Hail and Farewell—Our Last Day

Our New York Marathon
Day 17
Wednesday, June 15, 2011

We fly home this afternoon, and we are both nursing colds (with all the time we have spent crowded in subway cars and standing in serpentine lines, it is a wonder we didn’t catch something sooner), but we can’t resist one more walk around our neighborhood.

We walk by this Cooper Union building just about every day on our way to the subway. It is flanked by an elegant nineteenth century home in the foreground and the curvy high rise Cooper Square Hotel in the background. We have found architectural splendor wherever we have roamed around New York over these past couple weeks.

No subway today--we walk to the Farmer’s Market in Union Square, where an amazing variety of products grown and made around here are for sale by what looks to be over fifty different purveyors. Ostrich meat and ostrich eggs, honey, herbs and flowers, lots of baked goods, fresh picked root vegetables, leafy greens and strawberries, sunflower sprouts, juices and smoothies, fish and seafood, free range poultry, New York wines, goat meat and goat’s milk cheeses, pickles and preserves . . . the sights and aromas are a feast in themselves, and the mood is decidedly festive. Regulars carry tote bags bulging with their purchases.

Who are all these farmers, and how far do they come from to sell their wares in the heart of the city? It will remain a mystery for us, because we are on our way home, and don’t have time to linger and chat.

Back at the apartment, we zip up our luggage, do a few final cleaning chores, feed Willis, leave the key on the table, and close the door for the last time. Luck is with us, as an empty cab comes down our little street the minute we are out the door.

Our time in New York is done. The memories will last for years to come, and the post-processing of our thousands of pictures could go on forever.