Cindy and I arrived at JFK airport at 6:30 AM after an overnight flight from San Francisco.  We took a taxi to Manhattan where we were able to check into our room at The Algonquin Hotel on 45^th Street at 8:00 AM.  After dropping off our luggage, and a quick shower, we walked over to the Hudson River and boarded a Circle Line boat for a three-hour ride around Manhattan, including a close-up view of the Statue of Liberty.

The tide was very high preventing our ship from getting under some of the bridges in upper Manhattan, so we did not have a complete circle of the island.  But after three hours we were anxious to do something else anyway.  We bought 2-day passes to the Double Decker Sightseeing Bus and took a Downtown Bus Tour.  In the East Village we jumped off and walked to the Orpheum Theatre where we bought tickets to see STOMP on Sunday evening.  We were very tired after little sleep and a full day of sightseeing so we returned to our hotel early.  Our room is small but the bed is very comfortable so we slept well Saturday night.

Sunday morning we took the first Uptown Bus Tour, which left from Central Park South at 8:30 AM.  After riding up the West Side and through Harlem, we got off at the Metropolitan Museum and spent a few hours wandering through their galleries.  We ate brunch at The Rainbow Room on the 65^th floor of Rockefeller Center and had excellent views in every direction.

In the afternoon, we walked up Fifth Avenue, stopping at St. Patrick’s Cathedral where a Peruvian Mass was being celebrated, Tiffany’s and the flagship Apple Store on Central Park South.  We took a horse-drawn carriage on a ride through the park before boarding the bus again to go downtown to the site of the World Trade Center.  This being Sunday, there was no construction going on at the site, but the foundations are almost complete and the building should start rising above ground level in the next few months.  We walked to Battery Park, and then continued up to the South Street Seaport where we had coffee on the deck overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge.

At 6:30 we caught one of the last sightseeing busses back to Greenwich Village where we saw STOMP.  Afterwards we took a taxi back to the hotel where we crashed, exhausted again.

Monday we went to the United Nations and were able to get on the first tour at 9:30 AM.  The General Assembly was in session, so we were not able to see as much as we normally would, but the fact that the Assembly was in session was interesting, although they did not seem to be doing much when we were in that chamber.

One of Cindy’s last assignments in China was as Tour Director for the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation Board and she had arranged to stop by their Madison Avenue offices to visit on Monday, after our UN visit.  The meeting was particularly meaningful because many of the places we had visited in Manhattan during the last 48 hours had been funded by or supported by the foundation.  One of the women she wanted to meet was not in the office, but hopefully they will be able to connect before we leave on Tuesday.

We had lunch at the Carnegie Deli on Seventh Avenue.  I knew Cindy would be astounded with the sandwiches.  She had a fruit salad, which would normally feed four people, and I ordered a “Woody Allen” pastrami, which probably had a pound of meat.  But the real excitement was provided by the British guy next to us whose sandwich had a full 12 inches of meat between two slices of bread, held together with dowels that were well over a foot long.  He enjoyed the first ¼ of the sandwich, suffered through the second quarter and took the rest back to his hotel.  For dessert, we had $10 slice of New York cheesecake.

After lunch we took a taxi up to the American Museum of Natural History.  We watched an IMAX presentation of sea monsters, saw a show at the Hayden Planetarium, and took in the new Energy Exhibit (funded by The Rockefeller Brothers Foundation).  By 4:00 PM we were exhausted again so we returned to the hotel.

In the evening I wanted to show Cindy Times Square at night so we ventured out for what I thought would be a 30-minute walk.  But as we were passing the Tkts Booth, where you can buy unsold tickets for Broadway shows, I noticed that there were still seats available for Chicago, so we bought tickets for half price fifteen minutes before show time, and got to see that Broadway Musical before leaving Manhattan.

We had breakfast in the hotel Tuesday morning and then walked over to the New York public library on Fifth Avenue before checking out at noon.  I had rented a car from the JFK office of Dollar so we took a taxi out to pick it up.  The weather had been perfect the last few days but just as we started driving up to Connecticut, it started to drizzle.  I stopped in Norwalk to say hello Denny before continuing up to Fairfield where we would spend two nights with Trish & Rachel.

The leaves on the trees in Connecticut are bright orange and red.  We arrived at Trish’s home around 3:00 PM and took them to Bear & Grill for dinner.  On Wednesday, Trish went to work while Rachel had a field trip to NYC, so I did some work around the house in the morning and then we toured the Fairfield area in the afternoon.  For dinner we went to Denny & Nancy’s for a home-cooked meal.

Thursday morning we left Fairfield and drove up to Sturbridge, Massachusetts where we visited Old Sturbridge Village.  We spent all afternoon wandering through the collection of 19^th century buildings and learning how early settlers lived in New England.  We spent the night at a local Sturbridge hotel and returned the next morning to finish seeing what we could not get to on Thursday.

Friday afternoon we drove over to Boston where I had arranged to stay at an Equity Corporate Apartment at Charles River Park for five days.  I met Steve Wells of ECH who got us into a great unit on the 25^th floor of 4 Longfellow Place overlooking The Charles River and The Zakin/Bunker Hill Bridge.  After settling in, we walked over to Faneuil Hall and then on to the waterfront where we ate dinner at The Chart House.

Saturday I jogged along the Charles River for a couple miles, and then returned to wake Cindy up and head out for the day.  We walked over to the North End and followed the Freedom Trail back to Boston Common.  We stopped at most of the historical landmarks along the way including Copp’s Hill, Old North Church, Paul Revere Mall, St. Stephen’s Church, Paul Revere’s house, Old State House, Old South Meeting House, King’s Chapel and Burying Ground, Granary Burying Ground, Park Street Church and The State House.  At Boston Common we continued through the Public Garden and down Boylston Street to Copley Square.  Cindy was very interested in the various cathedrals, which dominate almost every block, but most were closed.  After locating the Apple Store, where we have a training class on Monday, we took the T back to North Station.  Saturday night we rented several DVDs and spent the evening watching movies.

Late Saturday night a water main broke in the city and we had no water when we woke up Sunday morning, slightly delaying our planned early departure.  We bought tickets for the Old Town Trolley which drives around the city and allows people to get on and off at will.  We rode over to Charlestown first where we visited the USS Constitution and then walked up to see the Bunker Hill Memorial.  We re-boarded and rode as far as Copley Square where we were able to get half-price tickets to the matinee of Blue Man Group.  The show was great and we even played a small role in the production.

After lunch, we walked around Chinatown, and then re-boarded the trolley again, going as far as the second to last stop in the Seaport District.  Here we ate lobster at the No Name Restaurant before walking back to the apartment.

Monday we walked over to Boylston Street where we had a 9:00 AM One-to-one training class at the Apple Store.  After the class, we walked through the Prudential Center, Christian Science Plaza and the Boston Public Library.  We took a self-guided tour of Trinity Church where two people were tuning the organ.  After getting a drink at Quincy Market, Cindy went to The Old State House while I went jogging along the Charles River.

Monday evening I had arranged to meet Tom & Ellie Callahan for dinner.  I had not seen Tom for six years and had not seen his wife for almost eighteen years.  We drove out to Concord where we met at The Colonial Inn for dinner.  As it turns out, the inn is the very building where the Sons of Liberty kept their military stores in 1775 which the British were attempting to capture when Paul Revere rode to warn of their coming.

We enjoyed a delightful dinner together.  I had forgotten that Tom lived in Asia for six years, although never in Mainland China.  Ellie still has a helicopter, which she flies almost every day, and Tom remains active on several boards.  We were the last party to leave the restaurant and didn’t get home until almost 11:00 PM.

We were somewhat tired from sightseeing every day so when we woke up on Tuesday and it was raining, we decided to take a day off.  The rain stopped in the afternoon and we drove over to Cambridge and walked around the campus of Harvard University where Cindy bought a sweatshirt.  For dinner we had Chinese take-out.

We checked out of our apartment in Boston on Wednesday morning and drove south to Newport, Rhode Island.  The weather is quite cold now, and the winds are greater than they have been for the last week, but the sun still peeks out from behind the clouds.  We arrived in Newport by 10:30 AM and drove along Ocean Drive where most of the huge mansions are located.  We took a guided tour of The Breakers and then drove over to Rosecliff and took that tour also.

Continuing south, we drove along the coast of Rhode Island, over the Pell Bridge and arrived at Mystic, Connecticut at 2:00 PM.  We got something to eat, checked into The Hilton, and went to Olde Mistick Village where we shopped for a couple hours.  For dinner we drove to East Lyme where we met Sandra & Carl Vesara at The Flanders Fish Market.  As arranged, they had brought their three-year-old son Tyler, whom I have not seen in a couple years.  They are living in Branford now to be closer to Sandra’s work in New Haven.  We agreed to meet in Florida in December when they go to Palm Beach on vacation.

We spent the next four days at Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Ledyard.  We had arranged a beautiful villa on the top floor where we could escape from the crowds.  Cindy played in Foxwoods Fall Back Slot Tournament but did not finish with enough points to be amongst the top twenty prizewinners.  We also visited the new MGM Resort at Foxwoods where we saw Dolly Parton perform on Sunday night.  Cindy seemed to really enjoy the wide variety of Chinese food, which is available, due to the large Asian customer base.  We checked out early Monday morning, and drove to Kennedy airport where we caught an afternoon flight to Miami.

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