Travel Day: CT to NY

Another easy morning in the countryside. We slept in until about 8:30. Luke didn't get up until after 11:00. We showered, had breakfast (meat loaf and potatoes) and packed to travel back to New York City. It took us awhile to clean and get ready to go, but we were able to leave by about 1:30. Ryan had ordered us tickets online to the NBC Studios Tour, and we needed to be there by 5:00. It normally takes 2 to 2 1/2 hours to drive back to the city, but we made a couple of stops along the way.

We arrived back at Luke's apartment at 4:35...only 25 minutes to unpack the car, go to the bathroom, walk several blocks to the subway, take the train to the Rockefeller Center, and walk to the NBC Studios from the subway station. We almost made it on time...only 15 minutes late, but the tour hadn't started yet. We were last in line, but we got on the tour.

It was an interesting tour. We sat through a brief film history of NBC. We saw clips of several shows that had been filmed there. Then we had to go through security, similar to airport security. We had to give up all food and drink and "all weapons". At the end of the tour, they returned all weapons...but not the food and drink...only in New York. We visited several studio sets; including The Today Show, Dr. Oz, Sunday Night Football, Saturday Night Live, etc. A lot of NBC shows are now being taped in Los Angeles.

After the tour, we headed back to Luke's apartment for meat loaf sandwiches. Ryan and Luke headed back out to scout for shooting locations for a new tour centered around "haunted areas of NYC". They are excited about offering this as an option to people visiting NYC. It will be a night tour of city places with a haunted history, with Ryan showing video images on buildings, in ally ways, etc. If they are not back in five hours, we are to go looking for them...fat chance!

Nicolle and I just read, did email and went to bed early. We have a whole list of things to do, places to see, and food to eat, to be done in the next four days. We will be busy and need our rest.

Love you all and wish you could all be with us.

Lazy Country Sunday

Today is an easy blog.
We got up late, had a little eggs marinara for lunch took a nap, ran into town to see "Hereafter" with Matt Damon, had a little leftover dinner, get ready for bed.
That is pretty much all there is to today.
Luke kept the fire going, it is so nice to lay on the couch and watch the fire burn. He also did a couple of little projects around the cabin. Ryan helped a bit, but mostly we enjoyed watching him work things out and finish on his own.
For those of you that would like me to have an opinion on the show--I won't say much so you can make up your own minds. It wasn't what I expected to see from the commercials.
Dan and Ryan did a couple of loads of wash so we have clean clothes for next week.
Luke is doing his wash now.
Pretty much that is it. A great, lazy country Sunday.
Love you all!

Out in the country, Oct. 23

Another great day in the country.
We are having such a great time hanging around in Connecticut. After a slow morning we got to meet the next door neighbors, Artie and Joan. Joans' brother used to live in this house and she always asks "What are you doing to Franks house now?" A few days ago she said to Luke, "I went to the cemetery and told Frank everything you been doing to his house." They were fun to meet and fun to hear about.
After we went into Falls Village for the Autumn Festival. They close the block or two of mainstreet and have a scarecrow contest. It was great to see some of the imagination of the contestants. Dans favorite was a post with a scarecrow hanging on sticking out sideways and it was titled "Gone With the Wind"
Ryans favorite was a scarecrow that was kind of a wood skeleton dressed in leather pants and vest, it had a cowskull head and the arms had these great peacock and pheasant feathers hanging from it.
My favorite was a spider made out of pvc piping that was so big you could walk under the bend in its legs and there was something in it that when you touched it's head it would vibrate. It was great!
There was a booksale, an antique store/general store and a band playing bluegrass music outside.
After that we took a scenic drive looking at different properties and scenic areas and drove to Millerton . It is a very cute little village that had some very interesting stores in it. A florist shop that had some great orchids and really different things for sale. A couple art stores, and antique stores. It was pretty walking up and down the street.
We stopped at a little lake that Luke and his family used to go swimming at called Lake Wononscopomuc. Honestly!!!! I took a picture of the sign to make sure I got that one right. But the pictures of the trees and the lake are beautiful. I hope I can upload them when I get home.
A quick stop at the grocery store and home to fix dinner. Friends of Ryan and Lukes' came over for dinner with their two children.
Carl is the dad and is a mason and did the stone work for the house. He is helping redo some of the foundation, and last winter put in an enormous rock fireplace to keep this place toasty.
Carls wife is Laura and she was so nice and very fun to visit with. And the kids were Lusanna, girl-9 years old and Kneeland , boy-7 years old. It was an entertaining evening and we talked till about 10:30.
Now we are wrapping things up and getting ready for bed.
We are having a great time and miss you all.

New York State, Oct. 22

Today we had a quiet morning in the apartment in Chinatown. About noon Luke and Dan were doing a quick Financial District tour and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with them. Sooooo Ryan and I did a little more walking around Chinatown. We walked around a few new blocks, went down the street that sells jewelry, always fun to browse around, had a recommendation for a new place to eat lunch (which we had and it was good), and we picked up some fruits and vegetables to bring up to Lukes place in the country.
We left the city about 2:30 and drove about 2 1/2 hours (not including the rest stop we took for hamburgers in a little delicious place Luke has been coming to with his family since he was little) northeast to Connecticut to spend the weekend in Luke and Ambers weekend home here in Falls Village. They found a little building that was built in 1760 and was originally a barn or stable during the revolutionary war, then later, a one room schoolhouse. It had been changed and changed hands many times until the remodeling done recently. Ryan flew out last year to help with it and it has turned out so cute. There are still a few plans yet in the works, but for now it is a cozy place with lots of grass around it and place to play.
We made sure the fire was going inside and headed out for a few more groceries for the weekend. We had a little dinner of tuna sandwiches and chips, sliced dragonfruit and asian pears we picked up in Chinatown this morning.

Dan and Luke are very involved in the 6th game of the Major League Playoffs between the Yankees and Texas Rangers. So far it is not looking good for the Yankees but the game is only half over, so there is still hope (for Luke).
I am going to go get ready for bed and have an earlier evening. I'll let the boys finish watching the game on their own.
Love and miss you all!
Good night my darlings.
Nic and Dan
P.S. Just a little mention about driving through the countryside on the way out here. Once we were out of the city and you could see the gorgeous countryside it dawned on us there was so much more to New York State than the City of New York. There are great roaming landscaped homes. Beautiful farms, horses and fields. Almost every property is so neatly kept and maintained.
And the colors!!!! The beautiful changing colors of the trees made it seem like we were driving into a frozen sunset. And the light in the evening only made it even more intense. Bright flashes of color as we drove by and the golden light of evening made it a moment to remember.

NYC Day Three,

Another great day for us here in the land of many contrasts.
Besides all of the different areas (Little Italy, China Town, SoHo, and the many others) There is also a great difference in the way the city looks, the way the people act, and the things you can do. It is interesting just sitting around and looking at the people. People hanging around, busy people, street venders, food venders, shop keepers, police people, and so many others that are out and about in this moving city.
Ryan went into the office about 11 and he had a lunch meeting so Dan and I had planned to go to the Temple today. We started out late, (mostly because I couldn't get out of bed this morning) and once we were ready we called the cab company Ry said to and it pulled up just as we hit the street. The cab took us around the upper East Side and through Central Park to the upper West Side and onto Columbus street where the temple is.
Yup....just in the middle of a very nice business area, with offices on the other side of two of the walls. Very interesting. Very beautiful. Very small. What a nice time we had. Even though there were only 5 people in our session. Really? Millions of people on this little island and only 5 in a session in the middle of the day? And I don't think either of the other two ladies had been there before either because they each asked me questions about it.
After our Temple session, we walked into Nick and Tony's Cafe for a little bite. We had a little bite and two diet drinks and the tab was 48 dollars. Again I have to say REALLY???? I can't believe how expensive everything is. I may have to cut back on the eating. But what fun is that? We talked about a $5 sandwich and Ryan doesn't think we could even find that price on the whole island.
After our snack we walked down Columbus and met Ryan in Columbus Circle. A short subway ride and we were back in the Times Square area to get tickets to a show for tonight.
We got great seats to the Adams Family. It was very funny, and we had a great time. The stars were Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth(the woman that played Lillith on Frazier) as Morticia. What fun to see something with great Stars in it. We are talking about a couple of other possabilities for next week.
A subway ride home with a transfer, and Ryan ran to the deli for sandwiches for dinner before bed. And it is late again tonight for us. Ryan says we are wearing him out. But this is too good an opportunity to see the city and we want to see as much as possible.
We love and miss you.
Happy Birthday again Josh.
Dan and Nic

NYC Day Two, Oct. 21, '10

We had another great, fun-filled day in the Big Apple today.

We got up at a reasonable hour and had breakfast, visited, got ready, and Luke and Ryan did a little business. Then we hit the streets and started a tour of the West Side by walking through this great Chinatown area to get to the office. We met a couple of the other tour guides, they all seemed very nice, and had an informal tour from Luke as we strolled along the streets. And of course we stopped and had a little lunch in a great place in Chinatown. We ordered a dish called Soup-filled Dumplings. I don't know how they did it but they came in a bamboo steamer and were not in liquid. The soup was in the inside of them with pieces of pork. Delicious!

It seems that almost every nook and corner of this island has some sort of history to it and Luke knows them all.

From China town we walked into Little Italy. Where we Luke bought us a couple of the best pastries I've had and we sampled as we walked along. We went into a bar that many scenes of the Soprano's was shot. Where there was real Mafia history. And there were so many stories as we walked we would never remember them.

From Little Italy we wandered into SoHo, and from there into Greenwich Village. Walking, walking and walking mixed in with the talking. We took the subway to the Bronx where we got to go to game 5 of the MLB play-offs with the Yankees and the Texas Rangers. We were so squished into the subway that I have a couple of new best friends we were so close. And when it rolled and rocked, it didn't matter because we were so packed in that there was no room to fall.

Yankee Stadium was so much fun! Enormous! And it was interesting to be there and get some of the flavor of intense fans being there to cheer on their team. (Also we had a little flavor of sausage dogs in the stadium.)

Ryan said that on Monday night when he and Luke left the game after a very downheartening loss it was a very subdued crowd to be in. Tonight with a win everyone was so excited and happy. I am so glad we went.

After the game we met a coupld of their friends in a little place on the west side by Central Park and visited and had a little dinner.

I love to be on vacation. I don't need to make a plan to go from where to where. I just want to know where we are going from food to food!

Ahhhhh, this is the good life!

I just want to let you all know I love taking the subway. There is something about the smell of the hot engines, dust, metal, and the train rushing along that makes me feel like life is a great adventure. Maybe it is because the only times I have taken them, we have been on great adventures. I am glad I have a few more opportunities to use them before we have to leave this amazing, busy city.

I love you and miss you all!

New York City Sept, 20 2010

Hello our friends and family.
We made it to New York safe and sound. We have had our first trip to Manhattan in a cab, met Ryan on a street corner, gone to a concert a friend from Celines show put together, took the train to Times Square, had dinner at the HardRock Cafe, walked the streets looking around like tourists, and finally had a subway ride back to Chinatown to the apartment Luke and Ryan are so kindly sharing with us.
We have had a crazy couple of weeks getting ready to get here, and are so happy to have arrived and been able to enjoy as much as we have in one day.
Pictures will follow, but I wanted to get something posted before we went to bed tonight.
We love you and wish you could be here with us.
Goodnight my dears.....
Dan and Nic