The Berger Family Album

Long Island and New York City

Long Island Bumpkins

Jo wrote:

Our stay in New York City was terrific in large part due to the hospitality of our friends Sandy, Peter, Zach, and their dog Kachina. They live out on Long Island in the heart of an Orthodox Jewish community. We happened to be there during Succot so harvest booths were tucked into every yard. Families walked to services carrying their lulav and esrog...the palm frond and citron fruit associated with the holiday. The commercial streets were lined with delis, yeshiva study centers, and shops specializing in Judaica items...the Orthodox people, as they are referred to, are a major political block in this part of the world with a strong cultural identity...riding in on the train a large percentage of the men wear yarmulke(sp) and Jewish newspapers abound...its really quite different from the isolated enclaves of jews in the west.

The Pumpkin King

Being the country mice that we are, we were continually surprised to find that New York is more than New York City...there are really beautiful farms out on Long Island...Peter, Sandy, and Zach took us pumpkin picking at the Lewin Farm...we rode the hay wagon out into the middle of the pumpkin field and searched the furrows for the perfect jack-o-lantern. We had a huge pile which we scooped up into our arms and hauled back home. We stopped at the farm's vegetable market wherethe counters were overflowing with fresh peppers, tomatos, eggplant, lettuce, potatos, cauliflower the size of basket balls, broccoli, and apples, apples, apples.

This is all in sharp contrast to the chainsaw of New York City. One cannot go anywhere without 10,000 other people all pushing to occupy the exact same space before you do ...traffic is unbelievable and it was no small feat to fight our way through lane after lane of aggressive commuters to cross the Whitestone Bridge onto Long Island. There is a veritable spider web of expressways to negotiate in order to arrive at the desired 'boro'. Once we arrived the neighbors were astounded to see our 32' long rig backing into Sandy and Peter's driveway. The neighbors on either side found reasons to come over and check us out...it was great.

A Seasoned Traveler Riding The NYC Subway

...Once parked, we relied upon the Long Island Railroad, the New York Subway, and Sandy's driving prowess to see the sights. Sandy and Peter were incredibly gracious to haul us around. The sights are really great to see...we took the ferry to Ellis Island and slowly made our way up the 354 steps to the Statue of Liberty's Crown...no one tells you that the crown is really a 10' hairpin loop at the top with peepholes!!! forget those fantasies of standing on Liberty's brow commanding a view of Manhattan...still, seeing the interior construction of the body was well worth the tedious climb. Eiffel designed the framework to support the copper panels riveted together to form the statue.

An FAO Schwartz Welcome To NYC

We went to the top of the Empire State Building and rode the simulated SkyRide through Manhattan. We strolled down Fifth Avenue and delighted in the fantastic toy kingdom of FAO Schwartz. Of all the buildings, our favorite without a doubt was the Chrylser Building with its sleek art deco gargoyles and the fine attention to even the smallest of architectural details. You should see the inlay on the elevators!!!!

We walked the length of the Manhattan from Penn Station to Battery Park crossing neighborhoods every few blocks...it gave us a chance to appreciate the diversity the city has to offer. The boys were thrilled to see their first Broadway show...CATS. It was perfect. The theaters are small and feel intimate, the costumes and sets were marvelous, the music was great, and in keeping with New York tradition, we moved down to better seats after the first fifteen minutes of the show. I had no idea the lyrics were written by T.S. Eliot in his book.

Street Sculpture In The Garment District

The theater district around Times Square offered us the consumate urban experience with its gigantic billboards of steaming cups of soups, coca cola bottles, flashing world globes, advertising murals, dow jones ticker tapes racing across the building facades, and a host of colorful theater marquees...Sandy and I snuck in one night and saw the vibrant flamenco company of Cristina Hoyas perform at the City Center...the singing tore your heart out, the guitarists performed fingering acrobatics, and Cristina Hoyas moved like a graceful breeze. Manhattan at night was the 'Cats Meow'.

For those of you who think we really aren't too keen on cities...you'll be relieved to hear that we loved New York!!! Did I mention the incredible collections at the Met???? We spent the day hiking through gallery after gallery...

The Parisi Family Invite The Boys To

Sarah's 4th Grade Class

Grandpa Dave's Childhood Home In

Mt. Vernon