Tilda is already on the plane on her way home to Sweden after eleven wonderful and joyful days and nights in our new city and home! It feels like we have managed to walk around all of Manhattan in sunny heat – and experienced a lot!!
Last Monday we went (by foot, needless to say) via Hudson River and the Piers down to Battery Park and took a left to the memorial Ground Zero to pay respect to all those who died on 9/11 in 2001.
This evening all five of us had dinner at Shanghai 21 in China Town, a restaurant certainly flirting with the original Cockroach in Beijing 🙂
On Tuesday morning, me and Tilda started off in what we first estimated a 60 minutes walk. We finally hit our apartment three and one half hours later, with an outdoor temperature of 100F (38 degrees Celsius) and broken knees. We Power Walked from SoHo all the way up to Central Park, via Times Sq and MSG. Finally reaching our building and lobby, we had an IKEA delivery to assemble in the apartment 🙂
Some cool info from Tilda about Houston street, the street dividing Greenwich Village and SoHo – The street’s name is pronounced “HOW-stən“, in contrast to the city of Houston, Texas, whose name is pronounced “HYOO-stən”. The street was named for William Houstoun, while the city was named for Sam Houston. Perhaps uninteresting knowledge, but I looooove it!
We also have found our local SOHO pub called Broom Street Bar; “the atmosphere is always low key even when celebrities stop in – which they do on a regular basis”. Sooo waiting for ANYONE from from the Friends set showing up! 🙂
Already Wednesday and we went to the gym, ran 3 miles and did some workout 🙂 In the afternoon all five experienced the ArtTechHouse (thanks to a present from my cousins with families!) THANK YOU ALL!! at the Chelsea Market. SoCool!
Heading on to Thursday – Cleaning Day, since we had to accept an agreement of having the apartment cleaned and vaccum cleaned every second week by a lady called Alma. Thank you Alma, who also solved the problem with our noisy and clogged “pet”, the InSinkErator. Now we know how to feed it properly with lots of water during the garbage disposal!
So this day, I, Tilda, Olle and Elvira took the Q-train to Coney Island in Brooklyn to see the Ocean and check out the amusement park Luna. We also tried to get a hot dog from the famous Nathan’s, but the queue would never move forward… 😉
Today me and Tilda hit the High Line together with the Whitney Museum and also strolled around at Chelsea Market – loooove this place!
Here we are about to grab a drink at the Broome St Bar 🙂
Last Saturday we walked to the Whole Foods Market at Union Sq and in the afternoon all five took the train to listen to the annual Blues & BBQ Festival at Pier 76, which has been closed for the past two years.
On Sunday Johan took a plane to Montreal, Canada and landed many hours later after some delays at the airports. The rest of the gang took the train to 86th st and walked across Central Park from Upper West Side to Upper East Side.
Monday morning and I went to the gym, first time all alone. 😉 Ran my 3 miles on the treadmill and found some nice machines. Came home and took Tilda to the Seawalk on East Side. 🙂
This evening we had dinner at our favorite Broome St Bar, and the food is just as good as the Spicy Margaritas. The next morning we decided to visit the Empire State Building! My goodness, what a view – as usual the pictures do not do the view justice!
Wednesday, Aug 17 – Morning walk with Tilda and Johan coming home from Montreal, Canada.
Sculptor Edward Clark Potter obtained the commission for the lions, but the Piccirilli Brothers executed the carving—for $5,000.
When they were first unveiled, some folks didn’t like them, including former President Teddy Roosevelt, who thought the library should have bison (as they are North American animals).
In a similar vein, a small group of people thought beavers should flank the building in honor of Library co-founder John Astor, whose family had made a fortune in beaver pelts.
They were placed on their pedestals a few days before the 42nd Street library was dedicated on May 23, 1911.
The lions are larger than life, stretching more than 11 feet (not counting the tail), about three feet longer than their real-life counterparts.
At first, the lions were called many names, including Leo Astor and Leo Lenox for the Library’s co-founders, as well as “Lady” Astor and Lord Lenox (even though they’re both male lions).
This finale night with Tilda, we went to Piccola Cucina Estiatorio, an Italian gem in New York City! And also just a two minutes walk from our apartment. 🙂
Taby goes SoHo 