Big Apple offers myriad of delights

Published 11:24 am Friday, June 24, 2005

Summer is vacation time, and I’m headed east. It’s time to pack my duds and jet to New York City to reacquaint myself with the Big Apple. Actually, I will be staying with my daughter in Greenwich, Conn., but that’s just 45 minutes from Manhattan by train or car, so I will be spending most of my time in New York.

I particularly want to visit my favorite book store, Murder Ink, on Broadway, near where I usually sublet an apartment.

My favorite novelist, Tom Savage – he wrote “The Inheritance,” “Scavenger,” “Precipice,” and my favorite, “Valentine,” which they made into a TV movie – works there part-time.

I hope he has completed his latest book so I can enjoy the suspense of another of his great thrillers.

Of course, my favorite pastime is to walk Manhattan and listen to the sound of the city. There’s nothing else like it.

I love the ethnic mix that sends other languages drifting on the air as you pass the many tiny shops on Broadway. And the wonderful smell of the culinary delights that titillate your senses and draw you into the cafe for a fine dining experience.

Yes, New York is a special place for me and I can hardly wait to visit again.

I want to walk to 72nd and Amsterdam for one of Gray’s Papaya’s gourmet hot dogs and drink some of the delicious fresh squeezed fruit juice. Perhaps the homeless man that I shared my two hot dogs with last time will still be sitting on the side of the building and I can once more engage in an interesting conversation with him.

The subway is a good place to hear talented musicians play for the masses, who flip coins into a hat to pay for the pleasure of the music while they wait for their trains.

I’ll welcome my walks through Central Park and lunch at one of the many vendors dotting the paths.

And, if I’m lucky, they may have summer music in the park to fill the air, with performances ranging from opera to rock ‘n’ roll. A fantastic guitarist gave me two wonderful hours of music in the park, as his fingers flew across the strings of his acoustic guitar while I relaxed on a blanket and scanned the constellations.

Now that’s what I call a vacation.

As you read this, I will probably be sitting at my favorite sidewalk cafe, Carmines, where I am meeting my daughter for dinner after my long plane ride.

Carmines Cafe is a lovely sidewalk cafe where I find interesting people to talk with and enjoy some delectable Italian dishes topped off with a big glass of Chardonnay to compliment the meal.

My daughter Pam has some parties lined up so I can get reacquainted with the friends I made on my previous visits. It will be nice to see them all again and hear their exciting adventures, and I will tell them all about my desert home where I write and play my guitar.

They will be jealous of the peace and quiet I enjoy.

In the two weeks I will be in New York and Greenwich, perhaps I will find some interesting characters to write about.

And if I’m lucky, some wild adventures to tickle our funny bones.

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Betty Kuhn lives in Boardman. She is available via e-mail at bkuhn_1@msn.com.