Tom and Diana: East Coast Life

*pic of Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village
*pic of a potential chess partner


The past few days have been pretty busy for Tom and I. Tom was in Philly on Wednesday, Chicago on Thursday and Boston Friday. He doesn't have any cool sight seeing pictures to post though since all of his time was spent in meetings in conference rooms. Poor guy. Each day he left early am and got home at night (the Chicago trip being extra fun with him departing at 4 am and not returning until 1 30 am the next day (he had 4 different flights rescheduled and he and I were both on the phone with the airlines trying to creatively book him on an ontime flight).

I on the other hand do have pictures to post! I went to the city Friday by myself for some exploring and I LOVE it there! I took the train and when getting off at Penn Station, I just started walking. I headed past Madison Ave and Park Avenue and walked through Madison Square Park-- a nice park right in such a busy part of the city. The US Open is happening now in NY (Queens) so an area of the park had a big screen projection tv set up so people in the park could sit and watch the matches. People were laying out in the sun (it was HOT---near 90 and a bit humid), playing games and walking their dogs. This park, as does Washington Square Park which I also went to, had a dog park--but not the type we have in Seattle. These dogs have no grass, instead, pebbles to run on. Its neat though--the dogs seemed happy. I think Frank and Ollie will have a lot of fun there.

After walking through Madison Park, and convincing a very devout Chasidic Jewish man that I was indeed not Jewish as he insisted I talk to him about his religion, and then politely declining an invite to play chess with a very nice elderly gentleman (see pic) at the public boards in the park, I went to 'Strand' (prob the most famous bookstore in the city) that boasts an inventory of 2 million books. It is right near Union Square, so I cruised through there. I took my time walking through the Green Market (Farmers Market) full of Organic veggies and fruits etc. Pretty crowded there for a Friday. Union Square also has a small art walk that Tom and I experienced last Saturday---but there were more vendors there today.

I then headed down towards NYU. (I may sound like I had an agenda, but I did not nor was I positive about the direction to walk. I asked a handful of very nice New Yorkers directions at times and they all were very nice and went out of their way to help me---one woman even walked me to an intersection to show me which way to go).
My friend Matt went to NYU and he has been a good reference for things to see in the city. He and I chatted on the phone as I stood outside the NYU bookstore and he rattled off a couple "must stops" on my walk around town. Matt moved to Seattle a couple years ago and I think talking to him on the phone with the sounds of NY in the background made him want to be back out here. I hope so! He is going to head this way in a couple months and Tom and I look forward to having him visit us in the new house and showing us around NY :-)

After NYU (and buying a couple of T-shirts and deciding to take a class there) I headed to Greenwich Village via Washington Square Park. The park is really cute. Its a good size and again people were relaxing in the grass, dogs were in the dog park, a live jazz band was playing---it was great! The park basically leads right into the Greenwich Village area. When Tom and I were in the Village last week we didn't really spend tons of time there and I really wanted to check it out more. Instantly when in the heart of the Village, you are removed from the hustle of the city. Its still busy, but it seems isolated. The Brownstones are so beautiful to me and the shops and cafe's are plentiful. I stopped and had a quick lunch of guacamole and chips at a little Mexican place while I studied my map. After lunch I continued walking around the Village and headed to THE most famous cupcake shop in the city, if not the tri-state area: Magnolia Bakery. Matt recommended this place and I had actually heard of it. Cupcakes are the craze everywhere now and I think this place help started that. There was a line half way around the block!! I waited in line and am very happy I did... cupcakes for Tom and I this weekend !
After the cupcake stop I started heading back to the train.
So to sum things up--I had a great day!

The pics will be posted in the NY album under the photos tab... enjoy!