One of my final walks in the city

I returned to NYC for a quick weekend visit with Marathon Man. I used the visit to cram in more sightseeing. We started off at Gracie Mansion and Carl Schurzt park which is gorgeous! Seriously, the five or six blocks along the East River are so peaceful. At one point (Hell's Gate) you can see three bodies of water/rivers converge in a great pool of water turmoil. I could stare at the churning water for hours. Yeah, I have a thing for water. If I got a fish tank, all productivity would be lost.

We walked the 40 blocks south (past Sotheby's and Rockefeller University) to Bed Bath & Beyond so he could buy more coffe k-cups that were on sale. We walked back up on 5th Ave with a guide book that pointed out all the Old Money mansions (Pulitzer, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, other Manhattan elite of yesterday’s lore). Passing by Central Park, we heard what sounded to be a huge party. We went in to find the endings of a German-fest party complete with Lederhosen, tubas, and massively intoxicated people. The band actually martched out of the park with a throng of drunk pilgrims following behind singing and dancing wildly. We saw one guy attempt to jump a low rail and face plant in the grass. M-Man turned to me and said "don't you wish you were drunk too". I was at first sad that I was a stone sober spectator, but then I remembered the last time I drank in Central Park and how I later peed on a brownstone on 5th Ave.

The scaffolding is finally down from the Guggenheim. They were projecting prose on the building facade....art I guess.

Later that evening, I met my old roommate Bree out for a drink. She spilled the big news that she got married. No, she is not pregnant, just in love. When she asked about my day, I said I went to Bed Bath & Beyond. For a moment it felt like a really lame wasted day (like from Old School, we may go to Home Depot...if there is time you know), but then I realized it was so much more than a simple walk, it was like I am slowly saying goodbye to New York. Amazing how a city can make such a lasting impression on you.