I know I know

I have been gone a month - and seriously I have been gone a month... I have been home exactly three days since the morning of August 14th.  So obviously I have a lot of catching up to do- and now we have out of town company until Sunday afternoon- so I thought I would work slightly backward and start with our most recent trip first.

We spent almost a week in NYC visiting the kids and our friends Laure and Arno and their adorable Alix.  We had a really superb meal at Gotham Bar and Grill. (see empty plate photo- LOL) a fabulous burger at the Spotted Pig in the Village and a tremendously fun meal at Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar (with Jeremy and friend Vanessa) and another good meal at Rouge Tomate (with Angela and Lee)

We had dinner at Laure and Arno's place where we joined by their new neighbor and old friend John (of VOMA post last year- John and Susan moved to NYC two weeks ago and ended up in the same building as "Larno") - we got to see a bit of adorable Alix and also spent an afternoon on the High Line once the weather cooled off a bit. 

All in all a good trip - especially once the heat broke... photos: We had lunch at the Mile End Sandwich place- that serves Montreal smoked meat-

our empty plate from one of the starters at Gotham Bar and Grill:

one afternoon we headed to EATALY for gelato and to browse the things available- soup to nuts or salad to pastries ....

Our lunch at the Spotted Pig was really enjoable - met some folks from Canada to share conversation with as we dined-

We went from there to the High Line for an afternoon stroll:

 

 

construction at the current end point of the raised urban park-

some store fronts along the way back to our Chelsea hotel on 24th street:

and a stop along the way to meet Jeremy & Vanessa - I took the photo because my grandfather always wore a straw hat like this in the summer time-

the bar we had a drink at before dinner with J & V -

then a few photos of the beginning of dinner at JLOB -after a few courses we were too involved with political discussions to remember to take photos- LOL

and finally our adorable little friend Alix

 

flirting with Uncle Phil:

 

another NYC day

Friday rolled around and we again got out of the hotel ASAP due to the incredible pounding noises-

this time we walked to lunch at Nougatine - the cafe at Jean Georges... we have been there several times but this time was the best food yet- it is prixe fix three courses and very reasonable.

here are some of the dishes I had- tuna tartare and then the burger and we shared our chocolate and strawberry desserts - everything was perfect!

then we were off to walk the High Line - which recently opened an new section of park on the elevated train line which once had been used to ferry freight up and down the west side of NYC-

various views of and from the High Line:

a small water feature and feet enjoying the cool on a warm day-

the wait for the two stall bathroom facility- LOL

the city as theater-

the audience as the exhibition-

a car park - under a frozen landscape-

a moment of quiet respite-

still lots of history to be seen from the elevated park-

encouragement for song birds to nest-

the church goers must not have minded the train noise - or perhaps they didn't run on Sundays...

we exited at 30th street and walked across town- finding this lovely row house along the way and stopping at the Hook and Ladder Company to pay respects to the fallen - who were memorialized on a board above the fire fighting gear-

later we met Laure and Arno for dinner at Rouge Tomate for an amazing meal with wine tastes prepared by the sommolier that were all very interesting.  we can recommend the place highly- and even though six month old Alix was with us we managed to almost be the closers (one table of two left when we exited after midnight again)

a really lovely day- and the next was going to be such good weather that we made plans to meet Laure, Arno and Alix after lunch to walk the Brooklyn Bridge...

so stay tuned!