You wouldn't think I'd be able to find a farmer's market in NYC??? You'd be wrong - another lovely day here so thought I would go exploring & what did I find but the Union Square Farmers Market - superb fresh veg, flowers (lilac & lily of the valley yesterday), plants, goats cheese & wonderful smells from a bakery stall...
However, my fvourite is still Cape Town's Neighbourhood Goods Market - check it out if you haven't already been!!!
Beautiful weather here in NY yesterday!! I've discovered the weatherman here is quite accurate - if he says it's going to bucket down then he is usually right. Walked over Brooklyn Bridge yesterday to Brooklyn for lunch..this is looking east & uptown.
And further along with Manhattan Bridge in the foreground..
A view of the bridge itself - a fantastic bit of engineering!
A view back over to downtown & the Financial District..
A view of the bridge from Brooklyn..
And finally to Grimaldi's, a well known pizzeria, for lunch. So well known, in fact, that the queue stretches down & around the block!!! It's not unusual to wait 45 minutes or more for a table.....
Fortunately we were near the front of the queue and the pizza's are worth waiting for..
They are huge and thanks to C's previous experience we only ordered one large pizza between us. I don't think there would have been room on the table for 2.
Did a ferry ride this morning and managed to get closer to Statue of Liberty than ever before! Apparently you can now go up into the crown of the Lady but it is a bit claustrophobic so we'll see...
Some views of the south end of Manhattan over Governor's Isalnd coming back in on the boat...
And trying an abstract with my long lens....
Walking along the embankment on the East River side of Manhattan & looking at the Brooklyn Bridge with the Manhattan Bridge in the background.
Yesterday dawned clear & sunny so I decided it was the perfect day to go up the Empire State Building to see New York from a different perspective.
The first viewing platform is on the 86th floor & going up your ears pop every 30 floors. As you step out the lift you can immediately feel the building swaying slightly - a little bit like being on a pier!! Definitely not a good feeling for anyone who suffers even slightly from motion sickness. Fortunately the views are spectacular....firstly north over the Upper West & East sides with Central Park in the middle.
Next views of the Chrysler building with the Queensboro Bridge in the background...
Next a hazy view south over the Financial District where the apartment is and my second view of the Statue of Liberty...
Next a view down over the streets from the 86th floor..
And it's a little crowded up here....
Next stop Macy's department store for a bit of mindless shopping...
All in all a good day!!!!
Today I ventured solo uptown to the American Folk Art Museum which has 5 floors of portraiture, needlework, carved animals, trade signs,decoys, cigar store Indians and on the textile side beautiful quilts, samplers, braided rugs and Navajo blankets. Fascinating stuff - I spent a whole 5 hours wandering around. One of the main exhibitions were the quilts created by Paula Nadelstern. Absolutely gorgeous - even with my nose an inch away from the quilt I couldn't see how she had put everything together. It must take her hours & hours.... The other large exhibition was the sculptures of Ulysses Davis (1914-1990) which have been recognised as important examples of African American vernacular art - especially his series of carved busts of forty US presidents.
As I stepped out of the door of the museum the heavens opened....fortunately being used to the unpredictability of the weather in the UK I had a brolly in my bag but it's not the largest so I was forced to take refuge in a Starbucks close by to wait out the deluge.
I managed to get home without incident on the subway...NY subways are a trifle complicated in that there are seperate entrances and exits depending on the direction you are travelling and they are not the easiest to find. In this respect London definitely has the edge.....
After dinner the weather had cleared up and so we went for a stroll along the esplanade at Battery Park City which is about a 5 minute walk from the apartment. Stunning.....you can walk, cycle, roller blade for miles & can hardly believe you are in New York at all. Got my first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty..
and these are sunset views over the Hudson River to New Jersey..
Today I made the pilgrimage to Bleecker Street & the Magnolia Bakery!!!!! Heaven!!!! Purchased these very yummy cupcakes and carefully ferried them back home on the subway to be devoured with a good cup of tea. Aren't they beautiful - tasted as good as they looked too!!!
I always thought NYC was just concrete and tall buildings but there are a surprising number of parks dotted inbetween and lots of wide avenues with trees just coming into leaf - that beatiful lime green! On our expedition today we came across a small park called Abingdon Square just off Bleecker Street with a lovely array of spring flowers.....daffs & tulips among others.
Also en route I discovered Old Navy and they have just got their summer clothes & shoes in......I couldn't resist the flip flops.....they had them in every colour of the rainbow and then some more.....so bought 2 pairs!!
As you can see I have arrived in New York safely. Contrary to expectation & third party experiences I had no problems with the Immigration & customs officials - all of them were very friendly & courteous. It was lovely being met at the airport and to have help with the bags. We made our way to the apartment by subway - our station was the World Trade center or Ground Zero as it is now better known. Quite shocking to see the site in real life. Yesterday we went on a little orientation of the local neighbourhood - the pic is of the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street which is just around the corner from the apartment. We then found Barnes & Noble (a bookshop similar to Waterstones or Exclusive books except much bigger) and to my delight the cookery section was HUGE (4 whole rows!!!)....will have to go back & have a proper browse later.
I received this sweet postcard this morning from Carla! No prizes for guessing where I am going to be next week! Most of my possessions have been boxed up & the removal guys come to transport the big stuff on Thursday. From then on I will literally be living out of a suitcase.....& out of my car! Starting to get excited now......
I also received a special wedding invitation from Ben & Karine this morning but haven't been able to do justice to the invitation on a photograph yet so am going to play around some more & hopefully post a picture of this in a later post. For now you just have to take my word for it - it is beautiful! So looking forward to their wedding in August....