Old friends

The bummer about having one of my good friends living all the way over in Austria is that we rarely get a chance to meet up. Nevertheless, when we do, it usually makes for a pretty memorable time. This last weekend, as a precursor to Christmas, I met up with Andreas and his wife Evelyn (the last time I saw her was at their wedding well over a year ago) in NYC. She had never been to the city before, so Andreas and I got to play tourist guides. I get a kick out of showing people who have never been to NYC around. Their reactions are priceless.
We met up in Times Square and hightailed it on down to Chinatown and Little Italy, where we ate at a little place on Mulberry Street. We continued on in the general neighborhood and ended up in SoHo so that we could quickly run into the Apple store.
While the morning's weather was questionable and suggested a gloomy afternoon to follow, it was perfectly clear and sunny...an ideal day for a vist to the Empire State Building.
As a wedding gift, instead of buying them a picture frame or something, I decided to buy them some memories, should they ever come up to the city...that being a trip up the Empire State Building as well as a carriage ride in central park.
So, we headed back up to Midtown to get ourselves in a line so that we could wait in another line and yet another. It was much busier than I thought it would be, but the great weather had a big part to play, as did the timing. I prefer to go up just as the lights come up in the city....I think that makes for the most exciting view, but that's just me. Had the lines not held us up for what seemed liked 2 hours, it would have worked out perfectly. It was already dark as we got up there, but the view was still astounding, and I think I got some pretty cool photos.
We ate a nice dinner in Times Square and took a walk toward Grand Central. We ended up at a bar that, incidentally, Andreas and I, along with Greg, had been at over 6 years ago to watch the Knicks lose in the playoffs or something. It was amazing to think how different life looks at 26 than at 32, and how much life changes in 6 years. We have more control than we realize and less than we wish.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable day, made all the better with great company.