Consensus - there still anchovies.  Maybe if the wrapped them in bacon....  Grams - no Anchovies !
Bell pattern confusion laying in bed.  5 chimes at 5 am, 6 chimes at 6 am, 13 chimes at - what ????  anyway, we got up - it was about 8:33 am.  Ken - any thoughts on this one ?  Ok... sitting here during dinner blogging - at 8:00 pm they rang the bell for 40 times and still going. I think the bell guy has had too many fried anchovies.

We are all addicted to the internet (accept Deb - she insists).  We cant have a conversation without some kind of who has the access point password ?  I just dropped my connection.  As the weird bell ringing fades out Cyndi and Jordyn and still trying to get Deb's phone connected.  Deb counted 81 chimes - with a fade out.
Jordyn is in text heaven right now.  California is awake and so is she.  Her phone is on fire !!!! Not actually on fire.  Just buzzing a lot.
Deb has cooked breakfast every day she had a kitchen.  BTW - breakfast in Rome, Tuscany and Venice is - eggs, Pancetta, Roasted potatoes (with rosemary), toast, and fruit.  Accompanied by Cornetti from a local bakery/café and caffe a porter via.
Today we had more Madonna and baby Jesus sightings.  Very common for folks to have these over their doors and Deb has been collecting trading cards as well.  The common theme is that the baby Jesus is quite different and usually not very baby looking - in the Gerber baby sense of the word.  Debs theory that babies were not in public so artists drew on whatever they had. So far we have: Comb-over Baby Jesus, Grump Old Man Baby Jesus, over tweezed eyebrow baby Jesus, Weeble baby Jesus, widows peak baby Jesus, bad perm baby Jesus.  But our favorite is Baby Jesus... Ole'

Wrapping up our last night here on the terrace in Cinque terre with the little old hotel man occasionally checking in on us.  What a lovely trip.  Cyndi just plucked a 1.5 inch hair (mostly brown, so there) from my eyebrow - has that mountain been there the whole time ?  Cool ! What a weird group of people I have as a family.  LOVE !!!!

P.S.  The bell just rang once at 8:25 pm.  huh ????9