Return to the two cities: New York and Philadelphia

Went to Philadelphia again this year for the Candlelight Vigil at CHOP as part of Worldwide Children's Memorial Day. 

Have been back to NYC in the past two years but hadn't been back to the midtown area of which there are keen memories of times there with Laura.  It was just two years ago that we had a wonderful evening with Laura going to the Christmas show at Radio City and there were other memories as well of seeing shows and going to Times Square to go to the Hello Kitty (actually Sanrio) store.  Suse and I went into NYC this past Friday to meet up with our friend Chris and see the Van Gogh exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). Looking out the window of the train on the way in brought back one memory after another, of Laura, and even of other events in life from long ago.  The train rushed past St. Hubert's in Madison where Kirby our corgi went through all her dog training classes with Laura watching proudly as Kirby reached her Canine Good Citizen award.  On we went past the  Short Hills pharmacy where I used to go to get Laura's cyclophosphamide 25 mg tablets (only place in area that had them.)  Into NYC and then onto the  uptown E train only to impulsively get off the subway one stop early. We walked upstairs to the street to find we were staring right at the Gershwin Theater, home of Wicked.  (There would be other reminders of Wicked like this neat taxi sign.)  

Joining Chris, we headed into the museum and into the Van Gogh exhibit, the Colors of the Night.  The displays of his letters and of some of the books he liked to read were nearly as fascinating as the well known paintings.  MOMA has a great online show Colors of the Night with audio in which you can see nearly everything you would see in person.  Through the process of seeing the exhibit I began to relax and warm up somewhat to the festive environment in that part of the city. We enjoyed walking around Rockefeller Center area and having a nice dinner at Cucina in the  GE building.

It's Sunday now and almost time to get ready to leave for my second city this weekend...

Photos:  Candlelighting ceremony at CHOP (one photo from 2008 and one from 2007);Laura and Suse in lobby of Radio City during the Christmas Show, December 2006; a scene from the 2006 Christmas show; a "wicked" green taxi in 2008 ;  we are outside the Van Gogh exhibit (no photos within); catalog of the exhibit; and in front of the tree.