My friends (for decades) came to visit me over the Christmas holiday. Both Louise and Annette decided to spend five days with me; they had never been to New York City. They booked their stay in the same hotel as where I am staying. Once settled, they were ready for a “GATE22 Cosmo” – a new, self-dubbed “New York favorite”. Louise came up with the idea for dinner; that is, to order Chinese food in… and that’s exactly what we did. It was already a great start.
I had decided their first day here would start with the 9/11 Memorial. This was high on their list of “things to see.” I have seen rain here and I have felt the wind, and certainly, the weather is much colder than anything I have ever felt in Chino; but, THIS day was shockingly cold and windy. We started walking towards the Freedom Tower and within the first third of the way, we took cover under a scaffold. I have never seen it rain that hard nor have I felt the wind that strong in the three months I have been here. We waited ten to fifteen minutes until it subsided. Louise still comments that she felt as though the wind was going to knock her over.
Finally, we arrived at the 9/11 Museum, and once inside Louise and Annette met with their tour guide; I went back home to do some work. After spending two hours on their tour, they phoned me and we met at a previously discussed location just outside of the museum.
On my way to meet them, however, I realized the road next to the 9/11 Museum is closed to through traffic (always has been), but I had not given much thought to it. When I found them I told them we would have to walk across the Memorial area to the next street in order to secure a taxi. The wind was remarkably strong and the wait was quite long and walking that stretch of the cemented area was not easy. I am now thinking the wait only seemed long because of the discomfort. It was at this point that it occurred to me how lucky it was that no one slipped or fell especially since Louise uses a walker. I cannot express how happy I was when the taxi pulled up and we were on our way to Brooklyn, incident free.
I had made reservations at Cecconi’s in Brooklyn, which is located at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge, overlooking the New York City skyline. The reservation was for an early dinner, but it was already starting to get dark by the time we got there. I specifically asked for a table by the window so we would have that magnificent view. We were not disappointed.
This view to me portrays the magic of NYC. It’s bright and so alive!
I recently learned Cecconi’s flagship restaurant is in London and there are several all around the world including West Hollywood. It was a wonderful meal.
After walking around the building which not only houses Cecconi’s but also shops and other restaurants, we grabbed a taxi and were on our way “home” to continue discussing our many, many topics of conversation.