A Brief Return to the Big Apple - Time Out #250

Travel has been my "extra" middle name for most of my life. This fact is certainly no secret to anyone that knows me very well? Travel absolutely is one of my life PASSIONS! My bride, Ms. Debbie, and I, tested that passion earlier last winter, when we boarded our local American Airlines carrier to whisk us off to one of our favorite places on planet earth, New York City (NYC), aka "The Big Apple". As always, in the many times we have visited this vibrant place, we had a great time. However, we did something we almost never do while visiting any travel location; we left 2 days earlier than planned. Why?? The coronavirus, aka novel Covid-19, aka, the world wide viral pandemic that was rapidly approaching NYC! As usual, we had an uneventful pair of AA flights, completed by arriving in NYC, and landing at LaGuardia, the closest of the 3 airports serving Manhattan. What a "Twilight Zone" experience we had inside their huge Terminal B, normally a human bee hive of activity. It was the absolute opposite that evening; virtually no people activity around the TSA security area, or in the baggage claim area. In fact, Lady Debbie, took several Facebook photos of the empty terminal as it looked like the last person had left the building, and forgot to turn off the lights. Outside the terminal, the Uber driver we took to our hotel in mid-town Manhattan. had been waiting for 1 hour and 15 minutes on a normally very busy Saturday night, just to drive a customer! Remember, dear readers, this was shortly BEFORE NYC began having its enormous coronavirus health issues!! We did our normal Big Apple things, but added a few new adventures, before deciding we should fly back early to the safety of Our Town. We always have a huge desire to attend live NYC Broadway Theaters, and, once again, we were able to see four (4) outstanding productions. We also got our daily exercise by walking all over mid-town, since our hotel accommodations were only 2 blocks directly south of Central Park. Times Square was somewhat crowded, but possibly not as many people from all over the world as we normally see in this iconic area of the city. We also walked through elegant Grand Central Station, and its somewhat muted hustle and bustle, compared with busy "normal" times. One of our favorite restaurant's, Junior's at 43rd & Broadway, provided us with excellent meals as usual, but even there, the wait for seating was not as long as normal. A new adventure took us completely across town via Uber (we rode Uber everywhere, not wanting to use the subway or taxi). After eating a delicious late lunch in the famous Katz Deli, we walked nearby to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, affiliated with our national park service. I had been wanting to tour this site for several years, and finally was able to do so. We took a couple of guided tours inside a former tenement brownstone that has an incredible history, housing immigrant families, mostly employed in the early city textile industry. The museum guides were excellent for the hour-long tours, and I would highly recommend this NYC attraction. From the lower east side, we took Uber across the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. I took cell phone photos as we crossed, and we watched many pedestrians and bicyclists crossing the huge structure, during that beautiful, late winter afternoon. We exited Uber at our married friends' apartment, Evan Black, previously of Our Town, and her husband, Kevin Hess. They live just south of the famous bridge, very close to the East River. Our foursome spent a wonderful evening together, seeing their lovely apartment and sweet dog, dining in a delicious neighborhood restaurant, laughing, story-telling, and thoroughly enjoying each other's company. We all realize, friends are SO important! Realistically, by all news reports, Covid-19 was closing in fast (remember??), causing us to abruptly leave NYC. As always, however, our minds' eyes now have more Big Apple memories.