My Big City Adventure

Wow! I am so cold, and so sore, and so excited to be in New York with my daughter. I am totally in awe of the easy way she just navigates around the city. Yesterday (Saturday) we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then up to SoHo to a yarn shop, then back under the Brooklyn Bridge (DUMBO?) for dinner. Today we went to Union Square and visited the Strand and a six-story Barns & Noble (yes, we're both bookworms!). This is my child who grew up getting lost trying to walk around the block. So I am absolutely amazed at the way she jumps on and off the subways. (And a little scared of the way she crosses the street...we've reversed who's hand is being held at intersections.)


I was also surprised at the subway system itself. I mean, I've seen it in movies and on TV. But I had the idea that you went down the steps to the loading platform, and then back up when you got off the train. I had no idea that some of the subway stations are huge! At some of the stations you go down the steps, and there are five, six, or more loading platforms along with magazine sellers and food venders. If my daughter had any left-over resentment for her childhood, she could have easily gotten revenge by simply walking away from me while we were down there. I was completely lost and at her mercy the entire time we were out and about!

I was pretty good about taking pictures; or rather, at not taking so many pictures that I screamed out TOURIST everywhere we went. Although my daughter would probably disagree with that statement. Especially since I kept trying to get a picture of the subway rats. Those things are huge, and they come out onto the tracks whether people are around or not. We even saw one up on the loading platform (not ours, luckily, or I would have been upstairs looking for a taxi faster than you could have said "cheese!"). Unfortunately, the only picture I managed to get did not turn out because there just wasn't enough light. Sigh. Maybe my daughter will get a picture of the rats of me...