Well, a few days have snuck up and gone by while I had lots of good intentions. I was actually planning to blog each day, but here it’s Sunday already. Oh well.

Thursday morning I had a lovely breakfast with my friend Dale and her partner Rabbi Amy. It was wonderful to see them and it was a very nice walk from our VRBO to the area near Central Park where we met.

Later that day we went on the Circle Line, taking the three-hour tour around Manhattan. It was a bit long for Ari but quite informative and interesting. After all, how else can you find out how much various celebrities whose names I have already forgotten paid for their condos along the waterfront?

On the way back from the Circle Line we walked through Times Square, where Ari met Mario. We then went to the TCKTS booth and got 40% off tickets to one of Ari’s favourite musicals!

Don’t judge me – he’s seen at least that bad language on the Internet (of which Trekkie Monster could tell you the purpose), and the puppet sex, while energetic, was sufficiently non-specific that I don’t think he’s going to emulate it for a while … at least, I hope not.

In any case, it was very funny and enjoyable. Several of the actors were from the original Broadway cast, so that was fun to see. The others were very talented, especially the young woman playing Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut.

On Friday morning I gave Ari some down time with his computer while I walked up to Columbus Circle to spend some money at the Whole Paycheck, I mean Whole Foods in the basement of the Times Warner building. Very nice, but holy smoke.

 When I came back we walked back to the Circle Line pier and took The Beast – a speedboat painted a fierce green with teeth, that took us from 42nd Street to the Statue of Liberty in 15 minutes, complete with blasting music and periodic drenching. Given how hot it was, the latter was actually very pleasant. After a brief stop to take pictures of Lady Liberty, the pilot indulged in some figure eights and other wild boat behaviour. I normally get dreadfully sick on roller coasters, but the blast of sea air (and water) in my face kept me in pretty good condition. It was a lot of fun.

Walking back from the Circle Line, we went over a lovely pedestrian bridge over 12th Avenue. I also absolutely had to photograph the efficient way in which New Yorkers park cars.

We concluded Friday with a delightful visit from my friend Margo, who generously supplied us with candles, matches, wine and grape juice. Thanks, Margo!

On Saturday, the weather forecast was for 38C, or 100F. We had planned to walk to Central Park, but decided to stay inside and rest instead. Much reading was accomplished. Later in the afternoon Margo came back to visit again, as well as my childhood friend Eliyahu. We were definitely not bored.

I’m going to stop now, and tell you about the rest of our trip in another post. I hope everyone had a restful weekend and that all is well! We miss the rest of our family quite desperately, although it is lovely to spend time with Saba and Yosefa (who have somehow managed to elude my camera thus far).