I love New York!

I love New York. I really do. Yesterday (Monday) and today really emphasized to me the things I love most about living in the greatest city in the world. Part of my current, newly rekindled affection for this wonderful place is the fact that Sara and I recently moved back into Manhattan. Living near the subway makes such a big difference in how we experience the city and I'm incredibly happy with our new neighborhood. I think I've said this about a millions times, but I'm going to keep saying it b/c it's true!

Yesterday morning, I met up with Asher to have Breakfast at the Westway Diner. This is the diner where Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David first met to discuss the possibility of starting a sitcom. The diner in Seinfeld (which is up near Columbia) is based on the Westway. The Westway is at the corner of 9th Avenue and 44th street, which is where Asher and I used to live and which is how we first discovered it. We had a nice breakfast. It was really great to be able to take the A train to midtown in under twenty minutes. It makes such a big difference. I got to midtown a bit early and took a little stroll around our old stomping grounds. That neighborhood is changing so rapidly, it's unbelievable. There are tons of new bars and restaurants that have opened in the two and a half years since we left that neighborhood and there is an American Apparel (ugh) opening up next door to the Westway . . . a little too trendy for me . . .

After breakfast, Asher and I walked around a bit before he had to go to orientation for his new job. I was reminded in an oddly fond way of how much I hate Times Square and all of the tourists that clog it up. Anyone who has lived in a major metropolitan area that is also a major tourist destination can relate to the sense of walking smugly through mobs of tourists with their eyes everywhere but the road in front of them, rolling suitcases in tow. I love rolling my eyes at them and sighing audibly. I'm a jerk . . . I know, but I love being smug about living in NY.

I left Asher at the Paramount Picture building for his orientation and then I took the train down to Chelsea Market b/c I wanted to go to Bowery Kitchen Supply store. (For those of you with a good sense of Manhattan geography, you'll point out that the Bowery isn't in Chelsea, but the store, which originally opened on the Bowery, has since moved to Chelsea, keeping the name). In any case, we are looking for some sort of work table, either butcher block or stainless steel for extra space in our kitchen (extra space in the kitchen?? in Manhattan?? that's right! I love this apartment!). I LOVE restaurant supply stores. They have industrial quality kitchen wares for dirt cheap and I feel like a true chef . . . (God . . . could I BE more pretentious?). In any case, I love Chelsea Market b/c they have great wholesale food markets, etc.

Satisfied with my visit to 14th street, I took the train up to Columbus Circle to kill some time before having lunch with Sara. I stopped in the running store to pick up a arm-wallet. I realized that if I'm going to be running alone for hours at a time, sometimes before it's light out, I should really carry my cell phone and my ID . . . so I bought a little pouch that straps to my upper arm, just for safety's sake.

I walked up Broadway to meet Sara at work for lunch and we went to this great little hummus place on Broadway called Nanoosh. There's nothing better than a Greek salad and homemade hummus and pita for lunch!

Sara and I took the train back up home and relaxed for a bit, before heading back downtown for an evening in the city . . .

Last night, for the second Monday in a row, Sara and I went to the Metropolitan Opera! Last week we saw Ernani which is an early Verdi opera. I didn't love it. The music was fine, but many of the performances were just flat and the story was terrible. Our seats were great though, thanks to Debbie Roth-Howe!! Last night was a completely different experience. Our seats couldn't have been worse (well . . . I suppose we could have been one row further back . . . we were in the second to last row in the top balcony. I've sat closer at Yankee's games), but the opera (Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten) was incredible!! The story, the music, the performances, the set, the direction, the design, all of it was superb. I loved it!

Today I woke up feeling great. The sky is VERY blue today and it's beautiful out. I knew that I would go running today and I was really looking forward to my first run on the great path along the Henry Hudson River that I can access about a block from our apartment. I had underestimated how beautiful this path would be. I was stunned. It was great running south on the path with the River to my right and the Manhattan skyline in front of me. At points, the path is only about 10 feet from the water and it is beautiful. On the way back, I was even more impressed with the view. The George Washington Bridge occupies your field of vision and it is set against the beautiful New Jersey Palisades. I even noticed something that I hadn't seen before. For instance, I didn't know that there was this cute little red lighthouse right underneath the GWB. It was great.



I ran for 36 minutes today, which was about 4 miles. It might have been a little more than that (I think it was) but it was hard to be very precise on Map My Run.com. I'm happy underestimating my distances b/c that will only better prepare me for the marathon. At this point I generally assume that I'm running 9 min/miles unless I have more precise data to say otherwise. I felt pretty good today and it didn't hurt that it was beautiful out. I can't wait for more, longer runs along the water.

In what other city in the US can you do all of this in 36 hours?

I love this city!