Friday, March 25
Arrived in New York on Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel on the Upper West Side (6 Columbus). It was opposite the Time Warner Center which housed a fancy mall, health club, some nice restaurants, Whole Foods, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Columbus Circle is on the South end of Central Park. The hotel was very convenient for Carnegie Hall and Central Park.
Had a
drink in the Library Bar at the Hudson Hotel – they made good Manhattans.
We found a really excellent and tiny tapas restaurant, Filo. Tried 4 things on the menu and enjoyed them all – Burrata, Mushroom Tacos (Keith’s favorite), Lamb Ribs, and Mussels.
Saturday, March 26
We enjoyed a workout at the Equinox health club across from the hotel. Then headed to see the musical “Beautiful”, which is about Carole King’s life and music. We both loved the musical. It had great dialog, humor, music, settings, and ensemble cast.
After the musical we had a drink 
and snacks at Bar Centrale which is a speakeasy (bar/restaurant that doesn’t have a sign or indication that it’s there – just looked like a normal house) near Broadway.
Diana’s Mom, Clorinda, arrived smoothly on Saturday evening. Her driver got out and gave Diana a hug and told her how much she’d enjoyed driving her Mom.
Sunday, March 27th (Easter Sunday)
Diana and her Mom went to Hackensack, NJ to visit Clorinda’s high school friend Jojo. She hadn’t been back there in 70 years. They had breakfast at the “Chit Chat Café”, drove by Clorinda’s childhood home, and attended Easter mass at the church she attended as a child. Diana found it interesting that the Catholic mass was conducted by an Indian priest with a strong accent. Clorinda sang a hymn as people were entering for the 2nd service.
Diana did a great job of navigating her rental car out of Manhattan and over to Hackensack and back. They drove over the Washington bridge which was opened for traffic on the day Clorinda was born.
Meanwhile, Keith explored Central Park. He walked about 8 miles up the East side across and down the West side. He found the statue of Robert Burns, the Guggenheim museum, and the huge reservoir on the North end of the park. He passed several baseball fields and children’s 
playgrounds throughout the park. The “Imagine” mosaic is a tribute to John Lennon in an area of the park called “Strawberry Fields”.
That evening we had sushi at “Sushi Damo”. We laughed because that’s what we call Diana’s youngest brother Adamo. After dinner we wandered through the Time Warner Center and peeked into Dizzy Gillespie’s jazz club at Lincoln Center. There was a great band playing with a great view of the city behind them.
Monday, March 28th
This was the day of the big Carnegie Hall performance. We sat in the fancy boxes on the first level up from the orchestra section. The band did an amazing job and the sound was fantastic. The call it the Stradivarius of concert halls and I can see why – you could hear every individual instrument perfectly and very clearly. Here’s the poster for the concert.
After the performance, we had lunch at an Italian restaurant, Trattoria Dell Arte, right across from the hall.
On Monday evening we met up with some friends who live in New York at Landmark restaurant. It was a very nice French restaurant and we were lucky enough to get one of the “Dome of Silence” tables which made it easier to talk. Excellent moules frites, lamb chops, and boudin noir. They brought green apple flavored candy floss after dinner. Here’s Diana’s Mom enjoying some and getting a chuckle out of it.
Here’s a picture of the gang. Diana, Keith, Mary, Chuck, Olga, and Clorinda. Teodor was taking the picture. It was a very memorable dinner catching up with old friends and introducing them to Clorinda.