Great report!

Lee's dessert reaction brings to mind the old cliche: "Life is short. Eat dessert first."

Marvelous reading Patrick. I love to hear about your impromptu trips to Coney Island and the like, but as much, the caring and sharing between you and Lee. It's quite touching to witness this "other" journey.

How lucky you both are to have each other and these experiences, and how lucky we are that you allow us to share them with you. Thank You.

patrick - today's Manhattan User's Guide (http://manhattanusersguide.com/todays.php) has a really interesting piece about a new exhibit at Grand Central's Vanderbilt Hall called "Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies," opening this Friday and running through June 22nd. It's free and open every day from 10am-7pm. I read the description and thought of you and Lee!

Gee, you are on my old stomping grounds. Born and raised in Staten Island. Our whole family used to go to Coney Island back in the 50's and 60's. But we could never eat hot dogs at Nathans cause we went on Fridays and we were catholic so we had to settle for shrimp boats. Can I come on your next trip?

Sharon, my heart bleeds for you. I remember all my Catholic friends who couldn't do pizza after basketball games in high school because it always had sausage or pepperoni on it, although the less devout ones would pick it off and add to my pizza.

mp, what a great suggestion which I'm sure I'd not have ever discovered on my own. And it has that magic word, too -- FREE. We'll be going!

when you open Fodors today it has the top 12 free things to do in NYC, you might want to check that link out too !

just thought how lame that was, I should give you the link in case they change it and it gets buried and hard to find -

http://www.fodors.com/wire/archives/002502.cfm

I too have throughly enjoyed your report. Must tell you I took your recommendation for Roberto Passon's 2 weeks ago - we loved it! I was very nervous about choosing a restaurant with my well-traveled friends in tow. One commented that it was the best meal she had had in a very long time. The service was incredible! Hope you continue to have a wonderful visit. Wasn't the Monet exhibition wonderful?

Hello Patrick!
Like others, I'm thoroughly enjoying your adventure in NY. I am curious, as I'm always tweaking ways to utilize AAdvantage miles - you can fly from point a to point b, stay a month, and continue the itinerary on one ticket? (I'm not sure my question even makes sense!) Cheers!

I really appreciate your report Patrick. Looking forward to more.

dorkforcemom, that's one reason we tend to save our miles and do free 90,000 business class tickets to Europe. You can fly open jaw -- into one place and out another and you are also entitled to two stopovers -- one going and one coming home, OR a US gateway plus one stopover going either way. So we are doing our US gateway (NYC) and London as stopovers on our our way to Rome, then returning from Paris. You can't do that if you buy economy tickets and then use miles plus pay to upgrade to business.

Patrick,
When will you be in Paris and Rome? We will be in Paris for a few nights June 29 - July 1 and then in Rome from July 9-13 (we are going to South Africa in between).

Dawnnoelm, neither overlaps with us:
Rome June 26 to July 3 and Paris July 17 to July 27. Doing a week each in Venice and Amsterdam between those dates.

d#mn, I wish I could fit in your suitcase patrick!!! Your itinerary sounds wonderful!!!

Thanks for the info, Patrick. With the 90,000Business AAdvantage ticket, you are not restricted on how long these "layovers" are?

Your itinerary sounds heavenly. How are the two of you getting from Rome to Venice to Amsterdam to Paris? Train?

I assume you didn't manage with carryon only!

Patrick,
Where are you staying in Rome and Paris? It is first time for our family :-)

Rome to Venice by train -- Eurostar. Venice to Amsterdam by Transavia -- Dutch airline -- cheap. Amsterdam to Paris by Thalys.

In Rome: www.sleepinitaly.com/files/apt_minerva.html

In Paris:
http://www.parisattitude.com/apartme...numProduit=114

NeoPatrick:

When you come back from your long holiday I'd love to see a thread from you on recommended places to stay both here in the US and Europe. I don't think a person could go wrong with one of your recommendations.

Have you ever stayed anywhere that was not what you expected?

Sandy

Great report Patrick. Make sure you and Lee continue to have such a great time. Looking forward to all the installments. Take care and enjoy yourselves. Schnauzer