September 2-7                            Jersey City, New Jersey

We had one day following Dave’s departure before Suzanne came from California.  We cleaned, changed sheets, did laundry, and braced for her delightful and enthusiastic presence.  She arrived on time and we happily made plans for the week.

Friday was a great day to go into the city.  The new Whitney Museum of American Art, designed by Renzo Piano, recently opened and we were eager to see it.  Uber is our choice of transportation in New York as they are quick to respond, the cars are clean, the drivers are conversant in English, and they are often less expensive than taxis.  We “ubered” (Is this a new verb for the dictionary?) to our destination and enjoyed seeing the building and the permanent collection of the Whitney.  We were impressed with both.  Spacious, light-filled, and welcoming with numerous balconies for outdoor viewing of sculpture and the surrounding area, the Piano building is a wonderful place to visit and a great addition to its rather drab meatpacking neighborhood.  

Afterwards, we walked the adjacent High Line Park, a creative open space that once was abandoned elevated train tracks.  Instead of demolishing the structure, it was transformed into a lovely park area for walking.  It extends above many blocks with congested streets and is a popular way for many New Yorkers to commute to work and home.  We used it as a means to go to the Chelsea Market.   

Chelsea Market, located in a renovated warehouse building, holds many small shops and restaurants.  Numerous places sell seafood, meats, produce, spices, cheeses, etc.  Although it is a large space, we found it difficult to walk through the crowded aisles.  After we purchased six beautiful soft shell crabs, we escaped to the street and called for Uber.

David is known in our family for making excellent sautéed soft shell crab.  He did not disappoint us.  We had a delicious dinner on the aft deck with a magnificent view of the lighted buildings of lower Manhattan, including the new World Trade Center.

On Saturday, Suzanne and I took the subway and the Metro-North rail to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.  Metro-North delivered us to the front gate of the garden.  The featured exhibition was a re-creation of the courtyard of the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo and a display of her drawings and paintings.  We were underwhelmed by both.  The displays were sparse and mostly photographic.  The highlight was her self-portrait, Necklace with Thorns from the collection of The University of Texas.

Although there were few blooming plants, mostly roses and oak-leaf hydrangeas, we were very impressed with the garden.  A tram ride introduced us to its wonderful site with large granite outcroppings, ponds, historic buildings, rare plants, and tall trees, some as old as our country.  The magnificent conservatory, modeled after one in England, has been restored since damage by Hurricane Sandy and is a shining white diamond in its lush green setting.

Sunday was unseasonably hot for New York but we did not let the heat deter us from going to Times Square to attend a matinee performance of Beautiful, based on the story and music of Carole King. It was a great show and afterwards we enjoyed "people-watching" while we waited for Uber.  Dinner was at Amelia's, a favorite bistro in Jersey City.

Suzanne is a busy bee and was a great help to us.  She and I took our dock cart on the ferry and went into Jersey City for some basic grocery-wine shopping.  She is a fast and very efficient cleaner and the galley and heads were sparkling.  We tried to entice her to become a crew member for us but she declined.

Stephanie arrived the afternoon before Suzanne departed and the girls had an opportunity to resume their hilarious teasing remarks to one another.  We enjoyed the fun.  Stephanie is “on the job” much of the time she will be in New York so her time on the boat will be limited.