Last Post

We have had a great time up here but head home ready to get back to normal. It has been fun walking around the city with millions of people. We have overheard some funny conversations. You usually get just a snippet but it's enough to give you the whole story. This afternoon we passed a family on the sidewalk deeply engrossed in a map. Just as we got even with them, the little 10-year-old looking boy said, rather exhaustedly, "Let's just get a taxi!"

On Friday T and I ran in the park and then met H for lunch. We went to Joe's Shanghai and had their pork dumplings.

We walked around some on the Upper East Side and then Friday evening we went to the Neue Galerie. We loved seeing the Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauerthe, that Ronald Lauder is said to have paid $135 million for. It is stunning.

All day I took pictures of buildings reflected in other buildings.

On Saturday we slept in a little and then went down to the Village to 'Ino for brunch. We walked around a bit and checked out a bookstore and a street fair. It was a pretty day.

This statue stands atop one of the buildings in the Flatiron District. We just happened to see it. H zoomed in with my camera and got this picture. From a distance it looks more like a real man!

Yellow ribbons outside Marble Collegiate Church

Goodbye City Life!

Bambú-zled

This morning while H was in class, T and I took care of some errands. We had to figure out a way to get her oil paintings home. Lee's Art Supply helped us. They packaged everything up and then we will ship them by FedEx. It was more complicated than I thought it would be.

We met H and went to E.A.T. for lunch and then walked over to the Met.

We first went up to the roof for an exhibit still in progress. Big Bambú is being built each day be two artists and several helpers. You can actually walk up into this exhibit if you get to the Met early and stand in line for tickets, which we didn't do. The view of the city from the roof is also impressive.

We grabbed a cab on our way downtown after leaving the Met. I couldn't believe the sign on a car we passed: Student Driver. There is no way I would want to learn how to drive in Manhattan! I guess though if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere! =)

We did a few things in midtown and then headed back to the apartment, did some laundry and then had dinner at I Sodi.

Home Runs and Catwalks

H brought home another painting today. She started it and then decided to concentrate on just a portion of it. We are trying to figure out the best way to get these oil paintings home.

After her class, H met me on the Upper East Side where we grabbed a very quick lunch at Alice's Teacup on 81st Street.

Then, since we were in the neighborhood, we walked up to 85th Street to Barry's old apartment. When we lived here in the mid-80's T's brother lived here too. We were on 5th at 101st Street and Barry was on 81st between 1st and 2nd Avenues. I just wondered what his old neighborhood and his apartment building looked like. It has been updated a little but is the same in many ways.

Now to the exciting part of the day! T decided to take the subway out to The Bronx to see the Yankees play. He had a great seat and loved witnessing A-Rod's 600th home run. He said he burned up but had a great time.

This is A-Rod passing third base after his home run.

H and I met T back at the apartment but on our way we passed a model shoot. Click here to watch these professionals strut their stuff.

Frasier

We had a good day today but not many pictures. T and I walked/ran in the park this morning while H was in class. On the way to class H ran into a BU Kappa!! And it gets even weirder; she and two other BU Kappas live ON OUR BLOCK! H and these girls live within a few yards of each other! H didn't know they were working here this summer. The girls are a year older than H. They plan to have dinner together one night this week. They've been here the whole time H has been here.

We had lunch in the apartment and then went to the Museum of Natural History to see the IMAX movie Hubble. H has been wanting to see this since we got here. We decided to wait for T so he could see it too. It did not disappoint.

Then we took the train down to the Village. We walked up the subway stairs and were looking right at Joe: The Art of Coffee. We told T about the coffee shop and we went in to get something to drink. Gabby, the owner, was there. I recognized her from the picture of her wedding in the NY Times. I told her who we were and she was very nice and seemed happy to meet us. She gave us free coffee drinks! That was nice! (This is the daughter of the owners' of the apartment we are renting.)

We then headed toward the Strand Bookstore. H wanted T to see it. We walked past Washington Square Park where people were playing chess.

We also passed Grace Episcopal Church. It is old and lovely.

We also happened to walk by Babbo. We ate here with Bill but had not been able to get reservations for dinner so T could enjoy it. Each day we had been trying to see if there had been any cancellations. Since we were passing by, I ducked in and asked if they had a table for this evening. They did so we will eat there tonight.

Well, we are home from Babbo. We were waiting for our table to be ready and my back was to the door. H says, "Turn around." I do, and so close he was breathing on me, was Kelsey Grammer. I did a double take and he smiled at me. I think he recognized me!

DUMBO

These are a new watercolor and a couple of better photos of two other paintings. The last painting was one of the first H did, but I put up an unfinished version of it. Here's the finished version.

H's teacher, Leonid Gervits, has given her great feedback. He said she is a very talented painter and invited her to study with him over Christmas in Seattle at a school where he will be a guest instructor. Be sure to check out his website. Talk about talented!

This is the 103-year-old man we met in the park with his wife who was also an artist. It's a watercolor H did in the apartment.

Nude Model 2

Nude Model 1

We had the greatest day yesterday! T and I did the park run, up to and around the reservoir. He enjoyed it. Then we met H back at the apartment and we took the train over to this cool Brooklyn neighborhood called DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). We walked around and checked out some of the little shops, but mostly we just looked at the old buildings in the neighborhood. The neighborhood sits on the East River between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge and used to be a warehouse district until about 10 years ago when it slowly started being invaded by artists and young professionals. Today it is still very quiet and relatively uncommercialized.

This little shrine was sitting on a brick ledge on the outside of one of the buildings. I am assuming it's in memory of a little dog who was beloved.

This was some cool graffiti on a wall. Look at the hood of the car in the foreground!

This is part of the Manhattan Bridge (above).

I love this picture. It's the Manhattan Bridge with the Empire State Building showing through the bottom arch. (Not planned! I didn't realize this until I was looking at the pictures back in the apartment!)

This is underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

In reading about the neighborhood, we read about this pizza place called Grimaldi's. We headed straight for it since it was around 1:30 or 2:00 when we arrived. The line was outside the door, probably 50 people long. We decided to wait because when have we ever waited 30-40 minutes in a line of 50 people for pizza?! Well, it was worth the wait. The pizzas are cooked in a coal brick oven. The crust is thin and really crisp. T says he thinks it even had a little coal dust on it. We loved it!

I thought it was the best pizza ever but T had a hard time saying it was better than Johnny's. So let me say it: It was better than Johnny's. They had a great business plan too.

The take out line and eat in line were the same, so you wait either way.

Half a pizza costs the same as a whole pizza.

Cash only.

We visited with a couple who was waiting in front of us. They had come by the previous evening at dinner and the line was at least twice as long.

The Brooklyn Bridge with the Empire State Building and Manhattan Bridge in the background.

The two bridges

Lady Liberty as seen from the Brooklyn Bridge State Park

Brooklyn Bridge and part of Manhattan

One of the first businesses in DUMBO was Jacques Torres Chocolates. A couple of years ago they added an ice cream shop next door. We tried the coconut gelato and the mocha ice cream and T had the frozen hot chocolate. All were very rich, as you can imagine. After the pizza I couldn't eat but a couple of bites.

We then headed back to Manhattan and H went back to the apartment to paint. T and I headed to the movie The Girl Who Played with Fire. We had a great day, even though H wasn't too thrilled with the conclusion of The Bachelorette.