Another Sunday in Connecticut (with a Saturday in the City)

Pizza at Patsy's on 74th/Columbus

Marisa and Granny Haming It Up

Up early enough. 6:00 but I feel pretty good, rested for the first time in a few days.  I made the coffee, ground it, then brewed, so that I no problem.  Cody, their dog, surprised me by being awake when I got up and wanted to go outside.  He's sitting out side the front down at the moment, happy to enjoy the outdoors and air.  It looks like a great spring day.

Yesterday turned out to be a really fun day, one of those you don't expect.  Beth left around 9:00 for an out door landscape painting class which would take up most of the day.  So Rami, who is becoming a bicycle fanatic, took off to the Wilton Sports shop around 9:00 to get a part for his bike, so he could ride this morning, and I looked at the various sale items, including a GPS watch, which I am contemplating buying for when I hike and bike.  It tracks your hike or bike ride, then you can download and store it on your computer.  Around 10:30, I went off to Yoga with Robert, at the top rated yoga parlor in Darien, Elements.  I have been to Robert's class a couple of years ago, liked him, so went back.  He's a cool, old dude, like me, with a Fu Manchu and he ties his beard about six inches below his chin with a ribbon...a yoga master.  Class was packed, and I acted like a rookie, trying to find a mat and blocks, walking through the studio with my shoes on, a 'no no.'  There were probably thirty people there, not too many young people for some reason, and few looked like serious yogis because of the lack of Luluemon clothes.  Robert is an interesting teacher; he talks non stop (the difference between wanting and needing) but during the poses, not in between so you do get lots of work.  He takes a normal pose, then tweaks it, like 'hands and knees', but then you stretch your  right leg back and as far to the right as you can.  Then your left hand out as far as it can go and hold.  He does that with other poses as well.  Just a little change and you feel it.

Movie Star and Grand Daughter

When I got home, Rami had just returned from a bike ride and mentioned the Bike Expo was in the city and wondered if we might all want to go.  We said of course so we jumped in his car about 1:30 and drove into the city on a beautiful Saturday.  The Expo was down on Pier 36 on the East River I think, near the Brooklyn Bridge.  It was packed with bikers of all ages, shapes, and ethnicity's, tourists, young and old, street entertainers, what you might expect on a spring day in NYC.  We browsed for about forty five minutes but is was so crowded that it was difficult to see much.  Many of the riders were there to register for today's Bikeathon.  They close down close to 100 miles of the streets for the day and riders spend the day on their bikes, riding, stopping for coffee or lunch, then continuing on.  It sounds neat but getting in it is by lotto so you have to be lucky to participate.

Rami at Bike Expo

We then spent a good part of the afternoon walking and shopping in Soho, a great area because it's up and coming, supposedly, and filled with people out to enjoy the warm spring air.  We went to Four different Long Board Shops for Mitch, an amazing REI for me, three floors of goodies for the outdoor enthusiast.  And we went to an innovative tech story called MajorBot, which is the  creator and maker of 3 D printers.  Instead of ink, it uses a hot plastic, so design a car, a house, a ear ring on your computer, then the printer will actually make it for you.  It costs over two thousand for the printer and I am sure the plastic is also quite expensive but it's an amazing piece of technology for an architect I would suppose or an artist.  We window shopped of course and none of us were bored, just enjoying the spectacle of a New York street or park---people with painted faces sitting in cafes, actors posing on the streets, even took couples sun bathing on their balcony high above the city streets.

Sun Bathing with His Gal

Ice Cream Store Advertising 

At 5:30, we met Rami's sister Lettie, who lives in an apartment just off of Columbus Circle, for dinner at Patsy's, on 74th and Columbus.  It was packed though we only had a short wait.  It's famous for its pizza, so we got ordered two larges, and a family style salad.  All were amazingly good, thin crust and cooked in a fiery oven, literally in front of you.  Great waiters, a couple of beers, lots of noise, from families as well as couples, it was a great way to almost end our day.  We then walked down to the Levain Bakery, on 74th and Broadway.  We got there just as they were closing, and Lettie bought us all seven of the largest and gooeyest cookies I have ever had, various flavors like oatmeal raisin or chocolate peanut butter.  As we sat outside the bakery eating, people kept filing in to this little bakery, till all the cookies were gone and they closed up.

Gooey Cookies from the Levain Bakery

We then headed home via Riverside Drive, the Hutchinson, then the Merritt Parkway, so it was a scenic ride home, through the Bronx, Yonkers, Scarsdale, Rye, among other burbs.  People were out in the various parks along the Hudson, playing soccer, baseball, volleyball, or were there to watch or take kids on the playgrounds.  It's the first time I really felt the full weight of the city, the density of it, people and vehicle wise.  One wonders how it manages to exist, a huge devouring animal, of foods, energy, water, and things.  Where does all the stuff come from to feed it, where are all the stores that sell it, and who are these people who can afford it.  A mystery to me.  I know I would love living in some of these areas if I had to the money to enjoy it, to eat at great restaurants, take a taxi, have my groceries delivered, live in a comfortably large apartment with a view.  If I had to live in a tenement, or public housing, tiny with four walls, a window, take a bus to grocery stop, then bring it home via an elevator to the thirtieth floor, I would not like it.  And I hate the traffic, which always seems to be crowded and wild, drivers fighting for that edge, getting their nose in front of yours so they have the right away.

We got home around 7:30 and Beth and Tyler were up watching The Office.  Beth had a fun day painting and she had an almost finished painting of a boat on the bay, deep blue waters, a buoy, and part of a boat, really neat and professional.  Tyler was in good form, having spent the day at home relaxing and getting a few things done.  He did not seem to miss the day in the city.  We were all tired and went to bed by 10:30 at the latest.  A grand day on the East Coast.