New York City 2023/24: A City on the Verge of a New Year

Well, it’s the start of another adventure.  It’s good to be back in Gotham.  It was cloudy coming into LaGuardia.  After an early flight and a cab ride into the city, we made it to Chinatown. 

Our room wasn’t ready, so we walked to Katz Deli for a Pastrami on Rye.  They have been serving them since 1899.  They have had plenty of time to get them right.    On the way to Kats, we passed many Chinese markets selling food we had never seen before.    Hope we get a chance to try all of it.

Our hotel in Chinatown is a short walk to neighboring Little Italy.   Most people think of New York as a big city, and it is that.   But, in reality, New York is a collection of villages. You have heard of many of these and many more that you haven’t.   These villages and their diversity make the city what it is, and by extension, it makes America great. 

After checking into our room, we took a 3-hour nap, catching up on the sleep we missed yesterday due to our 5am flight.   Waking up, we see that darkness has enveloped the city.   From our 12th-floor room, we can see the Empire State Building lit up In Christmas splendor.   We walk over to the Chinese grocery store next door to stock up on snacks and drinks for the room. 

Then, two blocks from our hotel, we ate at a real Chinese restaurant, far from Chinese food in most of America. After dinner, we walked over to Little Italy to get cannolis for dessert. It was a good first day in the city that never sleeps.  

The city is alive with people in anticipation of the New Year.   It’s a great feeling to be part of it all. It's going to be a wild five days, and I can't wait to experience it all. 

Anthony Bourdain: To Travel and Love Life

Strangely over the last few years, Anthony Bourdain's death has taught me a few things, new lessons, and some lessons that I had to re-learn. How self-rumination can lead to brooding thought. That this can destroy our reason to live or, more importantly, loving to live life. What people think of us really is none of our business and really doesn't matter. We must make our own way in the world and not let anyone hold us back.

The day it happened, we were waiting for a flight to London. I have to say I thought about this during our stay in London and our 12 day Baltic Cruise. Before his death, I read a news story that hinted at trouble in this man's paradise. As one person put it, he was bitten by that black dog—the black dog of depression. I have followed Anthony from the very beginning. Trying to fashion my life after his by traveling and searching out new experiences. It seems unbelievable to me that it ended for him in such a sad way. The years of travel and wandering seemed to have caught up with him. When he found another soul that he thought would rescue him, something to hold onto in this world, it ended up being a false sense of security. He invested too much in it. Then, in the end, he felt betrayed by life itself, I think. It pushed him over the edge.

"Former U.S. President Barack Obama, who dined with Bourdain in Vietnam on an episode of Parts Unknown, wrote on Twitter: "He taught us about food—but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown." More importantly, it takes us out of our comfort zone to have a better understanding of the world in which we live. That different or even strange to us is not wrong. I once heard someone say that we are all broken in some way. That no one makes it through this life whole. Throughout this journey of life, we all trade pieces of pain with one another. I guess there is solace because he gave so much to the lovers of travel and food. That he had a life many of us dream of, sharing it with the world as his gift to us. Rest in Peace, Anthony, and until Valhalla.