New York

Here are some things I've noticed in New York during my brief, initial stay:

(i)  Of the two dapper looking Italian guys at the Mailaino Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel, one was wearing a blindfold-(true)- with a variety of full and half-full wine glasses on their table. The bartender's guess- purely speculation- was that he was slowly going blind and trying to adapt  gracefully or else they were having a "blind" tasting;

(ii)  A lady carrying her odious, squirming tiny dog up to Communioin with her at St. Francis Xavier at Saturday night Mass;

(iii)  You should pay attention to which is the washer and which is thedryer if you're foolish enough to try to clean your clothes at an unfamilar apartment.

  And- try to find a neighborhood bar as great as Pete's Tavern- 1 block from my apartment, where O'Henry wrote "Gift of the Magi".  The Owner offered to let me plug my "I-Pod" into his jukebox!  One of the best jukeboxes of our era though not quite as good as the one at Pritchard, Idaho.