Katz...deli to the stars

Besides our brilliant Professor Jackson, Professor David Nasaw spoke to us today. He wrote ANDREW CARNEGIE. The book is so very, very, very detailed. Carnegie's biggest disappointment in life, was that he couldn't give away all of his money. What a tough problem, huh?

This is NOT the Tenement Museum.

This afternoon, we went to the Tenement Museum. Photos were not allowed, so I don't have any... The immigrant "living" in the building welcomed us into her home. It consisted of 325 square feet of living space for 10 people. It had 3 rooms...a kitchen with free running water, a sitting room/bedroom and a bedroom. There was a window between the rooms, but there was not a window to the outside world. The water closet was in the hall and shared by three other families on the floor. It would be stifling hot in the summer and incredibly smelly. It was a really interesting adventure.

I know that Rosie the Riveter was not around yet, but I bought a tin of Rosie the Riveter "You Can Do It" EMPOWERMINTS at the museum store.

We walked and walked. If you decide to attend Columbia University and they accept you...congratulations. Cost $47,000 per year. If you take one of Professor Jackson's classes on the history of New York, he goes on 50 different walking tours and one all night bike ride!

He read in the paper that the sister (?) of Ethel Rosenberg died recently. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were tried and convicted found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage in relation to passing information on the American atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. They were executed in 1953. We walked to where their apartment was. The guard let us in and we looked at the window of their apartment. Dr. Jackson had not been there before and was really siked!

We did see where the jail was that housed Boss Tweed until he died. Dr. Jackson didn't think this saloon was anything historical.

After more and more and more walking, we ended up at Katz' Deli. It is a very unusual restaurant. First, many, many famous people have been there. Their pictures cover the walls. When you enter, you are given a ticket. You order different foods from different "cutters." You pay for each thing separately. I had a great sandwich and an even better dessert. We had a good time and Gilder Lehrman paid...even better! We took our full selves back to the campus via three subways.

I have now finished my project and I'm hoping to do something really fun tomorrow night...it really depends if others are finished also. I'm not crazy about the subways by myself.

Footnote: I really, really appreciate how clean Tokyo was...I think everyone there is in "it" for the long haul. We, in America, need to get on board with that.