THE FOOTNOTES

Scott was up to visit here in CT in mid August before returning to FSU for his senior year. One of the things we did was visit NYC for the weekend. Here are some of the highlights of the trip.

The train from New Haven to Grand Central Station was an easy way to get right into the heart of the city without driving. We were able to walk to our hotel - the Intercontinental, check in and hit the streets right away.

We started out by taking one of those double-decker bus tours of lower Manhatten which allows you to get off at any stop and get back on any time you want. It was a perfect day, we were lucky. You had to be careful not to stand up or you might get knocked out by the street lights hanging overhead.

Since Scott had spent the summer in Italy, we figured it would be fitting that we have lunch in Little Italy. The streets were pedestrian only, lots of side walk cafes, Italian singers - it was like a festival. The food was pretty good too as you can imagine. He got a kick out of seeing all the restaurants with Italian names he recognized.

We visited Ground Zero, but there wasn't really much to see, construction is underway on the new building. There was a group of protesters there handing out pamplets claiming it was an inside job by our own government.

The Staten Island Ferry is free and is a great way to see the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the NYC skyline.

We capped off the day Saturday with a visit to Rockerfeller Plaza. This is where NBC studios is, including the Today show. The view from the "Top of the Rock" is pretty amazing. Here we are looking north over Central Park.

The view of Lower Manhatten to the south is pretty nice too, including a view of the Empire State Building.

On Sunday we spent the morning walking through Central Park. It's impressive to see when you realize it's in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world. If you didn't look up to see skyscapers, you might think you were out in the country.

One place we had to see was Yankee Stadium. This is the last season before they tear down the old stadium and begin play in the new stadium next year. This is the house that Ruth built - the place where all the great Yankees of the 20th century played. As basball fans, we had to see it before it was gone. We took the subway to the Bronx, it's actually a pretty easy way to get around, it wasn't as bad as we thought it might be.

We paid a fortune for tickets and our seats were about as high up as you can get. If you've never been to the upper deck at Yankee Staduim, it's about as steep as it can get. The view was great however and the best part was we were in the shade. It was a great day - there were at least 5 home runs, Yanks beat the Kansas City Royals 15-5.