Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!

Ah, New York City! The hustle, the bustle, the grit and the grime...but the people are really friendly (and helpful to goobs bewildered in the subway), and there’s something almost magical about all that energy. From the skyline,






















...to the highline (a cool urban garden thriving in old, abandoned elevated train tracks).




























And of course seeing Jim was a breath of fresh air on the sabbatical. Here we are in Central Park...
















We went most of the expected tourist places, like Chinatown...




















And the Statue of Liberty...




















And I was privileged to stand in the Great Hall of Ellis Island, the gateway my grandparents came through when they arrived in the U.S., about 100 years ago. It was moving to be there and strange to be just 2 generations removed from a couple of illiterate Russian peasants who’d just left everything familiar (perhaps so that their granddaughter could stand in that hall as a well educated, middle class American woman). Ellis Island was where the Romantum name was invented, by the way. Since Grandpa couldn’t spell his name, I guess it made no difference to him how the immigration clerk wrote it down.
























We went to All Souls (yes, another one), which really was as staid as it looked.





















And we saw the NYC Ballet at Lincoln Center (which turned into a $20 nap for Jim).

















Some of the best parts were the cheapest. We went to a Moth Story Slam (and if you don’t know the Moth Podcast, find it NOW) and heard some great music in the subway. Here’s a guy with a really cool homemade dobro!



















And of course, they don’t charge for looking at the sights! (Picture me gaping open mouthed, with a Gomer Pyle-esque “goll-y”–– that was my NYC default mode.)