We decided to go on the classic central park horse carriage {it always brings back the memory of , Richard Gere & Julia Roberts  in Pretty Woman } but thought that $50 was little too expensive…. Then it’s the Manhattan… Big Apple, trendsetter of the universe!!

We sat on the carriage with a beautiful black horse with a patch of white on the chest & left leg. It was a handsome horse called King, standing tall, head held high. Mario, the young man from El Salvador (Central America) clicked our pictures in the dark. We moved on while Mario started with his explanation of the buildings around pointing towards Lady Gaga’s 75 Million dollar penthouse on Central Park South, with simple yet pleasant lighting! He was happy to learn that we were from India because his doctor was a kind hearted Indian who helped him a lot… as we moved on in the darkness, he pointed towards different parts of the park explaining its past & present… which often missed my ears because of the noise or I could not understand him. Sometimes I asked him back about it… when I was showing my husband the white slivery speck of the black rock glittering in the light, he said it was Manhattan granite.

Then he asked do you know why New York is called the Big Apple? Then continued saying the trail in the park had annual track race, where the commentator used the term, you go around like a big apple & it stuck… forever!

After we were done with our ride, Mario, allowed all of us to feed King with a banana each! King was regal as he picked out each banana smoothly from each of our hands!

Once we were done, we  crossed over  to the food hall in the basement of the New York Plaza hotel & have some dessert. Plaza is expensive but it’s nice to treat ourselves once a while. Ironically the main Plaza hotel {a landmark 20 story luxury hotel & condominium apartment building} shareholder is the Indian Conglomerate Sahara India Parivar, with minor partnership of Saudi. So the 5 large flags Indian, Plaza, US, Saudi & parent company Fairmont hotel flaunted at the entrance.

At the food hall, we finally decided on enjoying French Crepes prepared by some nice Americans . A couple of Middle Eastern origin, the lady wearing the light peach Niquab were waiting for her strawberry ice-cream & the husband for his crepe. I was wondering how is she was going to eat it? I did not have to stare at them as they were seated across our table. When it was handed over to her by her husband wearing jeans & check shirt, she quietly lifted her veil from the face & started eating revealing her pretty face bringing a smile on my lips!! As I remembered in one of my trips to NY, at the Battery park, I had seen a woman in black Niquab kissing her husband. After the crepe, we had lime coconut juice, there was nothing coconut about it… Coconut, a fancy drink, after years of condemning has caught up with Westerners after the publicity about its health benefits.

We walked home leisurely talking about luxury buildings & shops & well-dressed New Yorkr couples eating and enjoying the Sunday evening. Passed Mr. Trumps residence guarded by men in black with a NYPD vehicle parked outside. Well-dressed oldies & youngsters moved out of fancy clubs called Lavo and Tao where I’m told there are parties that start in the midday and wrap up before its night!, The Isle of Capri looked old & worn out but still held its former glory at least in terms of name. As we walked, my son said Mum I will show you something… see this building with opening in the middle & took me to Bloomberg headquarters at Lexington Avenue. I said we, like in the company where I worked for decades, pay more than a million annually. Click a picture for me to show it to my colleagues… (Incidentally Mr. Bloomberg is a Jew, guess American Jews not Israelite, so the product is accepted in the Middle East) & the picture he took was rather strange… looked as a large horse shoe… through which the passage ran like a space craft.

We picked up some sweet smelling lilies… & reached home. It was a long & exhausting day & we had walked more than 3 miles. No one had any complaints as we had spent quality time together as a family without the interference of any modern devices. I never really thought it was strange till I was woken up by the whisper of my DIL in the middle of the night & the events unfolded like a video in front of me. Seemed like someone was putting the pieces of the puzzle together in my own mind.