NYC (Saturday)

Saturday (Last full day!) I again went to classes in the morning and then we hit the town. We went to Highline park, which is an old railway that is elevated above street level. It goes along the Hudson and you can Chelsea peers and they have really integrated this old railway into the city well. They had big lawn chairs on the rail tracks so you can move them closer to (or farther from) one another, but most of the tracks were gone and it was really well landscaped. They had spots where water would run across some pebbled concrete and you can walk through barefoot. Very cool, why can't Phoenix do stuff like this?

This ended up being our favorite day. We had no plan, which is probably why it was great, but wandered through Greenwich village which we had never been to before. It was such a fun area, albeit very trendy, but still very fun. We were wandering down to Washington Square, a place I'm surprised we never went to before, and we ran into this great street market. There were tons of vendors, and artists selling hand spun rugs, homemade jewelry and leather goods, tons of fun things. We got a cup of watermelon, a diet coke, and sat in Washington square, talked and watched the people.

While we were sitting, a hawk swooped down and pounced on something in the grass right in front of us. This area of the country is so cool. Despite all the concrete, things will grow, and wild things will continue to live here.

There was a group of street performers underneath the Washington square Arch. They cleaned up! They were entertaining but they played on people's pride. They would yell, "North Carolina was the LAST to Give!" And someone in the crowed would yell and hold up money. Then it would be Alaska was the last, and someone else would hold out their money. It was cool to see all the people from around the world here on this spot to watch these no name street performers. Ireland, Spain, Pakistan, India, China, Argentina, England, Navy and Army personnel, and people from all over the US. It ended with one performer jumping over 5 people (they had to give money to be in a safer position) and through his twin brother's circled arms into a smooth somersault on the concrete.

They thanked us for allowing them to do what they do. "Because of you, we can work 2 days while you all work 5!" Funny guys, and I was entertained, but my money stayed in my pocket.

Annie by the monument.

We wandered back to the subway, and found another Financier! I had no idea they had franchised. We couldn't resist, had our last NY dinner here and enjoyed more French Pastries. There will be working out to do when we get home!

We said our last goodbye's to friends, and headed back to the hotel. Again we stayed up too late watching TV, and had to get up early for the airport. 

It's great to be back with our children. Thanks to Annie's parents and Diane for watching our three kids! We love them, but we love to get away too. I don't know when we'll go back here again. I've been to other big and celebrated cities. I enjoyed my time there but I love NYC. NY is dirtier than any city I've been too (Memphis is a possible exception), there is such a crush of people, I inhaled more second hand smoke in the last 3 days than in the last 3 years combined, and I'm tired of hearing F bombs dropped in conversations near me...but it's still my favorite city. (To visit)