Hot town, summer in the city

NYC - hot town!

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity

Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

-"Summer in the City" by Loving Spoonful

From Simon and Garfunkel and Bob Dylan and the Beatles to Jay-Z, Taylor Swift and the Wu-tang clan, many singers and songwriter have written about New York City. While you know the lyrics to of the famous songs, they take on a different meaning when you step foot in the city that doesn't sleep and walk down Bleecker Street. Our week in New York was wonderful (and very hot and humid).

At the East Hampton train station

We flew into La Guardia and drove out to East Hampton on Long Island to spend the weekend with Leslie and Fernando de Oliveira. We played in the ocean waves on Amagansett beach where modest homes go for millions.

Jumping over the waves

We enjoyed playing in their pool and enjoying meals off the grill on their deck. It is no wonder folks from Manhattan flock to the Hamptons every weekend to escape the heat and chaos of city life.

Macalester class of 2035?

Then we headed in to the big city on Monday via LIRR. We arrived at Penn Station and grabbed a cab to the Upper West Side (UWS) where we rented an apartment for the week. We found a park nearby and met baby Eliza and Cara Goff. Later that evening our friend Anastasia Grivoyannis came by to say hi before she moves down to Baltimore to start her new job at Johns Hopkins and then off to Liberia with Doctors Without Borders where she is working on a project around pediatric surgery. Very cool!

Anastasia and the kids

Every morning we headed to a delicious bakery and had fresh croissants and pastries. We then visited one museum and spent the rest of the day in the park. Traveling with a 3 and 6 year old when it is 94 degrees and humid is not always the most fun but the kids did enjoy the air conditioning and exploring the Natural History Museum with the interactive ocean and dinosaur exhibits.

Yummy croissants

Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum

We ate hot dogs for lunch from a street vendor before heading in to a playground in central park. On Wednesday we went down to Times Square to see the National Geographic Ocean Odyssey show where we got to experience getting lost in a kelp forest and nearly got eaten by a whale! We had lunch at the Facebook and Instagram offices with Kenny Lin and Jessie Chou and Korra.

Eating at the gelato bar in the Facebook/Instagram office

We spent the afternoon playing at a playground/splash pad in Riverside park on the UWS. Cara, Cara's mom and I got to see the free Shakespeare in the Park musical rendition of Twelfth Night. It was spectacular - a true community event with a diverse cast of amateurs and professionals and not to be missed if you are in NY this summer!

Splash pad River Run

The next day we went to the NY Historical Society Museum and visited the Children's section where we learned about the early days of the United States, from the first settlers, how coins and currency was a challenge in the new republic, and how they raised money from tariffs and taxes, and we learned about newsies. They also had a spectacular Tiffany Lamp exhibit with beautiful leaded glass lamps from the early 1900s. We hung out with Cara, Eliza and Nancy on the Sheep's Meadow in Central Park and wandered to another playground/splash pad in the afternoon.

Blondes only

Thursday night Uncle Dan and Taya kindly visited and watched the kids so Daddy and I could go to Decoy, a prix fix peking duck restaurant in the West Village, with Cara and Nick Sikon. It was so good!

Go Mac!

Times Square

On Friday we packed up and took the Metro-North train along the picturesque Hudson river to Beacon for Miranda Hillyard and Noam Gerber's wedding. We arrived at the train station at 12:54pm and managed to run up to the platform 3 floor up with our 2 very heavy suitcases and catch to 12:56pm train. Next time we will plan to leave a little earlier...

We arrived in Beacon and took a cab to the Roundhouse Hotel, a lovely old wool and hat making factor along the Fishkill creek. There was a lovely waterfall next to the hotel. We wandered along main street to a local diner to get a late lunch and it started to pour! We tried to wait it out but eventually had to head back and got stuck running in the rain back to the hotel over 6 blocks away. Marit thought it was fun to ride on Daddy's back and Theo enjoyed the puddles. On Saturday, we walked over 1 mile down to the Hudson river through town and watched the boats, kayaks, paddle boarders and other river traffic go by. Taya and I did some retail therapy on the way back and then Daddy and I had to get ready for the wedding. It was a spectacular wedding that did not miss a single detail - from the specialty cocktails, raw bar, ceviche, live band, photo booth and a scenic location next to a beautiful waterfall - it was full of laughing, dancing and overall a great time! We headed back to NYC via train and then took two planes home on Monday.

Waterfall by the hotel

Hanging out by the Hudson River

The happy couple - Noam and Miranda

When I asked Theo his favorite part of the trip, he replied, "Hanging out with Uncle Dan and buying candy." I asked what he thought of NYC compared to Duluth and he said that they are about the same, "They both have trains, cars, parks, and pizza except NYC also has subways." I suppose he's correct. Marit says she doesn't want to go back to NYC because "It smells like garbage," which is a pretty fair assessment given the very high heat and humidity and frequent bags of trash on the sidewalks waiting to be collect. I enjoyed catching up with friends and eating good food but sometimes after a week with the kids, going back to work doesn't seem like such a bad thing ;) Enjoy the pics, thanks for reading!

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