We were back in New York in late August to, among other activities, attend our annual Ardovino cousins’ reunion held the Sunday before Labor Day. This year we stayed in an Airbnb in Crown Heights-Brooklyn. We had nine folks spread out over five bedrooms in our temporary home, including my three grandchildren who were in the City That Never Sleeps for their second visit. Their first adventure was two years ago when we stayed in an Airbnb in the Lower East Side not far from the East River (actually the East Estuary) and Chinatown.

The Lenape Native Americans lived on the land now called Brooklyn when Giovanni Verrazzano, yes, the bridge guy, showed up in 1524. The small area, 1 x 2 miles, known as Crown Heights, was inhabited predominantly by Ashkenazi Jews from the 1920s through the 1960s, many of whom were holocaust survivors. Today, the Heights is comprised of Lubavitch Hasidic Jews (30 plus synagogues in two square miles) and a mix of Caribbean immigrants. This year the West Indian-American Carnival parade was held on Labor Day. On Sunday night, the music rolled on until dawn, and the smell of pork, chicken, beef, plantains, and such being cooked on open grills was everywhere. What a treat! This is the NYC that the vast majority of tourists never experience. Yet, it is events and places like this that make my hometown the best.

On Saturday morning we were up early enough and on the subway to Manhattan. We got off several blocks before the World Trade Center and walked west to the 9-11 memorials. This year our grandchildren seemed to be more tuned in to the meaning of the site and the history of what happened there before they were born. But they are kids and I think that they liked getting some ice cream from a food truck best.

From there we went on a very long walkabout ending up in Little Italy where it was dessert, including cannoli, for all. Little Italy was crowded but looking better than it had on our last visit. The kids were flagging by then. So, it was back to the subway and our Airbnb for some rest and planning for our next adventure.

The kids and the other members of our entourage flew back to Omaha on Labor Day—they should have stayed one more day. Janet and I drove into Manhattan, across the Brooklyn Bridge, through Battery Park and north along the Hudson River. We had learned on prior visits that the best time to “see” NYC is on Sunday morning and holidays. The lack of traffic and the overall shortage of human beings make driving not only easy but a real pleasure. While on our drive north we decided to go all the way up through Poughkeepsie to Hyde Park and the FDR presidential library. FDR’s was the second presidential library, Herbert Hoover’s was the first, in our nation’s history. I suggest that you visit. The early presidential libraries, in general, are small scale and can be thoroughly seen in a day or less. FDR donated the land, put up the money to build the structure that houses the museum, and gave many of the artifacts found in the library today.