“Aaah dis Dumbo! Yes Dumbo!” blurted my New York taxi cab driver as he pulled up to my destination for the weekend.  At first I thought he was just rambling, or trying to be funny.

Dumbo? What?

He’d chatted me up non-stop from the moment I entered his car at Penn Station – highly unusual for a New York cab driver, I thought. His wife was back in Japan, two years now he said, taking care of her sick mother; and his daughters were living in the City, and oh, was I a model? I kept my eyes on the road while politely answering his questions.

Well, after he left, I realized he wasn’t losing it after all when he said Dumbo. “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass” is a cute, up-and-coming neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York and as its name suggests, it’s located right under the Manhattan bridge. You can also see the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge from there.

I must say, I spent a lovely Mother’s Day family reunion weekend in Dumbo.