METROPOLITAN DIARY 'A Bus Pulled Up and Parked, Obstructing Our View of the Sky'
'Stargazing in Fort Tryon Park, leading a tour group and more reader tales of New York City in this week’s Metropolitan Diary.
Stargazing
Dear Diary:
We were stargazing in Fort Tryon Park. The burned-out bulbs in many of the street lamps were serving us well.
Justin, an amateur astronomer, called out to us in the dark, tempting us with visions of other planets.
“Have you ever seen Saturn?” he asked. “The skies are clear tonight, the best in months.”
Wary of strangers, our curiosity nonetheless outweighed our hesitation.
We had begun to take turns looking up through the lens of Justin’s telescope when a bus pulled up and parked, obstructing our view of the sky.
“Wait here,” Justin said, jogging off toward the bus.
He and the driver shared some words, and the bus inched forward just enough for us to gaze up in awe at Saturn’s icy rings.
And then, a tap on the shoulder.
“Would you mind if I had a turn?” the bus driver asked.
— Jordyn Kaufman
In the Harbor
Dear Diary:
I led tours of the city for many years, and the Staten Island Ferry was always a highlight of the six-hour events.
At the start of the ride, as the waters started to churn and we pulled away from Manhattan, I would keep my group of about 30 people together, leading them to what I thought were the best spots for unobstructed views of New York’s majestic skyline.
After a while, I would give my guests a respite from my spiel, directing them to the restrooms and snack bar, telling them which side of the boat would offer the best view of the Statue of Liberty and letting them know where we would meet when we got to Staten Island.
We were chugging along in the harbor on one of these trips when a woman approached me.
“Do you think we will be able to see Alcatraz today?” she asked.
— Tom Ickert
Her List
Dear Diary:
It was our third date, and at his suggestion, I had picked a place from my “list”: the alphabetized compilation of restaurants I had been wanting to try since moving to the city a year earlier. I kept it on my phone.
We were seated next to a man and a woman who appeared to be about 20 years older than us. Judging by their conversation, they were also in the early stages of dating.
They had already ordered by the time we decided what we would have, and their food came first. Their choices mirrored our own, from the artisanal ham and Burgundy truffle beignets to the Parmesan crusted cod and steak au poivre (split).
At one point, the woman took out her phone.
“I’m so glad I can check this restaurant off my list!” she said.
My date and I looked at each other. Was this us in the future?
Toward the end of the meal, the woman interrupted us.
“Can I show you my latest TikTok video?” she asked.
OK, definitely not us in the future.
— Emily Heller'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/16/nyregion/metropolitan-diary.html
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