I'm in a New York State of Mind: My 9-12 Story

Ground Zero

I must admit, the first thing we wanted to do, were drawn to do, as soon as we got to NYC was to visit and pay homage to ground zero. We wanted to walk there from our Upper West Side hotel, on 77th Avenue. We walked with a fury setting a most uncomfortable foundation of splinters on my feet for the rest of our NY visit. But we had to do it, kind of like a pilgrimage people use to do such as crawling up the 350 steps to the St.Joseph Oratory in Montreal. Well, maybe not that extreme, but you know what I mean. We ended up taking the subway for the final portion of our journey, for those who are familiar with NYC, 77th all the way to the financial district is a heck of a marathon!

I was awestruck at the work still to be done, and stood brave and stoic until we visited the firefighters and police officers memorial. The partial sleeves, badges and crests made me cave in. When we left the memorial, Booby asked me if I wanted to visit the Dakota, the site where John Lennon was shot and killed. My answer was an immediate "no", I was way too emotional to add to the drama...

Who's The Real Man?

From the financial district we walked up to SoHo, one of my favorite areas in NYC. We intended on taking a cocktail at a famous Irish pub, The Puck Fair, great atmosphere, the kind of place "where everybody knows your name" and the staff were all from Ireland with the luck of the Irish accent. Very warm and welcoming. Across the street we noticed a social gathering, "ladies" dressed in extravagant dresses and crowns, with hair going on forever, and make-up to give any Avon lady endless nights of wet dreams! I smiled and was overjoyed! Drag Queens! What I love about them is the fact that the best fun you can ever have is with a drag, but the thing I hate most of them is their knowledge of make-up and how to be a "lady" will always be superior to mine. (Sorry the picture is blurry, I'd had a couple of cosmos)

Little Italy

My memories of Little Italy from my 1st trip to NY were much fonder and greater than what I found yesterday. First of all, Little Italy is a drowning island in a sea of Chinatown. The first restaurant, and another grand historic landmark in this district hired 100% Mexican staff. The second restaurant we hit, we were served by a Russian. Nothing wrong with this, but if I go to a French café and the server serves me a café olé instead of a café au lait slurring a "merrrcy", I know I am being duped. Am I right or am I right?

Grand Central Park

Basically, when you pick your hotel on the Upper West Side, you have to spend time sitting and walking in Grand Central Park. What a gem to have such a large territory of green space in the core of such a big city. Grand Central park is loaded with nannies running after young children, joggers, cyclists, horse drawn carriages, people basking in the sun and well, just about anybody trying to escape from the hustle and bustle of America's fastest paced city.

As I sit on a bench in this awesome park, or downtown forest, I realize the United States' future relies and depends on NY women. Why? Because they breed. They have kids and babies and they keep on coming and coming and coming. I've never seen such an amount of young children. Ever! Keep it up New Yorkers, I think it's awesome!

I Spot a Dalmatian

Isn't this shot awesome? FDNY and a dalmatian. Cool hunh? Need I say more?

From tears being shed over firefighters who lost their lives on 9-11, I finished my trip with smiles and giggles after seeing this. Thanks guys!

p.s. I wrote this story 2 years ago. I wanted to share it here with you today because yesterday was (as you all know, as we will always remember 9-11).