Reblogging on Chicawrites!
The Barrio Of Kitsch
Reblogging on Chicawrites!
On a recent visit to New York City…
It had a been a long time since we last set foot in New York, and as soon as we landed I wondered why it had taken so long to go back; we are talking more than ten years here, and New York is one of my favorite cities, we lived in Brooklyn for over twenty years.
It was a Mother’s day trip arranged by our two daughters Yasmin and Natalie, and it was definitely a “girls thing”. Needless to say, it was a great experience. The four days we spent there were filled with fun adventures uptown, downtown and all around the town and, we walked like I had not walked in a in a very long, long… time. LOL
The subways were our mode of transportation and we covered lots of miles from Brooklyn to Harlem and places in between. We acted like tourists in a town we previously called home. To be honest, when we lived in New York we hardly skipped a beat either, we frequently visited all the landmarks and museums, restaurants and attended all kinds of cultural events. I truly believe this is because I am a wanderlust soul at heart and now have two daughters that like to travel and discover places just as much as I do, Yippee!
My daughters and I make a great travel team and we each had our assignments; Yasmin was the Yelp expert that got us to all the right places to eat and had them lined up before we even set foot in the city. Natalie was in charge of accommodations and lined up a great Best Western hotel in the heart of Brooklyn (the R train was right outside) which made it easy for us to reach all the must see places that I had lined up for us to visit. Brooklyn Museum was my favorite stop.
So we ate “off the truck” Halal food near Rockefeller Center (delicious), walked to Central Park, and stopped at John Lennon’s memorial, Strawberry Fields, and then walked some more. One thing about walking in the big cities you don’t feel the pain until…you feel the pain. In my case, that was two days later, but Advil took care of that!
We covered a lot of ground (making up for lost time) FAO Schwarz, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Central Park, Harlem, Brooklyn and surrounding neighborhoods, Times Square, ahhh… the sights of Times Square (I’ll save those for another post, LOL).
We even made sure to stop at Junior’s in Brooklyn to get some of their famous (nostalgia) cheesecake, it is still good!
Beautiful Kissimmee Sunset!
I am not a morning person so I usually miss the sunrises, but sunsets right in my own backyard every day. ..I just had to share!
Great Sunday afternoon at Downtown Disney
A great way to spend a Sunday evening with family, and the weather was great too! Look at that background, we were not complaining.
No parking fees, plenty of food choices, a variety of music and lots of things to do for little and big kids.
Downtown Disney, I got my money’s worth.
Share the love for the kids home tour
The 3rd Annual Benefit for Cooper Street Kids (After-school program in Punta Gorda, FL) took place last weekend. I enjoyed the Home Tour put together by various clubs and groups of the Punta Gorda Isles Civic Association; all proceeds will benefit the After-school program. The home tour was a resounding success, and was well attended by community members and sponsors.
As I told you before, it appears the supply of things to do in our neck of the woods is suddenly unending. I remember saying to anyone who would listen (mostly my hubby) back when we first moved to Florida: “What were we thinking?”, since at the time the sidewalks in town rolled-up by 9 p.m, earlier during weekdays. This was 20 years ago, and there really was nothing to do. For a city-dweller from Brooklyn, such as myself, this was torture.
My solution? Miami is 3-hours south–it seemed appropriate at the time and still does today, to head out-of-town whenever our small town starts to make me feel claustrophobic. These days destinations vary but still, I am a city girl at heart and I crave arts and culture, great dining experiences and more; so whenever I get the urge to wander, I go looking for my fix.
Things have changed. I now marvel at the number of things to do, there are even new restaurants (non-chain) popping up here and there–sometimes there are so many things going on at the same time, it is hard to choose. I love having this dilemma; and yes, there is always Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota, Fort Myers, Naples, FL within reach, you get my point. One of the advantages of our location on the Gulf of Mexico is that all these cities are within an hour to three-hour car ride. Aah…the Florida life!
Related articles
- Here’s “What To Do” this weekend – March 2 – 4 (whatshappeningswfl.wordpress.com)
- Preparation = Faith in Action (makingapearl.wordpress.com)
Chica on the Move 