Tuesday, August 19, 2008

My visit to the city

My eldest son had vacation last week and stopped at our new home on his way back to New York, where he lives.

On Sunday, we drove him back to the city and spent the afternoon there. Traveling in the car was me, my mother & father in-law, and my two sons. My husband elected to stay home because he hadn't had a day off in a couple of weeks. I have always been more comfortable in the country, and although I was excited to see where my son has been living, I didn't think I'd like it much at all. But I was in for a huge surprise.

I remember my husband and I driving by the city last summer, on our way to Maine. We could see the skyline from the Jersey Tpk. and we both were wondering aloud how our son could live there. And now I understand. I love where he lives! It was a beautiful day and we walked all around the financial district right near his aparment and I'm sure I looked like a crazy tourist snapping pictures everywhere I went, but who cares! I can see why my son loves living there and I'm really happy for him.

We had lunch at a restaurant on Stone Street, a tiny cobblestone road lined with bistros and restaurants, all with tables in front of each one that took up all the room in the street. I'll be posting a little more about my visit later in the week. But here's just a couple of pictures of things I found interesting. Some were taken from the car window and others were taken while walking about.

Oh, and as an aside, I completed my goal for today which was to get an external hard drive. I've got a Maxtor one Touch 4 with 500 gb of space on sale at Staples right now for $99. Life is good again. Until tomorrow, my friends.

15 comments:

olivia said...

Hey there!

Looks like you had a great visit ... and beautiful weather ... and fantastic photos ... :D What did you have for lunch?

I've never been to NYC ... looks like an amazing place.

(Was fun to watch your page load tonight and see blue and skyscrapers vs green and lushness ... :)

Kelly said...

Kate:

I love the church photos! You referred to Trinity Church graveyard in the post below. Are these photos of Trinity Church? They look more like a Cathedral, which name escapes me at the moment. Am I totlly wrong?

Anyway, these are great photos as always and I'm glad that you found your external hard drive for such a great price!!! I know it will be a great help for you!

Your son has a great view of the city! Have a safe trip back home and back to the 'country' and your horses etc...

Country Girl said...

Kelly, no they're not of Trinity Church. These are just random pictures I shot from either the car window or walking on the streets. I am doing an entire post about Trinity Church later this week.

Olivia, glad to see you again! I checked your blog almost daily while you were away. We ate at Adrienne's Restaurant. My sons and I shared the most delicious pizza with half mushrooms, half cheese and flavored with rosemary. It was so good. My in-laws each had a spinach omelet that game with a pica de gallo dressing which they agreed was very good. We were also surprised at the price which was more than reasonable for 5 people!

Yes, I think my blog looks exciting with all the photos of buildings and such. Thank you!

~ C.G.

Mental P Mama said...

Beautiful shots as always! And you have inspired me to go get an external hard drive....

Mary said...

Kate, your pics are WONDERFUL! I don't know about you, but I found it hard to shoot at first in the city. It was almost as if I didn't know where to look, or what would make a good picture -- all the things that seem second nature to me in the country... but you did GOOD, girl!
xoxo,
Mary

Anonymous said...

How exciting!

abb said...

Isn't NYC the most incredible city? Getting out my hard drive when I get home...I know from first hand experience backing up is a must do!

What wonderful photos, Kate!

abb said...

It irritates me so when I double comment! Sorry 'bout that, Kate!

Suburban Cowgirl said...

I think it's really cool that you got to go to New York and take lots of pictures. Shimmy Mom is just like that. She takes her camera everywhere and takes pictures all the time.
Thank you for visiting my site and saying that it's cute. You are my first visitor.
SC

Rocker said...

I like the point of view in your pictures. Thanks for visiting my blog, you were my first visitor too.

Shimmy Mom said...

Oh wow, I'm the first to comment since my kids have been here. Thanks so much for visiting them, they were so excited to have someone that wasn't family read their blog.

You pictures are amazing. I lived in New York for 2 1/2 years and I don't think that any of my pictures turned out that well. You have such an amazing eye! I love the cathedrals and churches in the city. The detail that they put into them blows me away.

Isn't it fun how you can find beauty everywhere, it's just a matter of looking for it!?
*hugs*
Heatherann

Country Girl said...

Shimmy, I think it's sweet that your children comment.

Annie, no problem! I can't believe that only a few months ago, I was still using dial-up. I think I spent most of my time waiting for pages to load and playing solitaire. Gah!

Shimmy, it's exciting to find out that you lived in the city for 2 1/2 years! Wow. I really can't wait to visit my son again.

Which reminds me, YES Annie, I'd love to meet you guys and Daryl (even though I've never seen her blog) for lunch or something. We should do this!

Lauren, I'm glad I've inspried someone to do something other than to drink wine in the middle of the afternoon while taking pictures of birds. Good on you!

And Mary, I don't know what happened. It was just serendipitious.

Anonymous said...

I would love to live in the city. It seems like there would always be something fun to do. I love all of your pictures. It looks like you had a great trip.

Anonymous said...

Kate- I love those pictures! Just wonderful and unexpected treasures. Thanks for sharing them.

Egghead said...

You will enjoy your visit. My son and daughter spent a few days there in March. So much to see! Yay for external drives.