Our trip: We arrived Christmas day on the Acela - great train, and we beat the snow. The snow didn't really amount to that much in the city anyway -- it was a little messy that night, but we only had to walk a few blocks to find a good Thai restaurant (Lemongrass Grill, at Park and E 36 St. I think).

Next day, our first trip to Ground Zero since 9/11. I had already moved to Boston by that time, but before that I had worked in the Woolworth building nearby, and commuted through World Trade everyday.

The site itself now is just a big empty space - not much to see. But I found the way the sun streamed into the area a litte unnerving - if you didn't now how it got that way it would look, frankly, like a big improvement for lower Manhattan.

More emotional is the church fence opposite (see photo). Items from all over the world, T-shirts, signed banners, all sorts of things - many tattered by the weather. A reminder that clearing away rubble doesn't clear away memories. So many towns I knew in New Jersey that lost someone, for one thing.

And yes, stopped by a place near where I used to work to get some REAL pizza (sorry Boston, the stuff here doesn't cut it).

Later that day we saw the musical Flower Drum Song. Well worth seeing. This is a Rodgers and Hammerstein show from the 50s with some good songs, but the original is rather offensive to Asian-Americans, so it has faded from the repertoir. But David Henry Hwang (of M. Butterfly among other things) wrote a whole new book to frame the songs. It now pays tribute to the struggle of immigrants to preserve their culture while also embracing American ways.

It's moving, but also just a lot of fun - wonderful costumes and dancing and superb performances (one of the actors playing an old character now was in the original as the male lead, kinda neat!)

Lea Salonga (most famous for Miss Saigon) is simply amazing - tiny woman, giant voice. Jose Llana does a great job opposite her.

Then a great Italian dinner with my wife's brother and his friend.

Next day, just walking around and doing things like the obligatory visit to the tree and just enjoying the sun.

Back home, tired and cranky, of course we discover that the snow did indeed manage to fall on the Boston suburbs, so tomorrow is a snow-clearing day for me. More exhaustion!