If you can make it, there, I'll see you around 11:30 at the intersection of 47th and 7th under the big Hobbit banner

On the first, Katie and I visited New York City! We did the usual tourist gig. I've never felt so small as when I step out of a bus or a train or a subway terminal and the whole city has suddenly grown up around me, like it never really existed until that point. Then the Vandals were on the stereo at Rockefeller Center..

Katie's friend James, who lives locally, had graciously volunteered as a tour guide. I invited my dear friend Matt, who is living in Camden, NJ for law school, and who had never been to New York. He always wears a full suit, and so, in the midst of our fellow tourists, was famously easy to spot. 

On the way to the Natural History Museum (my sister knows how to make a trip appeal to me), the two of us decided to get Frederick Douglas in on our adventure.

We inhabited several destinations. Saint Patrick's cathedral was probably the most strange, given such a public mass. The Museum of Natural History, as well, was fascinating--the animal models, I think, were our collective favorite.

After Matt departed to Camden, and James to his home, Katie and I emerged from Penn Station. A young woman was singing Christmas songs, and the lights were overwhelming. We spotted a famous Canadian gig and got coffee, walking around and talking.

She excitedly snapped this picture!

We went home tired and satisfied with our journey. Must go again in the summer!