Brenda,Bob & the Big A

If I have ever said anything good about tour-guide-Bob, I irrevocably take it back today. Today he decided we should tour on foot so we walked and walked from 8 this morning until now with only one foot-relieving subway ride.

I thought I should start with the most interesting thing (photo above) and then gradually move to drivel so that you can quit reading whenever you want. Why is the photo above the most interesting. The lady is giving her puppy a ride in a stroller and it's not a baby stroller, it's a dog stroller. There is a paw on the front. But that wasn't the best part; the lady let the dog out of its stroller and it peed. What did the lady do? She got out tissue paper and wiped its bum! The look on Bob's face: priceless! How can you beat seeing such a sight?

Then it's highly unlikely that Bob and I would go anywhere and pass up a circus. We went to this lovely one-ring circus that was set up at Lincoln Center. Acrobats, horses, dogs, clowns ... so much fun!

Near the end of our walk (remember that this blog entry isn't chronological, it's random) we went to Zabar's grocery store. Barb H., I really wanted to take a photo of the checkout "cash only" just for you, but I thought it would be a little tacky. Besides, the cashier's name tag did not say "Rose." The store is a treasure trove of olives, cheese, deli meats, and their house brand coffee. You can buy your complete Thanksgiving dinner for ten from them for $195.00! We were more interested in buying a loaf of bread.

We visited the American Folk Art Museum and saw this quilt of remembrance for 9/11. Unfortunately you could step only five feet back from it, so you couldn't get a total visual; you had to scan parts of it. Even then, it is breathtaking.

The people working at this museum were incredibly personable and chatty ... my kind of people.

This morning we got our Remembrance Day service a day early. Our hotel is 30 seconds off Times Square ( we can see a bit of it from our window). This morning at 7 we were awoken by a 500 piece band practising on Times Square. The band was composed of kids from all over New York and it was directed by a professor from Michigan State named John Madden. Tanya, do you know him; he's supposed to be quite renowned. He was on this tall ladder directing. This morning's practice was the only one they had together and they performed at 8. A large flag related to the World Trade Center was unfurled and the whole ceremony was touching.

What else did we do today? We walked a lot in Central Park where a lot of leaves are still in fall color; in the park we visited Belvedere Castle which has beautiful views of the park. I visited the Metropolitan Museum concentrating on the American Wing. It was uncanny how often I was the only person in a room even though the museum was teeming with people. What a way to enjoy a museum - privately. I loved the furniture storage area!