20180524 NYC: Lovely day today in all respects. Got up about 8:00 and met our dear friend, Arthur Albert, at 9:00 at the Brooklyn Diner Times Square. Great visit with Double A. Of course, everyone on the diner staff knows AA. Good breakfast. He sends hugs to all of the STL crowd.

Went back to the hotel since it was only a couple of blocks away. Then headed up Sixth to 53^rd and MOMA. Lots of construction at MOMA that will last for years to expand their galleries and space. Shopped a little at the design store and then went inside the museum to tour for about an hour before meeting Marian’s cousin, Jesse Goldstine, for lunch. Spent most of the time before lunch in a photography exhibit of the work of Stephen Shore. Interesting perspectives. Good stuff to think about in what he wrote and what he shot. Some of his works were done on 8x10 camera! Wowzer.

At Noon, we found Jesse at a table on the fifth-floor restaurant. Had a wonderful visit, conversations, sharing of his and our families. Sat on a balcony overlooking what is the interior sculpture garden which was under renovation. After lunch, we went to a members-only opening of Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams. Holy merde! What a super exhibit showing models of his dream cities where he used all sorts of multi-media objects to build or adorn his buildings. And the capstone of it all was a virtual reality visit to the main city where we could navigate up and down and around to see the city we had just viewed as a model. Glad we were here on members-only day since it’ll be a zoo when it opens to the public.

Final exhibit was an extensive one by Adrian Piper. Very conceptual. Also thought-provoking and somewhat confrontational. She really has an expanded mind and sense of things. Hard to describe her work, but really well worth seeing it. Need to spend lots of time to get through it all.

Walked back to hotel to freshen up. Headed out for dinner at Capital Grille on 51^st. Had elegant dinner and wine and wended our way home through the throngs and lights of Times Square with a stop at the theatre where Marian is seeing Bruce tomorrow.

Meeting with Molly, Jesse’s partner, tomorrow AM for breakfast. Really nice day today.

20180526 NYC-Tel Aviv: Let’s start that it’s 7:30 AM 5/27 in Israel as I write this. Which is also 12:30 AM 5/27 in NYC. Just finished a dinner of salad, grilled peaches, rack of lamb, and a lemon tart. Now back to the beginning of the day.

Got up about 8:00. I went down to breakfast in the hotel, which was fine, but way overpriced. More than the other breakfasts I’ve had this trip. The day was spent just wandering around. We walked over to Fifth and down to the Empire State Building and then back to the hotel to wait for the Spellers. When they arrived and put their luggage in our room, we went out for lunch at Ben’s Deli. Okay but not great. Next to Carlo’s Bakery for Anna and Andy to get cannoli, which are quite good. There was a street festival on Sixth-food, stuff, Tarot readers, etc. We walked through it for several blocks. Back to the hotel. Out again over to Rockefeller Plaza, the NBC store, and back down Broadway to the hotel. So the day was walking in rectangles always ending back at the hotel.

Anna and Andy showered and we sat around until it was time to leave. Had the same limo driver that had brought us in on Wednesday. Nice man who apologized for his error in dropping us off at the wrong hotel. And off to JFK we went a few minutes before 7:00.

Both Delta and El Al leave from Terminal 4. The Spellers went one way and we another. Checked in with Delta Priority. I had digital boarding passes, but the agent didn’t need them and printed out passes. We went to the TSA line and found out that my boarding pass had TSA Pre-Check while Marian’s didn’t. This was strange since the digital passes showed Pre-Check on both of ours. I zipped through and waited for Marian. She said her line was like a ride in Disney World with a long line winding around before you got to the screening.

We joined up and walked down Concourse B to the Delta Sky Club about 8:00. Found seats next to a nephrologist from Orlando and his woman friend, a drug rep for Mallinckrodt who lives in Columbia, SC. They are going to Scotland for a week to some rare Scotch whiskey festival. Spent our time in the club talking to them until it was time to board about 9:30.

Got down to the gate with the hordes waiting to board just in time to hear our rows being called. Went down a ramp to find a full set of security screening waiting for all of us. Even had to take off our shoes regardless of age. Should have known this was coming given Tracy’s description of extra screening when she went to Israel on El Al in 2014 and 2016.

So were in our seats for about 45 minutes before taking off. Plane left a few minutes late and it took some time before dinner appeared. Thus my entry at the beginning of this log. Rack of lamb at 30,000 feet! Speaking of which, did 15,000 steps, 5 miles today.

Now it’s 8:00 AM Tel Aviv time and we should be getting in around 4:30. Still lots of time to snooze. Marian is fast asleep. Oh, as expected, all announcements as well as printed material like the menu are in English and Hebrew.

20180525 NYC: Got up about 7:30, left here an hour later to walk to 44^th and Lex to meet Molly Peterson, Jesse’s mate, for breakfast in Grand Central Station at the Great Northern Food Hall. She knows the chef here and he uses her product. The chef is a partner in the famous Danish restaurant, Noma. There is a set of wonderful takeout food, a breakfast sit-down restaurant where we ate, and a Michelin-starred fine-dining restaurant, Agern. Want to go back there either for typical Danish lunch or a great dinner.

Molly is vibrant and fun and full of energy much like Jesse is. Great visit. They are heading off to Provence for a week tomorrow! Spent as much time with her as we could before she had to go to a meeting nearby. Molly sent me a “to do” list for Iceland and will put us in touch with a well-known photographer/leader there as well. We left the station onto 42^nd Street and walked uptown to the Walter Kerr Theatre so Marian could retrieve her Bruce Springsteen on Broadway ticket. Joy joy joy. Went back to hotel to freshen up.

We walked from the hotel down Seventh to 28^th and then west to The High Line. Beautiful day to walk on The High Line. Sunny and warm (hot?). We headed in the downtown direction and walked all the way to the end. Met some nice folks from Texas on the way there and saw them again near the end of our walk. Got back onto the street and went into Chelsea Market and had a nice lunch at Sarabeth’s. Wandered through the market, got a gelato, and out onto the street for the walk back to the hotel.

At this point, we had walked over 16,000 steps and over 5 miles according to my Health app. Yesterday was a total of 12,300 steps, 4 miles, and only 8,500 steps and under 4 miles on the day we got here. So we spent the rest of the afternoon resting in our room, doing Internet and computer stuff, etc.

About 6:00, I left and walked down Broadway from 42^nd to 20^th and over a block to Gramercy Tavern for a delightful dinner with Chick, Dorothy, Michael, and Laura Bisberg. Three-course fixed-price meal with lots of choices for the courses. Good wine, of course. Great food an service. But the real treat was getting to know Laura and visiting with the family. Long dinner. 6:45-9:30. Chick dropped off Michael and Laura at Penn Station and me at 48^th and Eighth, a half-block from the Kerr where Marian was seeing Bruce.

About 10:30, all emerged from the theatre. Marian was beaming from the experience. It was all she had hoped for. We walked down Broadway. Stopped in the Brooklyn Diner where Marian had matzah ball soup. Then back through the crowds to the hotel. After going to the room, I went downstairs to the lobby level to print out boarding passes for tomorrow, but found I could do it all on my iPhone and have the passes stored there. Back to the room to finish this log. Final step count according to my iPhone is 21,800, 7.4 miles. And to bed.

20180527 Tel Aviv: I got about 5+ hours sleep, Marian a bit more I think. About 2:30 PM Israeli time they served a nice breakfast. And when we entered Israeli airspace, all had to remain seated and belted in per Israeli regulations. Landed on time around 4:30.

As soon as we got off the plane, there was a young woman to greet us. She took us to a special elevator and down to the tarmac, into a van, and around to where Passport Control is. Then she took us though a special line and into baggage claim. Wow. Great service to be whisked through very quickly. Got our bags and met Yael outside of Customs. Was told Spellers flight was delayed over an hour-and-a-half so Yael drove us to the Dan Tel Aviv and had another driver booked to take Spellers after they were zipped though entry like we were.

Room 910 overlooking the Mediterranean with the old city of Yaffo (Jaffa) to the south. Spellers are in 908 next door. Around 7:45 we walked north along the water until we found a nice spot to eat, Gazoz Beach. Sat on the deck by the sand and gentle waves. Very nice dinner, huge portions. And then walk back to hotel for showers, clothes washing, and bed. Meeting Yael at 9:00 tomorrow.