Greenwich Village, SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown

Oh my aching feet! Today our Big Apple Greeter, Warren met us in the lobby of our hotel to begin our tour. He was quite the spry one for a 73 year old man. Actually he was like the energizer bunny. We began the trip on the subway to Greenwich Village. It was really nice strolling through the streets lined with trees and brownstones. Greenwich Village residents are definitely not at the bottom of the food chain. I loved the small gardens and all the beautiful flowers planted in such small places. The area considered the garden at most houses was at the most about 12 x 4 ft., but every single one of them was filled with beautiful flowers and plants. We stopped in a neat coffee shop and I don’t mean Starbucks. This coffee shop had different coffee beans from all over the world. The smell in this little shop was so potent; it drew you in from the sidewalk. I really wanted to buy some coffee to take home to Meaghan, but our greeter seemed a little impatient waiting for me so I opted to leave, hoping to go back later and buy some coffee. By the end of the walk to Greenwich Village Jerry was about to die. Walking long distances with this bum foot is very difficult. When it’s just the two of us, we can stop and rest when he needs a break. After all the walking yesterday, he was moving slow. Warren on the other hand could hardly slow himself down. He is amazing, considering his age. He does not own a car, and often walks from his home in Brooklyn across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan. I am convinced moving to NYC is the way to stay fit and live a long life. Give up your car, ride the subway and walk, walk, walk. Then you can eat whatever you want and never gain weight while remaining fit. Honestly you don’t meet many overweight New Yorkers.

After Greenwich Village we strolled through SoHo, which wasn’t nearly as appealing to me. Some people might like it, but it was trendy with a lot of the same kind of shops you see most places. Of course there are several small art galleries and a few that are a little bizarre. We stopped in one that was full of skulls and skeletons. For some reason Warren wanted to show this gallery to us. I think he just wanted us to see something unique. We continued on to Little Italy where we stopped to have lunch. I love eating in Little Italy. The waiters always remind me of someone in the mafia. The décor is so pretty and the food is really fresh. I had spaghetti and meatballs. It was tasty, but I was careful not to eat too much since I knew we were going to continue to walk and I didn’t want to make myself sick. After lunch we strolled through Chinatown. Believe me I wanted to get some of the illegal purses, but Warren was much more into telling me the history of Chinatown. At this point I was more interested in the history of fake coach purses, but I listened and was entertained. I was worried Jerry was going to collapse before we made it to the subway to come back to the hotel. We continued on to the government area where all the government buildings are housed. This area was really nice. Here we saw the Federal Court House, City Hall, The Mayors fleet of armored cars and many more. We stopped by City Hall Park, which is really pretty. Warren was really good to take us through several parks so we could stop and rest. I believe the parks in NYC are one of my favorite things. They are obviously important to the NYers as well. The parks and playgrounds are always packed. I enjoyed one of the parks right at the end of Chinatown. It was strange to see all the children playing and every single one of them were Asian. For a moment I felt like I was in another country.

We finally made it to the subway and told Warren goodbye. He actually wanted to walk us to the site of 911, but Jerry couldn’t make it another step. Actually I was ready for a break myself. Warren directed us to our subway and we came back to the hotel and crashed. 5 hours of walking two days in a row has just about killed our out of shape bodies.

Tonight we took the subway to The Upper West Side to a little Mexican Restaurant. The food was authentic and definitely different than our Monterrey. However, it was very tasty. Afterwards we sat down on a bench to people watch. Uptown away from Time Square you are able to see less tourist and more everyday NYers. It’s interesting observing the diversity among the people here. The people and their day to day activities are so different.

Tomorrow we are going to the James Taylor and Carole King concert. We have to be at Rockefeller Center NO LATER than 6:00, so I don’t think I can be beautiful on TV. I’m just saying….