Posted on

Sorry for the long absence

I recently renewed my account and interestingly enough, I was surprised to see visitors and page views even though I haven’t been posting anything. There is no excuse for why I’ve been away but, in a nutshell, life got in the way. Among other things, there were deaths in the family, a wedding and honeymoon, priority projects at work, and protests, looting, a pandemic, stock market crash and recovery, and multiple promising vaccines in the works. Now that I have brought you up on current events, dear reader, I just want to wish you and your family above all health. With so many people still going through a tough time, I wish you gratitude for your health, family, friends. While things could always be better, they could also be worse.

NYC was hit hard a year ago. The unseen virus was spreading and well more than 500,000 lost their lives with the virus. I believe NYC will bounce back despite the work from home trend and the move to more affordable cities. Maybe I am biased as a born and raised New Yorker. But this is one of the greatest cities in the world and it will continue to attract people from all over the world. I look forward to seeing it happen. It’s already starting as I am noticing people moving back. I look forward to reinvigorating the city with those who stayed and returned.

Posted on

Noah’s Ark by Van Cleef & Arpels

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

My girlfriend, her daughter and I recently went to see an installation organized by Van Cleef & Arpels of their High Jewelry collection which was inspired by a 1613 painting entitled The Entry of the Animals into Noah’s Arc By Jan Brueghel ‘The Elder.’

Although we can’t afford any of the pieces, we really enjoyed seeing this collection up close.  L’ÉCOLE: The School of Jewelry Arts even sponsored a workshop for kids and served delicious animal-shaped sandwiches, pastries and delectables as well as coffee, juice and chocolate milk.  And it was all free!  Just had to sign up for it in advance.

It was held in the Cedar Lake gallery in Chelsea.  It sure was a pleasurable way to spend a Saturday morning.

Posted on

Hello World!

Today is Black Friday 2017!  I, like many others shopping for gifts today, bought myself something.  It happens to be a domain name.  And this is my blog.

But why should I have a blog?  Why not? Many others do.  And I want to try something new.

So the name of this blog is Gotham Bon Vivant.  Living the good life in the big city.

Why Gotham?  Because I was born and raised in New York City.  And I don’t like it here.  I LOVE it!  And I believe one can live a good life here and it doesn’t need to cost a fortune. But New York City is SO expensive.  It certainly can be.  Money can easily be spent here. But one of the things I would like to show is that one can live here well without spending a lot of money.

Now one may ask, how could someone who has lived in NYC all his life know what the good life is?  Luckily for you, dear reader, I was an avid traveler for many years.  I worked and studied in other American cities, as well as abroad, and had the opportunity to travel to many cities in the US, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America.  I cannot claim I have been to Asia even if I crossed the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul which straddles the European and Asian sides of the city.  But I definitely plan to go there! I was gone for a total of 7 years.

Every place I have been to has had it’s good points and it’s bad points.  What I found is that you could focus on the negative or the positive.  I have always been a positive person so I had a great time everywhere I went. I learned that some things are better in other cities.  Gotham doesn’t have it all.  It doesn’t have the history and antiquities of Europe.  It doesn’t have the beautiful beaches of the Caribbean.  Or the natural beauty  found in many parts of Latin America.  But I learned to appreciate what was great about NYC.  The energy, the diversity, the conveniences, the seemingly endless things to do and so much more. I look forward to sharing past and future travel experiences.

I was fortunate to learn multiple languages both at home and through my studies and travels.  French was the first foreign language I studied and a Bon Vivant seems to me to be my most apt description.  “One who lives well.”  I think we should all aspire to live well, no matter where we live or how much we make.

I look forward to conversing with you and sharing ideas, tips, tricks, experiences and knowledge on this great city, travel ideas both near and far, and a variety of other topics which may be of interest.  I hope you will become part of the community.  Thanks for stopping by!

-Rico