Hi Everyone!
We made it safely to New York, and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. It was about an hour's ride, and it was fun to travel through the City and take it all in. We are staying in the Upper Westside, near Central Park. I love this part of the City. It reminds me so much of San Francisco, with lots of fun, chic restaurants and shops. I was here almost 5 years ago with my good friend Erika, so I am having a lot of fun rediscovering some of the places that she and I went to.
The predicted rain held off, and we enjoyed an afternoon wandering around the neighborhoods near our hotel, scoping out restaurants. We also made it to Central Park and enjoyed walking and people watching. We returned to a Japanese restaurant we had discovered earlier, and I really wanted to eat there because I know how much Eric likes sushi, but also because it reminded me of a little hole-in-the-wall in Berkeley that I enjoyed. Our dinner was wonderful and we just had so much fun taking it all in. In fact, I am thinking of creating a restaurant review section of our blog - so it was fun to try to come up with a rating system.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a little neighborhood grocery store. Our hotel room has a (very) small kitchenette, so we thought we'd get some fixins for breakfasts and snacks. As you may remember from previous blogs, one of our favorite things to do is check out the grocery stores in the places we visit to see if we can find any unique goodies. While we were there, we received a very sad phone call...
And so now I ask all of you reading this to please keep our niece Alesia in your good thoughts and prayers. She is just 5 years old, and is in the hospital battling a rare disease called ADEMs. It causes swelling of the brain. She is undergoing a steroid regimin, and the doctor is hopeful that they caught it soon enough, so we are all hoping and praying that she will make a full recovery with no permanent damage. She is in Japan, and we are feeling the angst of being far away. This news comes just a couple of weeks after I received a phone call that my uncle Fred had a stroke. Thankfully, he is now doing well. But it was terrible to be so far from my family and feel like I couldn't help.
I guess all of this reminds us that every day is a blessing. In the meantime, Eric and I are going to try to enjoy being in the City, and we will keep updating the blog with any new information we receive. I truly love and miss all of my family and friends, and hope that you are all doing well.
We made it safely to New York, and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. It was about an hour's ride, and it was fun to travel through the City and take it all in. We are staying in the Upper Westside, near Central Park. I love this part of the City. It reminds me so much of San Francisco, with lots of fun, chic restaurants and shops. I was here almost 5 years ago with my good friend Erika, so I am having a lot of fun rediscovering some of the places that she and I went to.
The predicted rain held off, and we enjoyed an afternoon wandering around the neighborhoods near our hotel, scoping out restaurants. We also made it to Central Park and enjoyed walking and people watching. We returned to a Japanese restaurant we had discovered earlier, and I really wanted to eat there because I know how much Eric likes sushi, but also because it reminded me of a little hole-in-the-wall in Berkeley that I enjoyed. Our dinner was wonderful and we just had so much fun taking it all in. In fact, I am thinking of creating a restaurant review section of our blog - so it was fun to try to come up with a rating system.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a little neighborhood grocery store. Our hotel room has a (very) small kitchenette, so we thought we'd get some fixins for breakfasts and snacks. As you may remember from previous blogs, one of our favorite things to do is check out the grocery stores in the places we visit to see if we can find any unique goodies. While we were there, we received a very sad phone call...
And so now I ask all of you reading this to please keep our niece Alesia in your good thoughts and prayers. She is just 5 years old, and is in the hospital battling a rare disease called ADEMs. It causes swelling of the brain. She is undergoing a steroid regimin, and the doctor is hopeful that they caught it soon enough, so we are all hoping and praying that she will make a full recovery with no permanent damage. She is in Japan, and we are feeling the angst of being far away. This news comes just a couple of weeks after I received a phone call that my uncle Fred had a stroke. Thankfully, he is now doing well. But it was terrible to be so far from my family and feel like I couldn't help.
I guess all of this reminds us that every day is a blessing. In the meantime, Eric and I are going to try to enjoy being in the City, and we will keep updating the blog with any new information we receive. I truly love and miss all of my family and friends, and hope that you are all doing well.
