I I’ll have what she’s having

Today, we started out with a visit to the 9/11 museum.  It sits between two large, square fountains that occupy the space from which the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood.  The exhibits were downstairs from the main building entrance, and everything was dark and appropriately somber.  The 9/11 museum is sad, but it’s very well done.  It is both excellent and horrible, as you may expect.  We worked our way through the exhibits, spending more time in the one about he hunt for Bin Laden and less time in the utterly depressing one where they talked about the people who were lost.  To me, the one most striking exhibit to honor the dead was an art installation featuring square watercolor panels, all in unique shades of blue.  There was one square panel for each person lost that day, and the idea was to capture every individual’s perception of the color of the sky that morning.  It was a lot to take in, but a necessary stop on any New York City trip.  I was a first year teacher when that happened.  Cas was working in Detroit.  Anyone who was around then knows what he or she was doing that day, that’s for sure.  

Still, we worked our way through the exhibits and went outside to see the beautiful fountains.  After that, it was nearly lunchtime.  For that, we took a trip to the famed Katz’s Deli.  This is a New York legend, most famously (to my mind), where Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal shared a very funny scene in When Harry Met Sally.  

We ordered one sandwich to split- a classic- the famed pastrami on rye.  Here’s what half of it looks like.  

It was perfect.  And as a bonus, Cas let me have all of the pickles.  What a guy!  Also, he doesn’t care for pickles, but still, what a guy!  

On the way to Katz’s, we saw three things that were somehow on my mental must-see list.  As we headed for the subway, we saw a young guy vault over the entry turnstile with the grace of an Olympic gymnast.  After we were on the subway, there was a man on the subway car playing violin, and another man on the street effortlessly hailed a cab.  I think I could do it right if I tried, but folks from around here seem to proceed with the fluid motion of breathing in and out.  

Next on the agenda was the horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park.  We arrived at the spot where we were to meet up with the horse and driver, and we were introduced to Josh the tour guide and Lucky Sam the horse.  They were both great, though Josh was a bit more talkative.  He had a big personality, and he seemed pretty sharp.  (Josh, not the horse.)

The horse and carriage ride was very cool.  We are truly doing the tourist-ey-ist things we can conjure, but it’s all right.  The tourism industry in general seems happy to oblige.  We had to reschedule tonight’s dinner with Cas’ friend Scott, so we’re doing more tourist stuff tonight.  We start with dinner in Chinatown, then we’re really thinking hard about a double decker, open top tour bus.  I’m into it.  It sounds fun, and if it’s at all embarrassing to do stuff that corny, no worries, we don’t live here!  

Anyhow, that’s it for now, but enjoy these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2sYnZaQSheDb6sfJ6