The Big Apple

I remember when I was 10 years old... Dad, Mom, Brad and myself traveled into New York city for a three day stay. After one day we took a vote to stay or move onto our next destination early... the vote was unanimous and we left the big city in a hurry...

Man have things changed, New York is amazing... what a city, talk about impressive ! Eight years ago or so Mayor Rudy Giuliani took a no tolerance stance on crime, and boy did it work ! we have been walking all over the place.... at 10 o'clock at night we walked about 20 blocks from a restaurant to our hotel and felt as safe as houses... the city is clean... well as clean as a city of 8,000,000 can be and there are kids and old ladies walking around as if they were in a church yard. I like this place, it is abuzz with life and energy and the thing I have found most noticeable is the shape of most New Yorkers... they are all thin... no fatties anywhere, its as if all the Americans left town ! Its not surprising really though, everyone seems to walk in this town... we took a stroll down to Central Park and there were literally hundreds of people jogging or speed walking through or around the park.

We only booked into out 2nd Avenue, Manhattan hotel for three days, its a real bummer because I don't think you could touch sides of this city in a month of Sundays. Either way though, we'll try to get up early tomorrow to get a start on the four museums that I would like to see on Fifth Avenue on our way down to the Rockefeller Center for outdoor ice skating and to see New York's biggest Christmas tree.

Just by the by, we spent last night in Stamford, Connecticut... unfortunately we didn't get to see to much. Although what we did see while driving in and out was very nice. We picked up a home buyers guide and Annmarie joked that Connecticut was a state full of mansions... I looks like a very well to do State.... we were chatting to people today who said that the people who work on Wall Street in New York all have homes in Connecticut.... go figure !

Tomorrow we have a big New Years bash just off Park Avenue, to ring in the new year.... The party is being hosted by some long time friends of Annmarie's... they are having it fully catered in there home with 15 waiters, 10 entertainers and about 100 invited guests. Interestingly enough Park Avenue is probably the most expensive Real Estate per Square Foot in the world... Woody Allen used to be their neighbor..... I suppose we ought to behave our selves !