Painting the Town.. Vignette #2

I thought I should finish blogging about Rachel's visit so here it is. this may be a long one but I have a lot to get on here. 

Saturday morning Jason, David and James arrived and I went to pick them up. It was SO foggy! The weather was hot and HUMID- we were waiting to get rained on that night and in the meantime were stuck with some nasty weather.. but cool photo opportunities! On the way to the airport I pass the Verrazano Bridge and with the fog beginning to engulf it I just had to take a picture. I pulled over to the side of the highway and got out to snap some photos (trying to take them while driving was just not working out for me, not to mention it's kind of dangerous)

The Verrazano Bridge isn't as popular as the Brooklyn, but it's Chris's favorite and a really beautiful bridge. It connects Brooklyn to Staten Island. On the way home the fog had gotten worse and you couldn't even see the tops of the bridge! 

After picking up the boys we got some pizza at Dominicks and then headed for Coney Island. With the humidity, heat and fog, it wasn't the ideal day to see it, but we still had fun. They are closing the park down for renovations and that was the last weekend it was going to be open. We got some food at Nathan's, walked the boardwalk, took a ride on the Cyclone and left. It started to rain that night so we wanted to find something inside to do. We headed into the city to Ripley's Believe it or Not. Seriously, some of that stuff.. I couldn't believe! 

Unfortunately Jodi had to go home early so Sunday morning Rachel and I took her to the airport before church. That afternoon the two of us has some perfect Rachel and Janet time in Prospect Park. We sat, drank ice coffees from Connecticut Muffin, talked, prayed, relaxed.. it was wonderful! 
In case you don't know, Prospect Park is kind of Brooklyn's Central Park- but it's not busy or touristy. It was designed by the same guys that designed Central Park. It's one of my favorite spots, I love it!

Monday I took the day off and we all went to Canal Street in search of some knock-offs. Purses, watches, sunglasses.. whatever. Jason wanted to get a Coach purse for Julie and I advised him not to get one on display in the shops.. instead have them take you to a back room or something because this is where they keep the good stuff. I have been led through a door in the wall to a back room, or to another building on another block.. but I have never experienced what Jason and I did to get that purse. The woman told us to follow her as she walked down the street.. I thought she was taking us to another building.. after we go down the block, around the corner and half way down another block she stops at a van. A van! She opens the door for us and inside along the sides and back of the van are small shelves crammed with purses! The seats had been taken out, the windows were darkly tinted and a small wooden bench was placed inside for us to sit on! We got inside, she shut the door and turned on a light and proceeded to show us the goods. We did a little bartering and in the end Jason got a very nice purse to take home to his wife and and even better story to tell along with it! 

After Canal Street we headed to MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) to get some culture. (We had already gone to the Guggenheim while Rachel's brother was here) I was really excited about this because the special exhibit was Salvador Dali- you know the melting clocks?? Most people know him as a surrealist painter, but did you know that he also did film? He did some silent films and then later worked with Walt Disney on a short cartoon and Alfred Hitchcock on the dream sequence in his 1945 film Spellbound. (Has anyone seen it? We have been watching a lot of his films through netflix this past year but haven't seen that one yet..)

That night we went and saw the taping of Conan O'Brien. Did anyone watch last Mondays show? I don't think we were shown in the audience, but maybe you could hear our cheering. 

All in all it was a great time. I am still amazed at how much we got in!