Well, we're back from our whirlwind trip to NYC. At least it was a whirlwind until we got on the Cross Bronx Expressway and sat in traffic for over an hour, then got out around Stamford and sat in traffic again for an hour, making a 3 1/2 hour trip last about 5 1/2 hours on the way back. But once the kids passed out in the back seat everything was fine.



We got into the city right on schedule Saturday morning, ditched the car, checked in and were on the street by about 11:30 am. We hadn't eaten lunch yet, but wanted to get over to Battery Park and queue up for the ferry, so we just noshed on hot dogs and/or soft pretzels while we stood in line. Because we brought four umbrellas with us, it never rained. The Statue of Liberty has been closed since 9/11, not sure what they're waiting for to open it up again, as you had to go through metal detectors just to get on the ferry in the first place. Even the museum at the base is closed, but no one is worried about the gift shop and snack bar, as they are still open. It was a little hazy but still got some good photo ops there.



We took the ferry then over to Ellis Island, which I don't know was even open when Beth and I were in that neck of the woods 15 or so years ago. The kids were, not surprisingly, bored stiff by the place, but it was kind of neat, would've been more interesting if they weren't around or more agreeable to the history lesson. By the time we got back to Battery Park it was already 4 pm and everybody was hungry after their non-lunch, so Beth chased us down a cab and we went up to Soho to a little hole in the wall place that specialized in crepes that we got our of the Fodor's guide. The kids were so hungry they snarfed them down without any fuss. Then we walked down to Chinatown to a bakery-type place for dessert. Beth wanted to try one of these "bubble drinks" that has tapioca in it to give it sort of a lumpy texture. Chloe drank some, Justin was repulsed by the sensation, though. Beth tried some weird red bean paste dessert thing and ended up throwing most of it out. It was all pretty cheap, though, so it didn't make much difference.



The kids were now on to this idea of taking a cab places, realizing that we'd been holding out on them all these years. So the whole way back to the financial district they kept asking "can we take a taxi?" But we didn't, so that we could walk around part of Ground Zero, which is now a huge construction site. Having been in this part of New York only once before, the impact of the trade center's absence is necessarily limited, since I don't remember what it looked like when it was there, but the size of the site gives you an idea of how big it was, and walking around the streets brings back all those pictures from tv of the devestation after they collapsed. Some of the buildings right next door are still completely shrouded in scaffolding, one even has a large fissure in the middle floors where they're reconstructing the building from the inside out. We took a few pictures, and spent a little time there, because I figure it's only going to look like this for a while longer, and once the new buildings go up, I think it'll be harder to visualize what it must've looked like then.



Everyone was completely exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, even though it was only about 7:30, so we just watched tv for a while and finally the kids passed out. The next morning I was up and out by 8 am or so for a run up the Hudson Park that goes along the West Side Highway, which is actually a pretty good route in that it's completely flat and there's no traffic to negotiate that time of a Sunday morning anyway. Did about five miles, by the time I got back everybody else was ready to go. It was raining when I went out but was just overcast by the time I got back, so we decided to forgo the umbrellas since they'd been useless on Saturday. Going down to breakfast we saw Paul Sherwen get on the elevator and spoke with him briefly, he was very friendly. We ate at the restaurant in the hotel, amongst a bunch of people from various teams, none of whom I recognized, but could tell by their team shirts and their physiques. Saw Frankie Andreiu as we were coming into the hotel Saturday night, but I don't know if he was there for OLN or for something else.



After breakfast we checked out but left the car and the bags there and walked towards South Street Seaport. By this time the sun was out and it was a gorgeous day. Didn't have enough time to do much else before the race, so we staked out a spot on Water Street, just past the start/finish line to watch the festivities. Went through the tents and picked up some free sports drinks, t-shirts, caps, etc. During the race Beth tooks the kids singly or together to different places just to break things up and for bathroom breaks, etc. The race itself was pretty good, not a huge crowd considering its New York, but respectable. Marty Nothstein finally gets a win, I'm not sure how old he is now, if this is as far as he's going to get or if he's got aspirations for the European scene.



Just as the race ended, almost down to the second, it started to rain in torrents. We ducked into Au Bon Pain at the end of the block for a little while, then when it looked like it was letting up we made a dash back to the Seaport for a late lunch, only to get caught in another deluge. We stood under the FDR for a few minutes, then sprinted through the pouring rain to a microbrewery, where we got sandwiches and the kids got fish and chips and I tried the beer sampler. No more than 10 minutes after we got there it stopped raining and the sun came out. had enough food to tide us over the rest of the day, and got back to the hotel about 4:15 to collect our stuff and our car and hit the road, only to get stuck in traffic before we were even out of New York, but that was a minor thing for what was otherwise a fun weekend. Even saw Tyler Hamilton going into the hotel bar while I was waiting for the car to be brought around. Now if only I'd had a couple of days to recover before coming in here. Oh, well.