New York City

Tonight we are sitting in my brother’s apartment in New York, in Manhattan. The shutters are open and the city lights sparkle outside. Traffic never stops in this city that doesn’t sleep and tonight is no exception. My brother’s studio apartment is on 41st Street and 1st Avenue, in an area called Tudor City, just down the street from the United Nations, on the 13th floor. These are a group of wonderful old apartment buildings and the lobby has these lovely tapestries on the walls and interesting architectural details. The Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building are nearby. 42nd Street is blocks away. The night is cool and clear, with a full moon overhead and no sign of inclement weather. We walked over to this little Chinese take out place and got some dinner to go. You can get something to eat any time day or night here and even have it delivered to your door but we needed to stretch our legs and walk a bit so we decided to just go and get it and bring it back so we could relax and get comfy.

We had intended to stay with my cousin in Pennsylvania but a change of plans brought us into Manhattan instead. Since we have to do some business in the city before we leave, this actually works out OK for us. It’s a bureaucratic requirement of the Italian government that we have official, long-form, certified birth certificates and marriage license with the great seal of the City of New York (where we were both born and married). In addition to this, we have to take said certificates and license to the city for them to certify that the certification is valid and then to the New York Secretary of State for what is called an “apostile” – which certifies the certification of the certification on the certificates! It sounds crazy I know, but this is what we will be doing tomorrow and we are hoping it happens quickly and we can have some fun walking around the city too.

We spent the last two days with our friends in DC, actually just outside, in the city of Ashburn, Virginia. They have a very spacious and lovely townhome and were gracious enough to let us stay for a few days. We went into DC on Wednesday with our friend Bill (unfortunately Lynn had to go to work!) and went to the National Gallery where they had an exhibition of paintings, posters and sketches by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and his contemporaries. It was quite extensive and incredible and we were reminded again of why we want to come back to this area – these galleries and museums with their world-class exhibits will be within our reach from Delaware and that is very exciting. The weather could have been better however, it rained and the wind blew the entire day making it difficult to do too much wandering around our Capitol but enough to appreciate its beauty and grandeur. The “Castle” of the Smithsonian was shrouded in fog and mist, the Capitol barely visible across the Mall. But we have always enjoyed a rainy day and this was no exception. Wet shoes and all, it was a delightful day.

Lynn’s husband Bill has the same corny sense of humor as I do so we had a lot of fun. Their daughter Avery was a delight and is a talented young artist. She gave Bob quite a verbal run for his money – the two of them sharing sarcastic quips and having a great time. We are looking forward to her emails and thank her for the use of her bedroom.

Our itinerary for the day was to get from Washington, DC this morning to coffee and muffins with my cousin Rose and husband Walter who live in Leisure World in Maryland, on to lunch with her sister Celeste and husband Mike in Newark, Delaware and on to New York City by day’s end. It was a very direct route from point A to B to C to D and it was wonderful to visit with these lovely ladies who are first cousins of my mother and catch up a bit on each other’s lives. More goodbyes, more promises to keep in touch and another day closer to our departure date – now only one week away. It still feels like a dream and I’m sure won’t be real until we are sitting in that mini-apartamento looking at each other, wondering what to do next! Can’t wait!

Buona notte,
Rosemary & Bob