WWJD (What Would Jackie Do)

This is the view from my "run" on Sunday morning -- around Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. I put "run" quotes because I thought I was running...until everybody and their dog (okay, actually there were no dogs, they're not allowed on the reservoir track) started to pass me. I guess I was "jogging." How humiliating. But then I think, "What would Jackie do? She'd straighten up, hold her head up high and keep on running jogging." Anyhow, this place is so incredibly beautiful. So beautiful that I had to stop and catch my breath take a photo of the moment. I also stopped by the tennis courts to catch my breath watch some folks play tennis. We found the tennis courts the day before and they are fantastic...and popular. To get a court, you have to show up at 6:30 a.m. at the reservation office onsite and make a reservation for that day. No problem for me -- I'll stop by during my morning run to catch my breath make a reservation for later in the day. Court fees are $15/hour...but you need a permit, which is $200/year...but they sell permits to those under 16 for $10/year...and Sophie is under 16...and they said I can use her permit. Score! I love NY!

Later that morning, Sophie and I played tourist and got on a Hop-on Hop-off bus to tour all of downtown Manhattan. The bus goes to all the sights -- Empire State Building, Flat Iron Building, SoHo, Canal Street, 9/11 Memorial, Wall Street, Battery Park...you get the picture? Along the way you hop off the bus and walk around the area (kind of like a cruise ship touring the Caribean Islands...but there's pavement and the smell of garbage instead of sand and ocean breezes). Our hop-off stops: Macy's and Bloomingdale's, cuz that's how we roll in the Big City.

From Bloomingdale's we walked all the way up the East Side (59th Street to 86th along Lexington Avenue) and then across the Park (Central Park, that is, but we're now on a first name basis). The Park is filled with people -- not tourist per se -- but young families playing on the playgrounds, men playing basketball on the courts, softball teams on the fields, people picnicking, walking, biking, running, walking their dogs (NYCers love their dogs), and sitting under trees reading books. It's really something. It's a real community of people. It's not scary, it's not skanky. It's a super cool place and we're anxious to be a part of it.