Every year we travel to New York City at least once for a week of dining, seeing shows, visiting museums, seeing friends, and just walking the sidewalks of our favorite metropolis. This year, for obvious reasons, we have canceled our April trip. Instead we’re going to do a virtual visit with a daily blog about what we would have done and what we hope to do soon. Each day we will post a link to a short video on YouTube with an audio track of some of our favorite New York songs, as well as other information about some of our favorite Manhattan spots. Since we won’t be able to dine in our favorite restaurants, we will each day be cooking some of the dishes we would have relished. (Look for the recipes.) Each night we will be watching a different classic movie set in New York, and we will let you see our watch list with a bit of commentary.

DAY 1 – Traveling to New York
Video 1 – Snapshots of Amtrak from Richmond to Penn Station
Song: “We Are Riding on a Railroad” by James Taylor
Video 2 – Apple Maps “Look Around” Video of the Taxi Ride from Penn
Station to the Algonquin Hotel
Song: “Call by a Taxi” by Bob Crosby and the Bob Cats
Video 3 – Walk from the Algonquin to Times Square to Rock Center
Song: “My Personal Property” by Bobby Short

DAY 2 – Take Plenty of Shoes
Video – Our trek from lower Manhattan back to Midtown with photos of sights along the way.
Songs: “Take Plenty of Shoes” and “The Sidewalks of New York”

DAY 3 – Midtown Mélange
Video – We stay in Midtown today, from the NYPL lions to the 21Club
Song: Cole Porter’s “Down in the Depths on the 90th Floor” by Mabel Mercer

DAY 4 – Broadway
Video – Slideshow of favorite spots on Broadway from the Lyceum to TKTS to Sardi’s
Song: “Broadway” sung by Bobby Short

DAY 5 – Belmont
Video – A trip to Belmont Park for the opening day of the racetrack
Song: “New York, New York” sung by Frank Sinatra

DAY 6 – Central Park
Video – An aerial trip through Central Park

DAY 7 – Sunday in New York
Video – A clip from “Smokey Mary’s” and wending our way to Feinstein’s/54 Below
Song: “Sunday in New York” by Bobby Darin
Video Bonus – Introduction to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin

DAY 8 – Return to Richmond
Video – Goodbye to Hamlet, the Algonquin cat, back to Penn Station and Amtrak to Richmond
Song: Cole Porter’s “Take Me Back to Manhattan” sung by Bobby Short