Thank you for those who offered last minute advice. What a wonderful time to spend the hours in and around Manhattan.

We headed to MamaLani's in Bronxville Friday morning. Running late we broke down and shared a burger and fry at McD's and gas on the highway - uuuuugggghhhh! Never again. I will find road food between Boston and Manhattan/NJ!

Headed to the Botanical garden and loved it . The tram gives the firstimer a nice overview and the Caribbean Exhibit was wonderful - walking thru an indoor rainforest. Sidenote: they shoud pump in a rainforest bird soundtrack, as it is strange to walk among familiar plants and trees without the sound!

From there, our first visit to Arthur Ave, although MamaLani went to school at Aquinas HS in the hood many years ago~. I chose Robertos, as we have some great redsauce places and I cook a mean meatball and parm kinda meal on my own. Robertos: Fantastic service. Great space. Food was just ok. Like the service of plating antepasto and shared pastas at the table. Just wish the things we ordered wowed me. I will be back to check out other options in the hood and I will try Robertos again, now that I understand the space and style better.

Back in Bronxville, we went to see The Waitress. Nice arthouse movie, makes me want to make a pie!

Saturday in Manhattan. Rather than take the Metro in, we drove the Henry Hudson, stopped in at the Circleline to check they Yellow Taxi schedule and then drove on to downtown. Parked onstreet on Wall street with 3 hour parking and decided to take the 2 minute $5 yellow taxi to Brooklyn and walk back. I will never ever recommend Grimaldis and the BB walk again. There must have been 60-75 tourists waiting in line at my favorite pizza haunt. Like hidden gems in the tropics, sooner or later you recommend them to death. Next pizza will be planned at opening or midweek. The walk over the bridge was glorious, as we had a firstimer with us! And although I have never been a Seaport fan, it was jammpacked with tourists and fun, and I had never been inside the mall area - thanks to a trip to the loo, I now understand its appeal.

So 3 hours in, and avoiding a mediocre overpriced tourist lunch I packed the gang back into the truck and headed up FDR to do a driving tour around Central Park and pick up a picnic at Zabars on Bway and 80th. Again got onstreet parking in the hood and we had a great picnic on the museum grounds and then checked out the craft fair surrounding this UWS block. Some really fun looking stuff. From there we spent a couple of hours strolling Central Park, the rowboats, Strawberry Fields could use some sprucing.

Love this neighborhood and think next hotel visit may be in UWS. Headed home on the Henry Hudson at dusk - so beautiful.

Returning to the Boston area today, we took a driving tour thru Old Seaport to check out better roadfood options. We then continued on and revisited Mystic for an hour. We were going to have a snack at our favorite little bfast joint - the little house on the right heading into mystic. But with the glorious weather, we decided to check out the fried clams next store at the seaview shack. Decent clams and fries. And so we headed home without a stop at Atwell Ave for some Italian provisions. Burgers on the BBQ sounds like the way to end some great weather and enjoying the most perfect transitional season of flora and fauna>

Again thanks for those who offer last minut advice in NYC. There is always something going on that is easily missed. Never made it to Gramercy due to a late start, but driving in on the weekend provided us a grand tour that could not be done on foot/

Again Mahalo~

Oh honey, If I was gonna get homesick, you would have done it to me here!
Mario's! That was my Arthur Ave favorite, haven't been in years though.
I can't let the Yankee read this, he will get all mushy over things like NYC craft fairs and pizza. ( we have not had a decent pizza since we left NY, btw)..
Everytime we see a movie that shows Central Park and the boathouse, he says to me, with a twinkle in his eye...remember that? lol
Thank you for posting..thank you for the memories
your pal, Scarlett

Thanks kealalani. Your report and Scarlett's wistfulness are making me twitchy to go back next year.

Oh iamq! I forgot to mention the butcher window on Arthur Ave sporting split/skinned lamb head on with innards intact. Know how you love the specialty italian products! To think I could have ordered you a tray of lamb heads - eyes in tact - to make a nice lamb stew or reduction. Eyeball soup - yum!

Maybe that little description will keep the yank from getting homesick. I'm pretty sure I have cured darling Scarlett of missing Arthur Ave's finest offerings for a little while. Scarlett, when you find that property, the Yank is just ganna have to build you a brick oven for pizza!!!!!!

Oh???? And what did Scarlett and the Yank do at the boathouse to make his eyes twinkle at the memory?????

hmmmmm

Kealalani, where is Old Seaport?

Scarlett, now you have to make a trip to the Northwest. We had the most fantastic pizza in Salta. Don't have a clue what the restaurant was, though, because we grabbed an outside table in the main square on a crowded evening.

"Old Saybrook, CT"

My typing and my brain weren't working together!