PREPARATION
Friday, December 15, 2017
While Rick remained in New York Emmy and I did our best to clean up any loose-ends in Madison before we headed out to meet up with Rick at our apartment in New York City. Our friend, Jim was going to take us to the Milwaukee airport and then stay for a night with his relatives. He was also taking possession of our dogs, Phoebe and Joey, for the length of our absence. This was to be a ploy concocted by a couple of his young nieces to show their parents how good they could be with a dog so perhaps they might find one of their own under the tree this Christmas.
Our flight was scheduled for 4:20 in the afternoon. I like to get there early but then I'm always late so so much for the best intentions. We did manage to get all our bags, documents and dogs packed in the car and remain only off schedule by a slim thirty minutes. Then it happened. I'm a pretty good driver going forward but backing up is not my forte. I heard it. It didn't seem like much. I got out and looked at the passenger side of the car. There wasn't any visible damage other than the "I told you so" from my daughter about the difficulty of backing out of Jim's driveway. I pulled down the street and then onto the highway before the flop, flop, flop of the rear passenger side tire screamed in pain as it rapidly deflated. Time was not on our side as we sat on the highway shoulder debating, "do we go back and get Jim's car, abandon the car with a white flag of surrender on the side of the road or go on another half mile to our tire guy and see if he could get us a new tire in less than the only thirty minutes we could spare" We chose door number three and crossed our fingers Broadway Tire could get us back on the road. Miracle number one - they did.
Since it would just be going forward from here I pushed the pedal to the metal to just short of speeding ticket range and we were off to Milwaukee with a used tire and the wind at our backs.
We pulled into General Mitchell airport with about twenty minutes to spare, TSA approval and luggage with precision rollers that got us to the gate just in time to see that our flight had been delayed, delayed by four hours due to snow in New York. With nothing else to do our cure for airport boredom - margaritas: lime and strawberry.
We rolled into the apartment exhausted and a little wet from New York's spitting tears for all our travel woes some where around midnight to find Rick asleep on the couch. Tomorrow would be another day.
Saturday, December 16,2017
By noon we were all a little better and ready for our traditional onslaught of holiday must dos with the throngs of tourists and shoppers hitting the Avenues of Manhattan on the next to last weekend before Christmas. We put on our site-seeing badges and manned with our iPhones we pushed forward with attitude.
First stop - Soho. Now most tourists wouldn't be thinking dirty clothes and how to get out rust stains but for us the science of cleanliness is a devotion if not a religion onto itself.
The Laundress is for fanatics and want-a-be perfectionists and for us an hour-long dialogue with the sales help about the best tools for the fine art of sweater pill removal.
Window display is a fine art in New York and how better to make you stop and take notice than with live, street stopping performers set up inside with speakers outside. We took the bait.
Emmy had her list of must-sees of her own and she was checking them off as fast as she could.
Topping off her list was a make-up company called Glossier. Its second floor shop was only for those in the know but there were plenty of young girls who had the address written in ink on their hands. The store had a waiting line you needed to stand in, no more impressive than the old Studio 54 days ... only in New York.
By this time the cold had started to set a bit deeper in our bones and hunger had finally raised its growling head. We left the crowds of Soho and traded them in for a new set at the shopping malls at the World Trade.
Emmy was feeling adventurous...very adventurous. She'd never tried raw oysters but felt this was the time to do it. Rick's the family foodie, and of late has been exploring oysters with our dear friend and helpmate Pryor, so he was to be her guide. I don't hate them but I'm not a big fan so I stayed out of it. Le District in Brookfield Place just off of the Palm Court was where we ended up slurping down Blue Points.
We topped our oysters with rich filets, frites and cider. The trick here to get the full impact is to reject the ketchup and ask for the mayonnaise. Oh but this is not your mama's Hellman's or Duke's mayo this is a house made one infused with truffles. They say truffles are better than sex! I wonder?
With the meal over and dusk starting to set in Rick was toast so Emmy and I were on our own to explore as many of the standard attractions we could before our knees wore out and our feet began to blister.
First stop - Bryant Park with its Holiday Market, skating rink and tree.
It was hard to resist doing a bit more shopping but we kept reminding ourselves - we still have a whole lot of Europe to get through!
After Bryant Park we tried as best we could to make the journey up Fifth Avenue to see the windows at Lord & Taylor, Bergdorf's and Saks but the crowds were too much for us. A Saturday night on Fifth Avenue on the next to last weekend of the holiday should have sent up warning flares. We made it to Rockefeller Center and that was going to be the end of the line for us.
We hopped the subway back to the apartment but not without this totally entertaining serenade and impromptu dance routine. Bon Voyage. Tomorrow we depart
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