NYC

I realized I had better blog this trip or I would never remember all the fabulous restaurants and sights we have been to.  This trip is Ron Jones's last as the Port Angeles High School Orchestra contductor at Carnegie Hall.  He has taken our local kids here every 4 years since the 1980s.  We are here in part to celebrate this as well as to have some fun in the Big Apple.  We haven't been here since Lucas and Matt were on stage at Carnegie in 2005.  Luckily, Lucas has joined us on this trip too.
We got into JFK on Sunday afternoon.  I came from Seattle and Sean from Ft.. Lauderdale where he was visiting his brother.  We took Lyft from the airport to the hotel which took about 2 hours as the traffic was so awful.  We are at the Park Central Hotel, a block from Carnegie Hall and another 2 blocks from Central Park.  We went to Gramercy Tavern for dinner with the Joneses and Barb Maines and her husband Jeff.  No gingerbread, but a fantastic sea bass with lobster sauce.  Dean had fried rice with bork belly.  The waiter was from Seattle and had worked at a number of Tom Douglas restaurants there.
Monday, we walked to Artie's on Broadway Deli.  Dean had a pastrami omlette and I had an egg sandwich.  Then walked across Central Park to the Met and spent hours being overwhelmed by the sheer size and variety of exhibits.  Then we went to Macy's to see their Flower Show (meh) and wandered around midtown.  We stumbled upon db Bistro Moderne in mid afternoon.  It is a Daniel Boulud restaurant.  I had an Old Cuban drink:  rum, basil, lemon and prosecco.  Yummy!  
Then to the Village to Motorino for Neapolitan wood fired pizza at the recommendation of Kevin Tracy.  We had the sopressata pizza.  I easily polished off 1/2 of an 18" pie and could have eaten the whole thing.  Spent the night watching the travesty of the NCAA basketball championship in our hotel room.
Lucas came in Tuesday morning and we headed downtown to the 2nd Avenue Deli.  Best matzoh ball soup and pastrami sandwiches.  The proprietor did Jewish standup comedy.  Our meal was topped off with a complimentary shot chocolate soda.
We then headed down to Ground Zero - the pools are so moving.  The names of the victims are engraved all around the perimeter, including one woman and her unborn child.  It made me sad and angry.  What gave those creeps the right to take all those lives.  I couldn't go into the museum as it would only have made me sadder and madder.  We went to Eataly, an acre of Italian market which is like DeLaurenti's on steroids,
We then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge - truly awesome.  Sadly the weather was so crappy, so we basically got back on the subway and came back to Manhattan.
Last night went to Ron and Debbie's favorite Italian restaurant Montbello.  We went with Chet and Louise, friends of Ron's.  He was the band director in PA when Ron came to town.  He then went to med school and is some kind of medical administrator type.  Great conversations.
Today it's off to the High LIne