favorite new york moment

you know that scene in serendipity when the girl asks john cusack what

his favorite new york moment is, and he says, "this one is climbing the charts?"

well, my moment didn't come until the end of this day, but right when it was

happening, that is what went through my mind.  i'll get there...

we started the day at a little restaurant called teresa's, that we'd been to on

a previous trip and loved.  breakfast was delicous, but the company was

questionable.  just kidding.  but richard was pretty worried about his master's

class and tried (and failed) to get internet service most of the morning.

we then made our way down the promenade to the park where we took in some sights.

i decided i wanted to be one of the sights myself, which is why i wore the brightest

stripes i've ever seen in my life.  good grief.

it was a pretty warm day, so we made a pit stop for some ice cream on the pier.

and then we broke the rules by standing around.

we ventured farther than we had in the past and explored the area between

the brooklyn and manhattan bridges.

and then we trekked into the city.  here we are sweating as we wait for

tickets to the 9-11 memorial.  when i say "we" i really mean me.  if richard

had bangs they wouldn't have been sticking to his forehead like mine were.

i blame the fetus.

we wandered around the financial district while we waited for our tour time.

i thought for sure mr. trump would come out to say hello.  i was mistaken.

we finally got to tour the memorial, and it was amazing.  the fountains were

huge, and although we'd seen pictures and video we were still blown away.

it was really touching, and we got to experience it with people on both ends of

humanity's spectrum:

1. there was a tree called the "survivor tree" that was replanted from the original

plaza where the attacks took place, and when we walked by there was a group

saying a prayer and singing a song that was really beautiful.

2. on our way out of the security maze, there was a man who was clearly upset by

the fact that he had to take off his shoes and he was making a scene.  i couldn't believe

that in the very place where the horrific event took place that is the reason we all have to endure

annoying security measures in all kinds of places, he was disrespectful enough to be a

baby about it and act like that was the worst thing that could have possibly come of it.

people.

after the memorial, we headed for the train and rode it all the way to the

house that ruth built.  well, it was actually the new yankee stadium, but who

cares - we went to a yankees game!  we met up with our friend maryann, and

her travel buddy cristi (who is now our friend, too) and had a gay old time.

i'm aware that my shirt was tighter than tight, but it was the closest thing to "my size" i could

find on the sale rack across the street from the stadium, where we all got ny yankee

swag to wear to the game.  i may have slipped and fallen on the corner out of the

clear blue sky for no reason.  i blame the fetus.

we had hot dogs, of course.

and although it was a pretty uneventful game, we were having a ball.

the game went into an extra inning.  with 2 outs it was up to the catcher to

score or go to another inning.  they played a montage of all of this home runs

throughout the season with really great music that got us all pumped up.  and for

good reason - he hit a homer!

we may have been in the "cheap seats," but the moment his ball went over the fence

and they started blaring "new york, new york" over the stadium speakers, we jumped up to

cheer with the rest of the fans.  as i was singing along, with my friends and with strangers,

tears started coming to my eyes - i cannot blame the fetus for this one.  this is when i thought

to myself, "this is my favorite new york moment."  and even though there are a hundred moments

that i've loved from all of our trips to the big apple, i really do think this is at the top of the charts.

we tipped our glasses to the great bambino on our way out...

and then we went home to commence the foot rubs, where we discovered

that riard had developed quite the blisty on his baby toe.  the price you pay!