New York, New York!

New York, New York...how I love it! I had a great time with Elyse this past weekend. It was great to see where she lives and work.

I flew in Thur. evening and Elyse met me on the bus going into Manhattan. She took me to her old apartment on the East Side, so I could meet her friend Candice. They have a balcony that I could spend all day on.

Then, Elyse treated me to dinner at Sala Thai, one of her favorite Thai Restaurants. I ordered Drunkin' Noddles. It was yummy and spicy!

Finally, we caught the bus to the Upper West Side. Elyse's new apt. is on the corner on Columbus and W 90 st. Way nice...on the 15th floor and a corner apt. so windows with views! The whole side of one wall is a window and looks west to the Hudson River. I can see Jersey!

And Central Park is a only a block away, down a beautiful street filled with brownstone houses. We spent a lot of time in Central park. Friday morning we got up and went to the Good Morning America Concert. Third Eye Blind was performing. It was fun!

We went back that night for the NY Philharmonic Symphony Concert on the Great Lawn. You just take a blanket and some dinner and sit listening to beautiful music with a view of the city behind you. They were suppose to do fireworks, too, but it started raining.

Friday afternoon we went to the Hayden Planetarium and watched "Journey to the Stars" narrated by Whoopi Goldberg (whom we later saw while walking down Central Park West!) We went back after lunch and took a tour of the American Museum of Natural History. It was neat!

On Sat., Elyse had a Bridal Shower at a place on Park Ave., so I went to the Park and walked around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. I came out on 5th Ave. at the Museum Mile and just sat and people watched.

Where the double towers are is Elyse's street on the Upper West Side.

That evening, Elyse and I caught a cab and went down to Time Square to try to get lottery tickets to see "West Side Story"...We didn't get tickets, so we went wandering down Restaurant Row (46th St.) where they were filming a movie (Elyse had my camera and she only got a picture of the old taxi cab, but I saw the actors, which was exciting!).

We went over to the Hudson River and then went up to the High Line. There are some old train tracks that run up between all the warehouses and someone came in and built a park. If you look, you'll see the tracks in between the flowers. Elyse treated me to Gelato, an Italian variant of ice cream. Finally, we went home and order Margarita Pizza :-)

Me on the Hudson River (Behind me, New York is on the left and New Jersey is on the right).

View of the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building from the High Line

We went to church Sunday afternoon. Elyse's new ward meets in the same building as the Temple which is straight down Columbus, across from the Lincoln Center. Way cool! After Church, Elyse took Armineh and I to her work. She works on the East Side, off of York St.

To get to the airport, you catch the M60 on 125th Street, right across from the famed Apollo Theater!