Well Imagine That!!

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We arrived in New York at just a little before 8 am and quickly made our way out of the airport to grab a cab to the hotel. And yes I squealed like a girl at the first sight of a yellow cab!! Mom had a moment at the thought of just being in said yellow cab.

As expected, our hotel room was not ready so after a bit of regrouping we made our way out the door. We were on a mission ... a John Lennon mission. We walked down from West 79th Street to the corner of 72th Street and Central Park West to reach the Dakota. This was home to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Actually this is still home to Yoko Ono. This is also where John Lennon was shot by Mark David Chapman as he returned home from the studio in time to tuck his son Sean into bed. The entrance is obviously guarded ... in part probably because of the throngs of tourists but also due to how exclusive this apartment building actually is. Lauren Bacall has also called this home and it is said that all of the tenants must provide their approval of any new residents wanting to move into the building.

We then made our way across the street to Central Park to find Strawberry Fields and the Imagine mosaic. This has been very high on my list of things to do in my lifetime for a very long time so it was quite something for me to actually see it in person. I have seen a million photos of it and now here it was. The mosaic and Strawberry Fields was obviously done in memoriam to John Lennon and was made possible by a generous contribution (which continues annually) by Yoko Ono. It is made of 10,000 small tiles from Naples, Italy and it took two workers approximately 11 work days to complete. I definitely had a moment ... I didn't cry like I did at the Eiffel Tower but came darn close. At one point I asked my mom "can you believe that we are here?" to which she distractedly replied "yeah imagine that!". Aaah yes imagine ...

The rest of the day was spent meandering throughout Central Park just enjoying this incredible green oasis in the middle of this crazy city. You can quickly forget that you are in the city and then just as quickly be reminded by the sounds of sirens, construction and honking cars. As we meandered, we came upon a number of people that seemed to be lining up ... most were sprawled on mattresses or blankets and were reading, listening to music and even playing Yatzee. The line went on and on and on and on. Curiosity got the better of us and we finally asked a young girl that was waiting in line. Turns out the Al Pacino was starring in the Merchant of Venice as part of the Shakespeare in the Park ... a free show at that! That explained it all ... I would have done the same thing!! The heat and humidity was getting to us so we took a break once we spotted a huge playground and reverted back to our childhood on the swings. Because we had not walked enough by that time (read that with a sarcastic tone) we decided to finish our visit of the park by circling the Jacqueline Kennedy Reservoir by walking along the 2.55 kilometer jogging trail.

At this point, it started raining a bit so we decided to head back to the hotel to see if our room was ready and just rest a bit. We enjoyed some wine and headed back out for supper. We chose Indian food at Mughlai on Columbus and West 75th Street ... mmmmm lamb vindaloo. From there, we decided to head back to the Imagine mosaic again. The reason that I chose the hotel that I did was to give my mom the chance to go see this every single day if she wanted to. This time, someone had laid three beautiful roses. The throngs of tourists had not subsided however. We just sat in the park and enjoyed being serenaded by a man playing John Lennon and Beatles songs.

By this time, it was starting to get a bit dark and we were thinking of heading back to the hotel. We noticed the CNN building off in the distance. Maybe hoping to have an Anderson Cooper sighting (I love him!!) we headed down Central Park West in that general direction. And we just kept on walking to only realize that we had made it all the way past Central Park to West 57th (Columbus Circle). There is a Trump Tower (we found out later that it is not THE Trump Tower though) and right beside it is this enormous golden globe. Quite a sight!

It was time to head back to the hotel because it was actually starting to get a little late (and we had both been up since 3 am that morning!). We walked down Broadway to make our way back to the hotel and this is when both my mom and I realized that there is a reason that New York is called the city that never sleeps. There were still tons of people in restaurants, walking the streets, jogging and just going about their day. Having been awake now for about 17 hours ... the Fournier women called it a night and with that two more things off of my list of things to do in my lifetime!

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Comments

[J-Guy]

NY, NY
Good to see that you are having a good time... And "Happy 40th B'Day" in NY.