Instead of Psychotherapy…How About a Trip to the Big Apple

Don’t judge the hair. It was raining. 

Almost every weekday morning for a year and a half I have gone walking with my dear friend Heidi. I’ve know Heidi since I was 13 years old. She gave me my first perm when I was in the 8th grade. She was my mom’s friend then, and eventually she was my Young Women’s president when I was in high school. I babysat her two oldest children frequently. Those children are 27 and 25 years old now. You can see that Heidi and I go back a long way, but it’s been just in the last year and a half that we have truly reconnected. It’s been exactly what we’ve both needed and neither one of us believe that our reconnection was coincidence.

Each morning we walk and talk…and talk, and talk, and talk. Mike makes fun of us because there is very little silence, if any, when we are together. We talk about everything under the sun, and in the process we’ve given each other some much needed therapy for the mind and soul. In fact, since we have started walking, Heidi has stopped seeing her therapist that she had been seeing for quite awhile. We two know how to work through issues, I tell you!

Being the sweet and generous friend that she is, she suggested to her husband, Greg that she had saved so much money in therapy bills since beginning to walk and talk with me, that she should spend some of that saved cash on plane tickets to NYC. Of course I thought that was a fabulous idea! Because of her generosity and the graciousness of some of my loveliest family members living in NYC, I was able to spend 4 days in one of my favorite places on earth with some of my favorite people on earth.

It was a lovely trip. We walked, talked, ate, saw, gawked, laughed, enjoyed. We soaked it all in.

Heidi has been to NYC a couple of times before, but never to Central Park. We spent lots of time there even though it was raining. I actually think I like it better in the rain. I like rain.

I love how the Bethesda angel is growing out of Heidi’s head, perched like a little angel hat in this photo. Oh, Selfies.

Our perfect accommodations were due to the graciousness of cousin Stephen whose tiny and well appointed apartment in the West Village is always a treat to stay in. Check out his apartment featured in this new interior design book. It’s even featured on the cover!

Of course we visited John’s beautiful store and even the Chelsea flea market where John and Stephen spend many Saturday mornings searching for unique treasures. I found an antique iron door stop in the shape of a Scottish Terrier that I loved and came darn close to buying, but it was heavy and I didn’t want to carry it around the city with me for the rest of the day. Good decision I think. Man you walk a lot in NY!

John Derian’s beautiful store

 
Flea Market browsing

Did I mention that we ate a little?

 
We sampled treats at a few bakeries (a coconut doughnut from the Doughnut Plant still reigns supreme as my favorite), had Middle Eastern food at a restaurant in Brooklyn that my cousin Marc manages (delicious!). We ate some Italian, some Chinese and my favorite…French. I forgot to take a picture of my lovely dish at this delightful eating establishment, so I satisfied myself with a picture from their new cookbook.

It’s a good thing we walked about 10 to 12 miles a day so we could burn off all the excess calories we were consuming.

We spent an entire day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Could have stayed much longer. I love that place! Heidi has been taking a class about Ancient Egypt, so she particularly enjoyed that wing of the museum. I learned some interesting tidbits from her.

On Saturday, a completely beautiful day of sunshine and blue sky, we took a Circle Line sightseeing cruise around the entire island of Manhattan. It was a fun experience to see the city from it’s edges since we are mostly always in the interior of the beast. We went with some old friends, Meredith and Jordan and Jordan’s delightful mom. We met up with cousin Emilie as well. So happy she could join us on the water.

A close-up of Lady Liberty was part of the tour. Look at all the swarms of people there to visit her on that lovely day.

 

This is a terrible picture (I didn’t bring my good camera on this time), but it represents one of the most memorable parts of the trip. Marie’s Crisis Cafe is a bar in the basement of a building in Stephen’s neighborhood. As you can correctly assume, I haven’t spent much time in bars, but this one is unique. Inside there is a red piano front and center. All the bar’s patrons are gathered around the piano singing Broadway show tunes at the top of their lungs. Everyone in the bar joins in the singing with gusto and it’s so loud in there it almost raises the subterranean roof. Every so often the piano stops, indicating that it’s time for a solo. It’s then that one of the waiters or waitresses sings a Broadway hit solo. Such talent! The waiter or waitress then circles the room with a glass jar to collect tips from the audience. We ended our visit there with a rousing rendition of “On the Street Where you Live,” from My Fair Lady. I’m still amazed how well the patrons knew the songs…every single word of them!

Near Battery Park…

There is never a dull moment in this wonderful city. There are sights, sounds, smells, and tastes that go on and on. We ended our trip with a visit to Harlem to see Emilie and family. Little Colette and this delicious baby were the best things of all.

Thank you Heidi, thank you Stephen, thank you Emilie, thank you Mike, for holding down the fort at home once again. It was a great trip. I never tire of that city or the people I love who live there.