Friday, September 11 - Day 7

Day 7! How is that possible?? Today is a big day in NYC - the anniversary of 9/11. Grey clouds abound. And, appropriately, it's raining.

We start our day in Greenwich Village, thinking we'll have breakfast at the Blue Ribbon Bakery since it got a fantastic write-up in the NY for Dummies book, but it's not open so we return to the Washington Square Diner. Today we are going to poke around Soho and Little Italy, which we saw a little bit of the other day but we wanted to return.

So, after breakfast we wind our way up and down the streets admiring the architecture and imagining what these old buildings have seen over the years. The local fire department has its doors open and people are gathering to reminisce about the firefighters who lost their lives 8 years ago. We just peek in, take a look at the tribute that's been set up, and don't stay too long. We're already soaking wet but it's not too cold so we continue our walking tour.

Eventually we make our way over to Ground Zero thinking that you can't really be in NYC on September 11th and not make a visit to Ground Zero on the day. So we do. It's raining quite hard now, and the wind is harsh. The police presence is huge - and this is quite a bit of time after the reading of the names and the formal ceremonies have finished. But there are still tons of people and it's very moving to be here. We step into St. Paul's church and look at the many tributes that have been set up - teddy bears and origami from school kids, photo displays of how the church was used for food, shelter, first aid, etc. during and post-9/11 as this was a major sanctuary for the relief of the workers. Unbelievable, really, that it was unharmed when the twin towers came down.

After paying our respects, we make our way to the Waldorf Astoria - time to see some grandeur after seeing the devastation. We also want to get out of the rain for a moment so we find a couple of super comfy overstuffed chairs in the lobby and soak up the finery of the place. It's a good thing Maya can't see me right now - I look like a drowned rat!

We spend the afternoon indoors at the Paley Museum of Television and Radio, watching some vintage TV shows. Okay I catch 40 winks while Bruce watches some vintage TV shows.

Tonight is a bit of a quiet night. We go uptown to Carmines for dinner - they serve family style, which means basically, that we should have had another two people with us as the platters (yes, I mean platters) of food were huge. The restaurant is packed, it's got a fantastic energy, the food is delicious, and we have a wonderfully relaxed dinner.

No shows tonight - it's past 9 when we finish dinner so we just head back home, say "hi" to Maya on the way past her - she's stayed amazingly dry considering it's been raining all day! And we get home just in time to see Kathy Griffin on Larry King Live. Man, she gets around!

Even in the rain, NYC is a great place to be. G'night.