First Full Day in New York City

In spite of all our anxieties, the flights came off without a hitch -- all connections made, baggage included. David, concerned because either one or both of us had caught viruses on almost every past flight, was taking no chances, and stayed away from the airplane bathrooms for the entire six hours of the flight. Unfortunately, the guy sitting next to him was coughing once a minute on the ground in Seattle, so David put on a face mask ... but the guy stopped as soon as the plane was in the air, so apparently he was just allergic to the Earth.

Carole whiled away the flight with a rental Digeplayer -- a sort of video version of a Kindle -- and watched "My Life in Ruins" and another "Dr Doolittle" knockoff that she called one of the stupidest movies she'd ever seen, and David zoned out on his iTouch music.

We didn't manage to finish the trip into the city and hotel check-in until nearly 9:00 Saturday, but fortunately, a lovely Italian restaurant called San Martin was just around the corner on 49th. Carole had ravioli al funghi, David ate cozze (mussels) marinara and penne artista (pasta with sliced porcini mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, and peas). For dessert, we split a chocolate-dipped cannoli that was to die for. (Well, David ate it and Carole had a "teeny-tiny taste of the cream," she protests.)

Sunday we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and looked mostly at 19th century European paintings (the American wing was closed until 2010), the roof cafe, an hour for lunch, and the gift shop (Carole) and Modern Art (a mad dash in the final half hour by David) for six hours. We were particularly moved by the physical reality, the spiritual force, of the brush strokes on the Van Goghs. There was a gigantic, site-specific shiny steel structure on the roof of the Met by Roxie Paine called "Maelstrom." The stained-glass windows of Tiffany and John La Farge were terrific, too.

After we got out of the Met at 5:30 closing, we strolled south through Central Park, took a horse-and-carriage ride through same, and walked to the Rink Bar (the one in front of the ridiculous golden Prometheus statue at Rockefeller Center) for a very relaxed two hours of appetizers, cocktails, and desserts from 7 to 9. As Carole remarked, "Why does Prometheus have a toupee?"

The weather has been lovely: sunny in the 80s on Saturday, initially sunny but overcast and cool on Sunday (just like Portland, really!) today.

Tomorrow we'll take the subway down to Battery Park in the hope of scoring tickets for the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island ferry, on which David's college roommate Paul Rosta will accompany us. In the evening, the Elderhostel people will have a welcome reception back at the East Side Marriott, and we board the Queen Mary 2 on Tuesday.