Walk on the Wild Side

Saturday is family day! I went out to Alphabet City (where they ran out of numbers and call Avenues A/B/C) to visit my aunt and my cousin (+her son and husband). I found the place easily, it's in a lot more laid back neighborhood as I've seen thus far in Manhattan: in the East Village. It has smaller buildings with a couple of stories each, the trademark wrought iron fire escapes, small public gardens scattered between the houses - it's pretty nice. Unfortunately my aunt's apartment building is being renovated so the surrounding area is a bit of a construction zone, but the apartment itself is already finished so it looks lovely. When my cousin and co. arrived with the little one has fallen asleep on their way, so we decided to go out to the NYC BBQ Block Party just the 3 of us, leaving the Granny home with the baby. So we walked quite a bit from ABCity to Madison Square where already loads of people were queuing up for dozens of different types of barbecue. We tried some varieties of pork and beef, all roasted on open flame or charcoal, and they reached from OK to pretty good, so it was worth it as well. We finished it up with a pint (and with some friends of the husband, visiting Silicon Valley developers), and by the time we walked by the Square again it was completely filled up. We just decided to leave it as is and walked back on a different route to my aunts. The little one was already up and has already enjoyed Granny reading one of the Hungarian story books I brought alongs as a present. He was a bit scared in the beginning of the new "bacsi" (he speaks Hungarian!), but he loosened up after a while and even gave me his pet Flying Monkey to play with. After a while we decided to go over to the High Line (a derelict high rise railway converted into a public part) for a stroll, which was loads of fun! The area is great, the park being elevated a couple of meters above the roads and continuing between the buildings of the West Village - it's really unique and nice. It's littered with modern art sculptures donated to lighten up the place a bit, and musicians and small cafes have already found their place here. Our outing was only broken by the coming rain, so we said our good byes -  but also agreeing on a next time to meet.
In the evening I couldn't just stay at home, so I went to check out the "tramway"leading to Roosevelt Island, which essentially is a cablecar similar to the larger ones one can see along ski pistes. It goes up quite high just to go down again on the side of the island (a 5 minute ride), and provides a nice view of the city as well - for the same price as a subway ticket. The island itself is nothing special, a residental are with luxury apartments, but it hosts one of the most serene places you could find in such a big city: a completely empty baseball greens. I took one of the benches there to have my dinner sandwich and enjoyed the whirr of the city rushing by with noone in sight. I guess a couple of stars must have been visible as well - a nice timeout from the Manhattan lifestyle.
Then, it was only taking the tramway back, not finding a good looking pub in the neighborhood, and falling asleep quickly after a feet-eating day.

M.

Strawberry Fields Forever

No, I did not have a hangover and woke up at 5:45 after getting home at 1 AM. Apparently jet lag and booze don't mix well :) This kinda set the mood for the day, after some not-so-good eggs & bacon bagel I was only ready for a salad for lunch. There was a place nearby where you can select some basic greens and a set of toppings (salmon, eggs, olives, etc) which they basically grind up for you, add a hint of your favourite dressing and you're done! As the weather was nice we just sat outside to enjoy the sun and the salad.
The day moved on at glacial speed, and as it finished I set out for my next quest - the Central Park at night. Again, I did not judge the distances well, so I walked up until about 1/3 of the park only, but it was worth it: I saw so many fireflies! At first, I though it was just a streetlight reflecting on my glasses, but then I saw the little bugs flying around. There were so many! And their light was strong too, a nice fluorescent green. One of them even came up close, and it was pretty big, about the size of a nicely grown wasp back at home.
After I left the bugs to do whatever bugs do I walked up to the Strawberry Fields park, which has a nice "Imagine" mosaic in the middle (not the best thing to make pictures of in the dark). I also saw the Dakota House from across the road but it didn't look anything special so I did not cross. The one strange thing about the park is that it's forbidden to smoke or drink alcohol there, so it's completely different compared to what you'd see at home in the City Park or Margaret Island. I'm sure both ways have an advantage...
After a bit more walking I stepped out of the park to check out the neighbouring streets to the west, but they didn't have much to offer but luxury apartments, so I took the subway home.

All in all, not bad way to finish off a week if you want to do it outside of a bar :)

M

Thirsty Thursday

The good thing about Thursdays and visits to other offices is that they tend to go out for drinks with the visitors. On this lucky week, they even took us out for lunch to a burger place on Hells Kitchen, or 9th Ave if you so prefer. It was a smallish place, so our team just filled it up completely, but still they managed to bring us our burgers at a good place. The food was quite good, I had a bbq burger with some of the best double-fried chips outside of Belgium :) I also tried a root beer with it, which certainly is an acquired taste, but it's not that bad :) One of the guys was wolfing down his food at such an amazing pace and with such enthusiasm, we could only laugh - especially in the ended where he put the dot on the i by pulling down a big chocolate shake with considerable difficulties. Not fine dining, but definitely fun dining, in such childish company :)
After a day riddelod with meetings in the evening we went out for a couple of pints to the Mean Fiddler, an Irish-themed place. BTW, a US pint is a bit less than a the usual Hungarian 0.5l, as opposed to the UK pint, which is a bit more than that - anyhow, a pint is a pint! I got my taste of some Samuel Adams lager, quite good, and also some Smithwicks, which is a beer by the Guinness brewery - not as good as their main show. While we were there, one of the many TV screens in the bar showed a programme about Hungarian football, mostly about Puskas and the Puskas Academy of present day. I was surprised, but the colleagues didn't really believe when I explained why I just stopped listening to them for a moment :) OK, possible not the most interesting thing ever, but quite a coincidence. After a while the place started crowding up with people playing beer pong and waiting for the karaoke night, so some of us decided to leave for another place. This turned out to be a somewhat fancy wine place, where we had a California Cabernet Sauvignon with a special selection of Swiss, Italian and French cheeses. All this stuff had the taste and the place even after numbing our palate with those beers before, so all in all it was a good evening. Well, if you don't count the walk back home, I mis-estimated the distance so I had a nice, sobering stroll on the streets of midnight New York.

Did I ever wake up and did I have a hangover? More about that soon! :D

M

Psychadelikatessen

Freshly up in the right timezone the hunt for breakfast began. I coulnd't care less about the pricy hotel breakfast, so after the usual quick morning rituals I headed out via Park Avenue for a change. That's apparently one of the poshier parts of the city, as I could have bought more Louis Vuitton bags and Ferraris than bagels. Which, in the end, I did not buy (neither one), but went for a bacon and egg sandwich, choosing from a selection of bacon and egg sandwiches in a barely open Pret a Manger. The day went well, including the lunch at Toasties (House Special, hot Pastrami with cheddar and coleslaw in a "Hero" bread) and the following biiig presentation. I held this for the whole NY team some 20 people, so I guess only 2 falling asleep should be kinda OK :) One of the sleepers is a guy remarkably reminiscent of Hugh Laurie, minus the walking stick and the demeanor, which is kinda funny. The only other plan for the day was the evening lunch with Hungarian colleagues out here in the city, which was started in a bit undecided manner - where should we go? We had an attempt on "The healthiest food on Earth" served in a Mexican restaurant, but they have a no alcohol policy so we skipped, and ended up at a hummus place, which served beer for our pleasure in addition to the "amazing fish" (their words - it was actually 6/10). It turned out that one of the guys in the group came at the same time, on the same planes as I did... Which came as a lesser surprise than realizing that the girl behind me at the immigration queue was indeed one London colleague, who incidentally got the desk next to me in the office. So kids, if you see someone you think you know from somewhere, you probably do :)
The dinner ended not too late, so we walked back with the "same plane"-colleague... to the same hotel :) Fortunately it turned out that he does not have the same room as I do :) And now, turning the room's stereo to 11 listening to The Dear Hunter, there's nothing else to do but wait for sleep!

M

Under The Bridge

No really - I was there! Possibly not under the same bridge, but still :) And how did I get there? Let's see... The day started at 4:30, or half past 10 in the real world - no accident that I was the first in the office this day as well. I had some wraps from the day before for breakfast (bought a cup of fruits and a wrap at a Au Bon Pain, but only ate fruits in the bathtub in the end...long story :) ), which had a very strange taste due to the combination of creamy sour cheese and some sweet sauce. Otherwise it was an OK day, not very riddled with meetings so I guess I must have done some real work as well. For lunch I was pointed to a place called Nook, which was kinda OK, even their quiche - only the waiter needed computized assistance to add up 8, 3 and 1, and some convincing not to give 14 bucks of change from a 20. 
The plan for the evening was to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, as I was told that's kinda touristy, but I'm not so sure about that reason now. On my way first I walked by the Grand Central station to check it out, it was grand enough for me indeed (but too dark inside for photos). On the way there I accidentally spotted the Empire State Building. How the hell can the tallest building of the city disappear from a block away, I don't know (other than the surrounding tallish buildings as a reason, of course...). From GC I took the train to the Bridge, where the darkest clouds ever made me worry about my lack of raincoat, but in a fortunate turn of events the clouds had other plans for the evening. So I crossed, unimpressed (the Bridge is being renovated, probably obscuring the wow-factor). On the far side Dumbo was already waiting for me - not the flying elephant, this was before the beer, mind you, but the Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. This is an area of bars and art shops and in general good atmosphere, a with regular-sized houses and nice dimly lit pubs. The best one seemed to be 68 Jay Street, serving great Brooklyn Lager and Wild Rise pizza. The former is a spicy, flavoury, generally good beer, and the latter turned out to be one of New York's recent sensations - the pizza with the wild yeast crust. All ingredients (as the Elders of the Internet explained later) are imported from Italy, all natural, including the wild yeast which is supposed to give a sour, tangy flavour to the crust. What can I say, it was a good Margherita, but without Google and the pizzaiolo I wouldn't have thought how special it should have tasted. With this behind me I got on the train back home, where finally had a good, full night's sleep. What came next? Check back for our next episode after a short commercial break for all the details!

M

New York City Boy

The strange thing is - walking around in NYC is not strange at all. Probably because you saw the exact same thing a zillion times befor in the movies, but it just doesn't feel completely new. The fact that it's still very unfamiliar just adds to the confusion. Central Park with joggers and bikers in the morning, tourists and locals alike crowding to pictures of some movie shoot, baggy trousers on the silver-colour trains, this is exactly what I would have expected :) It's a bit reassuring at the same time, especially combined with the fact that English is spoken a lot less muddled here than in London. Obviously I'm still a bit lost in a lot of places, one in particular is your usual Midtown deli. For one I can't seem to figure out where they keep the beer. Also I'm not entirely sure yet about the selection of pastries and sandwiches, I can't match up the names on the price list with the actual objects behind the counter. Just this morning I had something made out of too sweet, too crumbly dough dipped in sugar crystals, and I don't know the name of it to make it easier avoiding the same stuff in the future :)
The office is cool, luckily I managed to get out of the "hoteling booth", which is basically an oversized phone booth with a desk and a small single PC screen - I can use the desk of a colleague on vacation instead. There was the usual issue with the entry in the AM where the access card never works as promised but it was resolved quickly. Oh yeah, AM... the jet lag - I always forget which direction they say is worse, but I'm quite convinced it's this way around :) Yesterday I got in after 14 hours of travel still in broad daylight in the middle of the afternoon, so I strolled around the Avenues to fall asleep late enough, and still I awoke at 2AM (or 8AM per my internal clock). Maybe tomorrow will be better :) To prepare for it today I checked out Lower Manhattan, the Wall Street and NYSE with the signature bull, and also the new buildings on Ground Zero. I kinda expected the memorial to be in a more obvious place, but I only saw the arrows pointing towards it after a long walk in the opposite direction. Of course the arrows also mentioned I should pre-book so I just skipped this one. Further south was even better, not that many people at this "late" hour around 8PM. The small parks and the high houses gave that part a nice athmosphere, and I also found the street of Irish pubs for later reference.

Let's close this for tonight and log a quest for tomorrow - to find wifi to post this! (Actually in the end office internet was the Holy Grail - I'll still need the WiFi to add pictures)

M