A day in the city (friends who leave a key to their home)

July 3, 2013

The kids have been looking forward to this day for months. They don't remember visiting NYC when they were babies and toddlers and for Brienne, it's her first visit ever.

A day in New York City was an afterthought to our travel plans. The area is notoriously expensive and after the expense of Creationfest - the big "entertainment" on this trip - we weren't sure we could swing it. But then I reconnected with an old friend who lives in Northern NJ. (We used to live in NJ when Céline was a baby. Laurent was born here.)

This old friend actually found me through this e-book sale of all things. Read about my e-book on someone else's blog and said, "hey, I know that woman" and sent me an e-mail. (Thanks Susan!)

This all happened before confirming our travel plans this summer. With a connection, or re-connection, in NJ I thought we just might be able to swing a trip to New York City while traveling through on our way back north from PA.

We're staying in our old friend's NJ home, which is almost within sight of the city. Our friends are on vacation themselves so they left us a key. We haven't seen these people in 12 years. We are blessed by their generosity. Hospitality has taken us far on this trip, I hope to write more about that someday.

Well, it's very late and we have an early-ish start tomorrow for New Hampshire where we'll spend a few days with more friends. Back to the quiet of the woods which I'm ready for after three days of Philly suburbia and the busy-ness of NJ and NYC.

Alison on July 3, 2013, 1:04 p.m.

I love the 'feet from below' picture - and your smiles in Times Square.

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Rana on July 3, 2013, 5:16 p.m.

New York is such an electrifying city, but I'm like you I'd be ready to come home to the quiet after a few days. Great photos! Enjoy the rest of your trip!

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Jess on July 4, 2013, 3:32 p.m.

Oh, how wonderful! My heart is both in the outdoors and in NYC. I just love the heartbeat of that city! I worked in Patterson, NJ and in Brooklyn for a while each. What did the kids think?

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- renee on July 4, 2013, 6:05 p.m.
  
  Jess, they loved it. I was mostly overwhelmed, though I am so intrigued by all the people. I heard so many different languages spoken. We definitely weren't the only tourists that day! Although we used to live in Bergen county I feel I have different sensibilities now, or something like that. The city and traffic and the lack of customer service, etc. is wearisome to me. The kids found it exciting! And I was happy to share in that experience with them.
  
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Susan on July 5, 2013, 8:54 p.m.

We had a wedding on July 3 in Jersey City. It was at Liberty State park. Such a lovely view of NYC. After the hustle of Northern Jersey I am glad to be back in my quiet Va. Town near the blue ridge mountain.

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