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Goddesschess' Sixth Anniversary Celebration!
Trips to New York and the Oriental Institute Museum in Chicago
September 23 - October 3, 2005

Part 1

New York Trip 2
New York Trip 3
New York Trip 4

Photo Gallery

 

Start ringin' them bells...
New York City was the the destination during our celebration of Goddesschess' Sixth Anniversary from September 23 through October 3, 2005. Hard to believe, but Goddesschess first debuted on May 6, 1999! Georgia Albert, Michelle Albert, Jan Newton and Don McLean headed to the Big Apple. A whirlwind visit to the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago on October 2, 2005 by Don and Jan rounded out the celebrations.

The Trip to New York
We all met at Jan's and spent a few days there before and after our New York visit, where good weather (only one rainy day), home-cooked meals and lots of conversation filled our time. (Maison Newton, photo right). We spent hours on the backyard deck feeding hundreds of peanuts to her menagerie of squirrels and chipmunks as we talked, ate meals and relaxed under the sun, moon and stars.

Our trip to New York was blessed with great weather; it was raining when we arrived at La Guardia Airport on Monday evening, September 26, but by the time we'd settled in at the hotel and ventured out to find a restaurant for a late evening meal, the rain had stopped and the temperature was balmy and mild. The shuttle ride in from La Guardia took about an hour, and it was dark by the time we got to the hotel. The views during the ride in from the airport were breathtaking, miles of skyline glittering along Manhattan's coastline, the sillouhuettes of hundreds of high rises sparkling against the night sky.

It was sunny and warm for the rest of our New York stay. Jan had booked us rooms at the Da Vinci , on 8th Avenue and West 56th Street. The Da Vinci is just a few blocks from Trump Tower, Fifth Avenue, Central Park, and many other famous York sights and sites. The hotel is small and basic with clean rooms, comfortable beds, private marble-lined bathrooms and daily maid service. The hotel also features Joe's Italian restaurant in its lower level that serves daily dinner specials for $20 a plate. A continental breakfast was served every morning in the hotel lobby starting at 7:30 a.m., and though meager by European standards, you could have as much as you wanted of coffee and orange juice in styrofoam cups, tasty rolls, butter, marmalade, jelly, and white powder-sugar coated donuts.

Our first night in New York we found Applejack Diner just a few blocks from the hotel (Broadway and West 55th Street), serving beer and wine with an extensive selection of "family style restaurant" standards for breakfast, lunch and supper. The staff was very friendly, the food good and the prices reasonable. The restaurant has a wall of floor-to-ceiling glassed-in doors that can be folded back accordion style, opening the inside of the restaurant to the busy street-scene during clement weather. We enjoyed meals inside while watching the world go by on 55th Street just a few feet away, and we spent many enjoyable hours relaxing at the cafe tables outside, separated from the sidewalk and a busy bus stop by an iron grille. We stopped there several times during our stay and were always made welcome and received excellent service.

How much can you pack into a three day-plus stay in New York? Our fearless foursome devoted more than half a day to walking up Fifth Avenue and touring the world famous Metropolitan Museum of Art; after that, they went their separate ways. Jan and Don closed down the Met on Tuesday and Wednesday. We all headed out from the hotel every day and evening, walking in different directions, up and down Broadway, taking in Amsterdam Avenue, Times Square, 42nd Street, Central Park, the theater district, Fifth Avenue, wandering here and there.

(Photo left by Don McLean: sunset, Times Square and West 43rd Street, September 29, 2005).

On the main ways there were crowds of people, but surprisingly on some streets, in the heart of busy, bustling Manhattan, people were few and far between, even the vehicle traffic was sparse. One could look up and see four and five story walk-ups with residences above store-fronts; surprisingly, at night we could see stars in the sky, despite the glow cast from countless millions of Manhattan lights. We walked past fruit and vegetable vendors and meat markets, flower sellers, local boutiques, an "antique" (junk) shop, the ever-present newspaper stands, people on bikes, women everywhere pushing baby carriages and strollers (nannies on Fifth Avenue, real mothers elsewhere) and we saw the occasional fenced-in side yard or backyard with grass, trees and gardens. We walked through neighborhoods past elementary schools with blacktopped playgrounds and bells sounding for recess, Starbucks coffee shops across from run-down tenements, thrift shops a block away from multi-million dollar high-rise construction. It was a wonderful mix of the awe-inspiring and the homey, all jumbled together.

We walked past the Julliard School of Music, the Guggenheim and many other museums, the main branch of the New York Public Library, the Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Bergdorf-Goodman and other pricey shops along Fifth Avenue, subway stations, tiny pocket-sized parks where women in slippers fed the pigeons and sparrows. Michelle and Georgia jumped on buses, visiting shops and museums, and New York Harbor and Battery Park to view the Statue of Liberty in the distance. Don and Jan walked past countless electronics stores on 42nd Street where all of the vendors seemed to be of Middle Eastern descent, quite possibly all related to each other. We saw a rainbow color of people in all shapes, sizes, and sexes (sometimes we couldn't tell what sex). It was exilerating, enticing, exciting, and exquisite.

On our last day in town, Don and Jan toured the Museum of Natural History for several hours and then walked for hours more in the neighborhoods on the upper west side, while Georgia and Michelle took an early train to Washington D.C. and spent a long day there before coming back to Manhattan.

(Photo right, the giant globe sculpture outside Trump Tower, by Don McLean, September 29, 2005).

Later that night we all met at Joe's for a delicious dinner in quietly elegant surroundings. After dinner, Jan and Don headed out and partied the rest of the night away, Don chatting up the locals outside bars featuring live music, dancing a little to salza rythyms and closing down one particular establishment at - what time was that - 2 a.m.? (who'd have thought they were such party animals!) The shuttle to take us to La Guardia arrived at the hotel at 8 a.m. Friday, September 30. Anyone who never wants to experience a roller-coaster ride would be well advised to avoid taking a New York shuttle to/from La Guardia. We thought the ride IN from La Guardia was an experience of a lifetime. Man, were we wrong! The ride OUT to La Guardia during morning rush-hour traffic was even more action-packed! The van that came to pick us up had rusted-out spots here and there, a tied-up tail pipe and absolutely nowhere inside to hold on. The only car door handle seemed to be on the driver's side. Hmmm.... After picking us up at the Da Vinci, the van made half a dozen more light-speed stops at hotels along the way and by the time we were aimed in the general direction of the airport, passengers were packed into that van like sardines. We held on to whatever we could find inside the van and to each other. The driver pretended that he did not understand English. Or maybe he really did not understand English. He had a propensity for running red lights and taking corners on two wheels. Georgia attempted to keep herself from crashing into Jan and squashing her against the side-wall while simultaneously trying to keep her hat from being flattened against the van roof as we bounced along (it seemed the van had no shock absorbers). Don was panicking and thinking he'd forgotten his printed-out e-tickets at the hotel, wondering how he was going to get home and he really needed a cigarette, and he would never drink wine with Jan again as long as he lived. Michelle was doing her nails.

Arriving at La Guardia, we took advantage of curb side check-in and were soon on the flight back to Jan's hometown. The flight was fine, but the landing was HORRID. Jan was sure they were going to crash and drown in Lake Michigan; fortunately for all concerned, the plane made a good landing on the SECOND TRY! A short taxi ride later, we were at Jan's place.

We needed air. We needed to feel grounded again. Most of all, we needed to restock Jan's refrigerator! We all walked down to the local super market and went grocery shopping. We decided to have a cook-out. Steak! Potatoes! Salad! Yes! We ate a delicious supper on the deck in Jan's backyard as the sun went down and talked far into the night in the mild night air.

New York Trip 2
New York Trip 3
New York Trip 4

Photo Gallery