NYC Q&A: the city

Kristine: Clear up one or two NYC misconceptions people have about the city. Either the experience of living there or the city itself.
Abbie: What were your top 5 favorite outings in the city? 5 before kids / 5 after kids.
B: I agree with telling us about your favorite things about the city, or even favorite moments. Do it!
Laura: I am so excited to hear your favorite moments from the city- maybe one favorite family moment in a busy, busy, world.
Rheslie: If you could live anywhere in NYC where would that have been?

Well now...

Misconception #1. It's not just a cliche that non-New Yorkers think New Yorkers are mean. Before I moved here from LA, I was warned by a few different people that people in the city are all callous and cruel. My former boss even went into this long story about how people would literally step on me to get where they were going blah blah blah. I didn't believe him for a second, before and especially after I got there. Sure, people get in their zone, but from day 1 I found that people were so friendly and willing to help if I asked them. And later on I found out that whenever I was stranded in the subway station, at the bottom of a long flight of stairs, with a double stroller and a broken elevator (I don't even know how many times this happened... a lot), someone always always always offered to help. So that was an easy one.

Misconception #2. I was a little scared to taste the tap water. It's AMAZING. It has ruined me for all other waters. Sorry UT and CA and even MD, I've had you since and you just don't compare. I don't know if bad water in NYC would be a common misconception, but it was mine, and I'm so glad I was wrong.

Five favorite outings, pre-kids:
1. Central Park rowboats, hands down
2. Concerts - we heard great music at the Kitting Factory, Mercury Lounge, and Central Park Great Lawn
3. Eating out, but I have a hard time listing favorites because we almost never went to the same place twice
4. Bike riding down Riverside Park - we once went from 168th down to Battery Park and back. So much fun!
5. The Village Halloween Parade - Jared was an astronaut, I (7 months pregnant with twins) was of course Saturn (the planet), and our friend Penny was a Trekkie. Our little space brigade got a lot of attention that night and we kind of loved it.

We must have done the CP rowboats 10 times our first summer!
Okay, maybe 3.

Saturn has rings!
Our Halloween costumes are always homemade and last-minute. They turn out better that way. '09 may have been an especially good year.


On our way out the door, our doorman said to his friend, He landed on that planet! Hahaha.

Five favorite outings, post-kids:
1. Dolphin Park
2. The garden
3. City Island with the Shamos, our friends from CT
4. Central Park, especially Sheep's Meadow (we had a couple great family/friend picnics there) and Heckscher Playground
5. The Horeys apartment

Our first family picnic, at Sheep's Meadow in Central Park.

I was pretty nervous about a big outing with the twins (I still am sometimes), but it turned out great.
Having Jared there makes all the difference.

Where would I have lived? So many amazing places to choose from, but if I have to pick one it would be West 74th, 10% because of the pretty brownstones and nearness to Central Park; 90% because of Levain. Also because in this fantasy Abbie would be my neighbor again--we have the same dream street. Really, anywhere in the W70s or 80s would do!

But really really, I'm so glad we got to live where we did, in the medical center towers. We lived right by the A, C and 1 trains, two blocks from Jared's clinic, close to a few really great friends in WaHi, and where I could take a picture from my window with a crappy camera and it would come out like the one at the top of this post. I wouldn't have changed a thing.