![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gnomiWhen last we left our heroes, they were headed uptown (waaaaaaay uptown) to Washington Heights to spend Shabbat with our friends Judy and Elan.
We took the A train ("you must take the A train...") up to Washington Heights, and boy was that a quick trip - from 42nd St. to 181st St. in 20 minutes. When they say "express train," they mean it. We found our way to our friends' without a problem and quickly set about settling in for shabbat and the last night of Channukah (which entailed finding space on the window sill for our Chanukiyot (Channukah menorahs - candleabras) to accompany their two. Picture it - small windowsill, 36 total candles burning. Very, very pretty. MAB and Elan headed off to shul while Judy and I changed clothes for shabbat and got a chance to shmooze and catch up - it had been a while since we'd seen these folk, and it was good to get a chance to sit and talk.
Once MAB and Elan returned from shul, the four of us headed down the block to dinner at the home of friends of Judy and Elan. Dinner was a lot of fun, with lots of spirited conversation on a number of topics. After dinner, we headed off to the apartment of other friends for dessert, where we met yet more friends of our hosts. Eventually, we were all tired and we went back to Judy and Elan's to sleep.
We had lunch just the four of us at Judy and Elan's, giving us an opportunity to catch up with them even more, and then we headed over to a friend's for dessert. Turns out that the friend to whose place we went was also a friend of MAB's and mine from when she had lived in the Boston area. We hadn't seen or heard from her in about 4 years (if not longer), so it was wonderful to reestablish contact (and to get updated contact information for her; we'll strive not to fall out of contact for so long again).
After shabbat, MAB and I headed back to Queens.
On Sunday, MAB and I didn't have any firm plans until the evening, so we spent the morning doing errands. We decided that, since we had the time, we'd go out and see the exhibit at the Queens Historical Society of 35 artifacts from their collection (in celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Queens Historical Society). One of these artifacts was a ticket from the General Slocum, donated by the family of a person who was too ill to go on the excursion. The museum, however, was closed due to the holiday (which their tape didn't say), so we headed back toward MAB's mom's house. On the way, however, we decided to take a side trip to Knish Nosh and had some knishes and brought more back for MAB's mom.
Not long after we returned to the house, we headed back out again to meet our sort-of cousin Lisa for dinner (sort-of cousin: her father is my brother-in-law's uncle. She's my brother-in-law's cousin. So she's kind of our cousin-in-law-in-law). We had dinner and then headed - after a side trip to H&H Bagels - mostly so that I could join in this uniquely-New York experience - to Lisa's place. We attempted to watch the DVD of the "Firefly" episdoe "Heart of Gold," but the DVD and Lisa's player weren't communicating properly. So, instead, we went to a really big, scary Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center, where we browsed for a while. After the bookstore, MAB and I headed back to Queens and went to sleep soon thereafter.
On Monday, MAB had a 7 AM dentist appointment, after which we headed into Manhattan to meet our friend Bob for lunch. We arrived at his office and waited for him in the reception area. He came around the corner, saw us, and - spreading his arms wide - said, "Bubbeleh! Boychik!" We spent a brief time in his office and then headed off to lunch. Over lunch, we regaled him (and some hapless stranger who had joined us at our table at the very crowded Kosher Deluxe) with the history of the General Slocum and its importance to New York City history. We talked about all sorts of things I can't even recall at this point, and then after lunch went back to Bob's office for another brief visit.
Eventually, Bob had to actually, well, work, so MAB and I headed back to Queens until we had to go out again to meet friends in Manhattan for dinner. Much fun was had at dinner - the friends we were meeting are long-time friends of MAB's, and the conversation flew at breakneck speeds at times.
On Tuesday, we had lunch with folks from the TEVA Learning Center. We went down to Little India for lunch, where the number of kosher vegetarian Indian restaurants seems to be expanding on a regular basis. The restaurant we'd hoped to go to was closed for renovations, so we went to a different restaurant across the street. Again, much fun, lively conversation was had.
After lunch, MAB and I again headed out to the Queens Historical Society to see their 35th anniversary exhibit. When we got there, we were the only patrons visiting the exhibit, so the staff member present was able to spend a long time with us, showing us not only the Slocum ticket but also other artifacts from the Society's collection - early drawings of the Queensboro bridge, political buttons from Geraldine Ferraro's 1984 Vice Presidential bid, pictures from the 1939 World's Fair, among others - and answering our questions. We were there almost until the museum's closing time.
On Tuesday night, we had dinner withsdelmonte, hatyatoon, stakebait, and others and then the five of us broke off from the crowd and sought a coffee shop in which to sit and talk for a while. This was more difficult than one might expect in Manhattan - for some unknown reason, most of the Starbuckses (what is the plural of "Starbucks," anyway?) closed at 6 PM. So we eventually found an open Starbucks (though it closed at 9, giving us only about 1/2 an hour) and sat and laughed and talked and joked (and sang at least a couple of bars of a number of different songs) until they came to tell us the place was closing. We then all walked to the subway together, with MAB, sdelmonte, hatyatoon, and me heading in one direction and stakebait heading in the other.
Stay tuned for our next exciting adventure, as Boychik and Bubbeleh do two more walking tours, celebrate New Year's with friends, and head back home.
We took the A train ("you must take the A train...") up to Washington Heights, and boy was that a quick trip - from 42nd St. to 181st St. in 20 minutes. When they say "express train," they mean it. We found our way to our friends' without a problem and quickly set about settling in for shabbat and the last night of Channukah (which entailed finding space on the window sill for our Chanukiyot (Channukah menorahs - candleabras) to accompany their two. Picture it - small windowsill, 36 total candles burning. Very, very pretty. MAB and Elan headed off to shul while Judy and I changed clothes for shabbat and got a chance to shmooze and catch up - it had been a while since we'd seen these folk, and it was good to get a chance to sit and talk.
Once MAB and Elan returned from shul, the four of us headed down the block to dinner at the home of friends of Judy and Elan. Dinner was a lot of fun, with lots of spirited conversation on a number of topics. After dinner, we headed off to the apartment of other friends for dessert, where we met yet more friends of our hosts. Eventually, we were all tired and we went back to Judy and Elan's to sleep.
We had lunch just the four of us at Judy and Elan's, giving us an opportunity to catch up with them even more, and then we headed over to a friend's for dessert. Turns out that the friend to whose place we went was also a friend of MAB's and mine from when she had lived in the Boston area. We hadn't seen or heard from her in about 4 years (if not longer), so it was wonderful to reestablish contact (and to get updated contact information for her; we'll strive not to fall out of contact for so long again).
After shabbat, MAB and I headed back to Queens.
On Sunday, MAB and I didn't have any firm plans until the evening, so we spent the morning doing errands. We decided that, since we had the time, we'd go out and see the exhibit at the Queens Historical Society of 35 artifacts from their collection (in celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Queens Historical Society). One of these artifacts was a ticket from the General Slocum, donated by the family of a person who was too ill to go on the excursion. The museum, however, was closed due to the holiday (which their tape didn't say), so we headed back toward MAB's mom's house. On the way, however, we decided to take a side trip to Knish Nosh and had some knishes and brought more back for MAB's mom.
Not long after we returned to the house, we headed back out again to meet our sort-of cousin Lisa for dinner (sort-of cousin: her father is my brother-in-law's uncle. She's my brother-in-law's cousin. So she's kind of our cousin-in-law-in-law). We had dinner and then headed - after a side trip to H&H Bagels - mostly so that I could join in this uniquely-New York experience - to Lisa's place. We attempted to watch the DVD of the "Firefly" episdoe "Heart of Gold," but the DVD and Lisa's player weren't communicating properly. So, instead, we went to a really big, scary Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center, where we browsed for a while. After the bookstore, MAB and I headed back to Queens and went to sleep soon thereafter.
On Monday, MAB had a 7 AM dentist appointment, after which we headed into Manhattan to meet our friend Bob for lunch. We arrived at his office and waited for him in the reception area. He came around the corner, saw us, and - spreading his arms wide - said, "Bubbeleh! Boychik!" We spent a brief time in his office and then headed off to lunch. Over lunch, we regaled him (and some hapless stranger who had joined us at our table at the very crowded Kosher Deluxe) with the history of the General Slocum and its importance to New York City history. We talked about all sorts of things I can't even recall at this point, and then after lunch went back to Bob's office for another brief visit.
Eventually, Bob had to actually, well, work, so MAB and I headed back to Queens until we had to go out again to meet friends in Manhattan for dinner. Much fun was had at dinner - the friends we were meeting are long-time friends of MAB's, and the conversation flew at breakneck speeds at times.
On Tuesday, we had lunch with folks from the TEVA Learning Center. We went down to Little India for lunch, where the number of kosher vegetarian Indian restaurants seems to be expanding on a regular basis. The restaurant we'd hoped to go to was closed for renovations, so we went to a different restaurant across the street. Again, much fun, lively conversation was had.
After lunch, MAB and I again headed out to the Queens Historical Society to see their 35th anniversary exhibit. When we got there, we were the only patrons visiting the exhibit, so the staff member present was able to spend a long time with us, showing us not only the Slocum ticket but also other artifacts from the Society's collection - early drawings of the Queensboro bridge, political buttons from Geraldine Ferraro's 1984 Vice Presidential bid, pictures from the 1939 World's Fair, among others - and answering our questions. We were there almost until the museum's closing time.
On Tuesday night, we had dinner with
sdelmonte, hatyatoon, stakebait, and others and then the five of us broke off from the crowd and sought a coffee shop in which to sit and talk for a while. This was more difficult than one might expect in Manhattan - for some unknown reason, most of the Starbuckses (what is the plural of "Starbucks," anyway?) closed at 6 PM. So we eventually found an open Starbucks (though it closed at 9, giving us only about 1/2 an hour) and sat and laughed and talked and joked (and sang at least a couple of bars of a number of different songs) until they came to tell us the place was closing. We then all walked to the subway together, with MAB, sdelmonte, hatyatoon, and me heading in one direction and stakebait heading in the other.Stay tuned for our next exciting adventure, as Boychik and Bubbeleh do two more walking tours, celebrate New Year's with friends, and head back home.
