BALTIMORE, Maryland to BRONXVILLE, New York, July 9, 2005 — We start out in Baltimore. I pack everything up to pack our car again and we get started. We miss the first turn we are supposed to make because a truck is parked in front of the sign. I manage to go a half mile the wrong way and get going the right way. After that we drive the highways and the New Jersey Turnpike and survive the rest stop Starbucks coffee and get across the George Washington bridge and navigate to our friends in the village of Bronxville. On the way as we are fishing for tolls somewhere we get a call from our friend Leslie. We lose her but we are doing good locating them. When we pull up in front of their house, we dial their phone. There are workmen at the house. Our friend Tommy answers and says he will be out momentarily.

And so we have arrived in the heart of our vacation. We will spend three nights in each of the next three spots, relaxing and enjoying people we know, having fun.

Our friends suggest we get some deli takeout and we go down to Lange's deli and contend with a huge crowd to get some delicious sandwiches. This deli is insanely good and has everything in about a hundred square feet and I get this tremendous sandwich called the Meltaway with slaw, pastrami, mayo and mozzarella. Or something like that. We actually eat them in our friends' bright Provence-inspired breakfast room overlooking their pool. Our friends have been renovating for several years. The inside is almost completely done. They have put us up in a large guest room with bath on the floor with an exercise room next door.

We all dress up a bit and take off for the city. We park in a spot that is just that minute becoming legal to park and wander a few blocks to the restaurant. As luck would have it they have made reservations at Il Cantinori a restaurant we've actually been to before. We can't remember which trip, though.

We get a bottle of wine and some excellent food. I have spinach ravioli and FFP has the liver which is a specialty here. After the meal we leave the car where it is and stroll over to the theater which is near Union Square (and one of the NYC's Whole Foods). We have a coffee (at a Starbucks, sadly), walk around looking at the strange people in the park. Then it's time for the play.

It is a small theater with seats on three sides. The set is just a young man's room, a sitting area, bed, bookshelves, stuff. I start out thinking that the plot is thin, the acting a little strained. But I end up liking the no intermission piece which has intrigue, character, story. It is called Manuscript.

After the play we stop in the Whole Foods and then go to a little bakery where the boys have pastry and we get some coffee and FFP and I share a glass of wine. My friend Leslie used to love this place when she lived in the city, she says. I love downtown actually but when we come back on Monday we will probably go the other direction.

We retrieve the car and drive back to the village of Bronxville. And bed.