9/12/04 Ira, Diane, Russell, Frank, Mom, Peter, Nat take 3 Hour Tour and Dinner in Astoria:

Today, all of the pieces of the puzzle came together for Aunt Diane, Uncle Ira, Russell, Frank, Peter, Mom and Natalie to enjoy my 3 hour tour on a beautiful day, all at once!

Natalie and I headed for Circle Line in the morning, as she reads the horridly sordid "American Psycho."

I get into uniform and the boat begins to load.

People in wrapped attention during the tour.

Natalie on the boat as we pass the George Washington Bridge.

It wasn't too busy at all, so everyone was able to spread out a bit and enjoy.

More people were in the back in the sun. A fleet of army helicopters flew by.

People took photos of that too.

Russell videotaped me.

When it was all over, we clustered on the bow, for some photo ops.

Then we all figured out where to eat. Frank knew of a nice affordable Italian place in Astoria. We had two cars and the race was on!

Before we left the pier, we made sure to get our copies of the circle line photos they took for us for free. It's a perk.

I drove one car with Peter and Mommy in it to Astoria. We got there fairly quickly, considering we had to cross midtown to get to the Queensboro Bridge. I did make a wrong turn, ending up on the wrong side of the LIRR/NJT/Amtrak rail yards in Sunnyside. We made it back to Astoria via a detour, and wondered if the other car, with Uncle Ira, Aunt Diane, Russell and Natalie would have arrived first. Alas, they were stuck in a Parade in midtown after Ira decided to detour to the U.N. complex to get a closer look on their way to the bridge. They showed up a half hour later with some traffic stories to tell!

An old loft building is being converted to new apartments across the street.

At the table, Russell explains to Natalie a thing or two about Italy, using the map on our place mats.

We all had a great day!