Very Delinquent Posting! Sorry -THANKSGIVING!

So we've been very delinquent about posting and updating this blog.

We promise to try to be better at this!

We have all had a lot of fun exploring the city since we last posted way back in August 2010.

One of the highlights of the fall was the Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Our Ohio family came in to spend the holiday with us and we all decided to get up VERY early to make the trek all the way over to the Upper West Side to catch the parade as it made its way down Central Park West toward Columbus Circle.

I griped a bit (a BUNCH) about how early we were getting up, but I have to confess that I really enjoyed the parade. It was really fun. There was so much to see and the kiddo and her cousins really enjoyed seeing all their favo[u]rite characters from books and TV. The kiddo is a little too small to really take it all in but her cousins really got to see everything up close and personal as they were promptly scooted up to the front of the crowd. They were able to watch the entire parade standing right at the barrier.

Here are just a few photos.

Daddy-Daughter dumpster day!

Today was a very interesting day. We took part in the city's "Summer Streets" program today.

On three Saturdays in the month of August the city of New York closes Park Avenue to traffic from the 70s all the way down to Christopher Street. The street is then open to cyclists, roller-bladers, runners and walkers.

We decided to take the subway down to Grand Central and walk down Park Avenue from there. It was a very nice day, with great weather and a fun dip in a DUMPSTER POOL!

The dumpster pools came about in the last year or so. An effort to bring portable pools to the hot mess of New York City - they have become something of an attraction on their own.

They were installed not far from Grand Central and my daughter and I had a nice dip in a dumpster on this warm afternoon.

You can't tell by the photos, but it was pretty darn COLD! I did get used to the water temperature after a few minutes, but she took a little longer to get comfy.

We toweled off and then headed uptown, walking home through Central Park.

All in all a great day!

Big Apple Block Party BBQ

Many months ago, on June 12th, we decided to head down to Madison Square Park to sample some delicious BBQ food at the "Big Apple Block Party BBQ."

Our little girl even got in on the action.


The food was great and the weather was pleasant.

RW

Carl Schurz Park

We are fortunate to live close to Carl Schurz Park. Grace just loves riding the swings, and now that she is walking, she loves exploring the playground too. Besides the expansive playground, the park also has beautiful walkways, lush trees and flower displays and a small and large dog park/run. There are plenty of benches and grass space to sit and relax...we have enjoyed a few picnic lunches in the park too.

The "Brooklyn Flea"

Today we decided to go on an adventure out to Fort Greene Brooklyn to explore The Brooklyn Flea. Apparently the Brooklyn Flea runs year round, but this was the first weekend of the summer season for the market, meaning that it operates outdoors (during the winter, the Flea operates indoors at another location).

It was an eclectic mix of vintage clothing, antique furniture, artisan wares, artisanal food vendors, some live music and GREAT people watching.

It was delicious, fun and funky all at the same time. There were homemade pickles, homemade sauces, cheeses, soaps and clothing. We even saw live lobsters dropped into a pot of boiling water... magically they turned colour and were much less live than when they went in....

It was a beautiful sunny day, not too hot and well worth the trip. We will definitely do it again. The kiddo was just happy we found some swings on the way home!

Touring OLD NEW YORK

Last Saturday, we took a very interesting trip back in time to old New York.

The New York Transit Museum organizes a tour every so often of the old, long closed, City Hall subway station. With the intrepid kiddo strapped to my chest, the 3 of us rode the Lexington Avenue Express #5 train to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall station. We then checked in with the tour-guides and then boarded a #6 Local train which took us approximately 600 feet down the track to the old station.

This was the original terminal of the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) line that ran north from City Hall to Grand Central, across 42nd Street and then up Broadway to 145th Street. The station was opened in 1904 and only stayed open for 41 years when it was closed due to low traffic. The Express trains to Brooklyn eventually stopped only 600 feet up the street at the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall station and many found it more convenient to simply make the trip north for more options.

The station has been designated both a New York City landmark and a National Landmark and really is a site to see. Now days, it is just a loop on the 6 train where the downtown trains pass through on their way back uptown.

Here are some photos.

The Hoser Hut

What's a Canadian in the Big Apple to do during the Olympic Hockey tournament?

Find the Hoser Hut of course! Well, unfortunately the Hoser Hut does not really exist. If you have no idea what I am talking about that means you probably don't watch the CBS show "How I Met Your Mother." In an episode of the show, Robin (the show's Canadian character) finds a home away from home at the Hoser Hut. The fictitious "Canadian Bar" in New York City is a bit of a satire on the many bars around the city that have become a home away from home for the many college teams from far away places across the US. A recent article in New York Magazine listed bars in New York that have been adopted by various College and University sports fans from around the country. This followed a similar article in the same magazine in 2007. With the size of the city, it seems that no matter where you're from, there is a bar catering to your sport or your team(s).

So, as the Olympics approached I was commiserating with my fellow Canadian ex-pats to see if we could find the fictitious "Hoser Hut" in order to properly watch Team Canada's run to the hockey gold.

It turned out that the Canadian Association of New York had teamed up with an Australian themed bar to present each Olympic Hockey game featuring Team Canada, with full sound, with Molson Canadian and Labatt Blue on special! He Shoots he SCORES!!!

So, I have to admit there is nothing like watching the Canadian team score 4 goals in the first period against Russia along with 300 screaming and yelling fellow Canadians. I was able to catch the Slovakia semi-final game as well. Sadly, I had to work on Sunday and was forced to watch the game on the computer. Very pleased with the result of course.

A friend did get to catch the game and here is a little video of the scene at Van Diemen's/the Hoser Hut.



RW