Eleventh Visitors

On the Brooklyn Bridge

Just four days after the Bollingers arrived we had our next visitors. Our very good friends from Lake Quivira, Roger and Betsy Vossman, were here for a long weekend…Wednesday to Monday. Betsy may be familiar to a couple of you as she taught grade school at Saint Pius X in Mission several years ago. I know she taught a couple of my cousins. Some of you may also know them through Saint Joseph parish.

I won’t try to describe everything we did together but here are a couple of highlights.

On Friday afternoon we caught up with them near City Hall as they were touring lower Manhattan. From there we walked the raised pedestrian section on the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a bright and sunny day so we were treated to commanding views of the Manhattan skyline, the East River traffic, and the Statue of Liberty. Oh, and of course the bridge itself from a totally different vantage point. It is surprising how many walkers and bikers were on the bridge. It was as busy as any sidewalk in Midtown. The walk is a mile each way including the approaches.

From there we wound around through Chinatown and ended up in Little Italy. This is now nothing but nonstop restaurants and each one has a barker/maître d’ on the sidewalk trying to snag patrons in an aggressive yet friendly manner. We randomly picked a restaurant and were whisked to our table as if we were going to change our minds and try to get away. This briefly gave me concern about the quality and the price but my worries quickly evaporated. We were treated royally, the fare was all home-made and we went away quite content.

Sunday morning we met everyone at Maison for brunch and after said our final farewells to the Bollingers. Later that afternoon we went to another classical guitar concert at the Roger Smith Hotel. This time the performer was a young woman from Bogotá, Columbia named, Irene Gómez. The hotel presents a classical guitar concert once a month. It is an intimate setting and wine and cheese is provided. This is quite a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I was glad the Vossmans wanted to share it with us when there are so many things to do in New York.

I think Roger and Betsy made the most of their trip. They went to Top of the Rock, The Circle Line boat tour, The Museum of Modern Art, The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, Bryant Park, Ground Zero, Greenwich Village, The New York Public Library, Mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, ate street food from a Halal cart, Thai food in Hell’s Kitchen, went to the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station, enjoyed an adult beverage at Sardi’s, rode a pedicab, and saw two Broadway musicals!! They will need another vacation to rest up after this.

It has been great having so many friends visit us while living in New York. Each time it is like a vacation for us and we always wind up doing or seeing something new for us as well. We have now passed the six month mark on our year here. Whether or not we will stay on for a second year or head for our next destination remains to be seen.

Their final appearance on Broadway