The best view in the world?

It was great to meet up with Rick again for dinner.  This time we went to a mid town restaurant for steaks all round and never mind the methane.  After all, I'm only 65 once. 

Sitting over food and chatting has to be one of my favourite ways to spend time.  I get pretty much relaxed and it is so good to learn about people, to get to know them.  When it's Bonnie's family I specially enjoy it, partly for themselves and partly for the different perspective I get on her through the prism of their shared history.

Rick went off to meet Sandy who was driving up from DC.  One of the things I learned early about the USA is that people think nothing of travelling long (for us) distances.  It's only four hours away.  We hope we'll get a chance to meet her soon.  I mean, if Rick's services are required in the Far East, I don't see why they should not be in Europe.  Now we have Eurostar it's more or less trivial to travel between Wellingborough and Paris (only one change of train and certainly less time than it takes to drive to New York from Washington).

After he left we walked down 5th Ave to 35th Street where there is an enormous pile of concrete lit up red, white and blue - the Empire State Building.  No picture can do justice to the view from the top.  And it's from up here at night that you get the best possible view of the Chrysler Building.  A bit further round from here to the right you can see planes waiting in line to land at JFK.  At one time I counted seven.  This happened also to be the side of the building, 86 floors up, where there was least wind. 

But somehow Bonnie managed to keep her camera steady enough to get some shots south towards the Financial District and the Statue of Liberty.  I can't help missing the Twin Towers and being shocked, even now, at the incredible inhumanity that enabled such an act as 9/11.  The introduction they show you as you come in to the Empire State Building includes a moving reference to those towers.

Anyway, within my frame of reference, this is the best, most dramatic, view in the world.  Even the Grand Canyon doesn't quite equal it.  There you can see the enormous expanse of geological time exposed.  Not only is it beautiful, but it tells you something important about the planet.  But New York, for me, has an even more important message about the vibrancy and resilience of our life together, and that is even more important.