Wednesday, February 21, 2007

the new york city report: part two—the metropolis

And so, the conference gave me a chance to travel again! To a place I hadn’t been in over seven years—so that qualified as a “new” place for me. I’d been to New York City during high school, when my marching band took part in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. I got a little taste of the city during that trip, and, as it turns out, I saw more of it then than I did during the conference weekend!

Our city prowling consisted of two taxi rides (from and to the Newark airport), and a lonnnng walk up Fifth Avenue. I had hoped for more time to play in the city (especially in the Upper West Side), but our conference took so much time and energy that this was all we could reasonably do. It was enough.

Friday night we got to see the city lit up, as our enthusiastic cab driver pointed out his favorite view. He encouraged me to take a picture (several, actually), rolling down my window for me, telling me exactly when to snap a shot. (He was easily our favorite cab driver! Such a funny man.)


Obviously, this was much more impressive—and less wobbly!—in person

The rest of Friday’s exploration? Peering down from our twenty-fifth-floor window at the corner below: A traffic intersection, a tall (somewhat ugly) statue, and a long line of customers waiting to buy food from a street-side vendor.

Saturday had no time whatsoever for exploration, excepting elevator travel from the twenty-fifth floor to the third. (Which doesn’t count. I know.) But Mom and I were able to sit for a few hours at the hotel’s Italian restaurant, after the day’s work had finished. We enjoyed a long, slow meal, while comparing notes about speakers and our new ideas for our work and lives. So that was a sufficiently posh experience—it was a beautiful restaurant, and I loved being so well taken care of by the waiters. Reminded me of Sicily, reminded me of those Italian lessons that I really will start, one of these days…


Me, a little dazed and very hungry, at Etrusca

Sunday, after the conference ended, we really did get out a bit. Mom had heard of a bookstore called Books of Wonder, a children’s bookstore, which had Cupcake Café attached to it. The perfect conclusion to a children’s writers’ conference, eh?


The cheerful entrance to Cupcake Café

We browsed through their stacks, and the selection of books was wonderful. We found Professor Gary Schmidt’s Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy, and then I found the section of Chris Van Allsburg books, which brought back all kinds of memories. I picked up The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (which I just love!!) and another book that has haunted me since childhood: A City in Winter, by Mark Helprin (illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg). Then it was time for the forty-block trek back to our hotel.


Empire State Building


the Rockefeller Center

We had dinner at that same lovely Italian restaurant, with my cousin and his wife. They live upstate, and it was so good to see them for a few hours!

Then, sadly, it was time to pack. On Monday morning, we stole a few minutes to read in the hotel’s Starbucks before catching a cab and going back to the airport.


Our reflections in a chrome pillar at the airport: Mom and me

Such a whirlwind trip! Any real traveling and shopping and exploring will have to wait for a better time, but it was good to be in a new place. So now, I’m left with my lists of new ideas, new resolutions, new plans for writing work. Next up? I’m finally reopening my Nanowrimo novel and rereading it, making plans for revision and phase two…—jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 02/21 at 06:49 PM
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