Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

Our final major outing with grandchildren was to the Gardens , which in this late Spring were at last coming into bloom. The pics speak for themselves.

New York enjoys the company of Easter bunny

Views of New York

 The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration of our Lord North St Brooklyn.
The copper cupolas were not glinting today, but on a sunny day....

 This is another Williamsburgh Savings Bank- this time in Williamsburgh (Brooklyn). It has been taken over as a reception venue with literally no expense spared internally. Strictly inspection by appointment, but the web photos look breathtaking. http://weylinbseymours.com/

This is a statue titled simply "Valley Forge" set in a small Continental Army Square. If you need to ask where, or what, or who it's about, it's time to do some lite research.

Williamsburgh Bridge on the Manhattan end

Entrance to Prospect Park from the South West ( other side from Grand Army Plaza)

Favourite NY restaurant

(All photos from Juni website: www.juninyc.com)

Last year we dined at and were overwhelmed by the fare at Juni on East 31 Street, a new restaurant with an Australian chef. It had been named New Restaurant of the Year 2013 by Esquire magazine. So we hastened to book again this year.
We were impressed to see that it has already in only its third year been awarded a Michelin star.
It was a little harder to get our preferred time this year, but we delighted to be shown to the same table we had last year. The deal is to be greeted in the vestibule to by two elegant ladies, relieved of coat by one, and handed to maitre d' by the other. The floor is carpeted, we had a semicircular nook and nothing disturbs the listening to low key explanations given by our food and drink waiters and their several assistants. There are other diners in the room but they are far away and the sound of their conversation is more than muted.

Courses (6) and wine chosen with assistance, the meal starts with bread and butter, and two extraordinary dips. There is no chance for more than a mouthful because a long procession of preartistry begins almost immediately, astonishing the eye and mouth left and right as the artistic creations appear with some rapidity.

The three cold and warm entrées follow at a more sedate pace, then the fish, meat and dessert. All are so superb to see and consume that superlatives themselves might prove limited. Is it possible to find an imperfection? Yes, we thought our mango jalapeño dessert with powdered ricotta was insufficiently assertive of both flavours, so deduct a point here.

We look forward to the award of another star next year and a steady ascension of Sean Hergatt into the international chefs' hall of fame.

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Our Apartment and NY living

The above is the street outside our apartment. We are located in a veritable public transport hub. Not only are two alternative route express trains to Manhattan on a corner 20 metres from our door, but two other "local" (slower, more stops) routes are a short walk away. Buses abound nearby for zipping around Brooklyn, but we have yet to try them. By contrast you can walk the soles off your feet in Manhattan (as I did yesterday) searching for a subway to convey you to the right part of uptown. Moral: don't leave home without both a subway route map and street map.
The sidewalk,as they call it here, just outside has been cutely decorated by the locals:

In their front windows our hosts have an American flag and changing political slogans about fairness to Iran: eg if the Americans want Iran to down nuclear tools why don't they ask Israel to down such tools as well?
We are also only a five minute walk from the apartment of X and J as well as the Underhill playground which is a very well loved and used piece of land. Nearby is a main Street with plenty of shops and cafes including one run by an Aussie. It is called the Milk Bar. We have not tried it yet but have been to the Bluestone Lane cafe which is one of several run by and employing Australians. This particular on was in West Village. It serves all the kind of food and coffee we are used to in Melbourne. Fantastic.
Yesterday we also walked along the Hiline which is a disused railroad extending from about 13th st to 34st on the west side of Manhattan. It has been converted into a very pleasant walk with plenty of shrubbery and seating. The view is a very different one from the usual Manhattan landscape.

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Days in the country

The family hired a car and we took off for the rural scene of North Fork, Long Island for few days. Placid beach at the front door of our motel and carousel rides made for a good start to the holiday. The Silver Sands motel is need of external maintenance, but gets high marks on TripAdvisor. The owner was friendly, gave us a $50 restaurant voucher each, a bottle of wine and a packet of chips. The room was well equipped.

However, it was so cold on the first day that not even jumper, coat, and long johns sufficed. Luckily an eastern curio shop sold me a Nepalese beanie with ear muffs, and clever mittens with a finger flap for fine motor use. Wendy bought similar mittens and put them on top of her ordinary gloves.

 

Orient point on the point had a cable crossing to somewhere (presumably not transatlantic) and a meeting of two opposed sets of waves.The lunch break also required a playground so we got back in the car and drove to Ben's Point, ate our sandwich and sat in the sun. By now Jonas showed distinct signs of tiredness so while he slept, Jeremy, Henriette and Xanthe walked towards the point while we looked after the sleeping J. When he woke there was plenty of time for exploration of the playground following which we went back to Greenport, bought food at the supermarket and had a feast outside in the waning sun.

Sunday saw us take the car ferry (about 10-15 mins) to Shelter Island to look around. Our impression is that one would need a few dollars to,live there as the houses were quite generously proportioned. There was plenty of wild countryside and lovely beaches there as well but it was cold unless in a sheltered area.

The trek home started early afternoon and as we missed a turnoff, we ended up taking a slightly scenic route until we finally returned to the main road back to NYC.

We returned the car in good time and had a quiet evening and an early night.

 

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Lucia Di Lammermore

Being in New York is an opportunity for opera. We booked for Lucia Di Lammermore. The NY times reviewer was underwhelmed 3 weeks ago, finding the performance technically efficient but lacking convincing emotion, especially from the tragic bride.

We thoroughly enjoyed all of it. We thought the Russian soprano, Albina Shagimuratova, wonderful. With the excellent acoustic, perfect ( to our ears) orchestra, and funding from a list of donors and amounts that could finance a small university, fault finding requires a hunt. We are glad to have had the experience.

Here are snaps of the production purloined from Google images-

 

 

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Architecture in Brooklyn - Clinton Hill

Upmarket graffiti in our street north of Atlantic Ave.

A pleasant stroll up our apartment street and across Atlantic Avenue (a main road) gets you Clinton Hill, a neighbourhood for well to do people a century ago. Here are some of the streetscapes.

 

Monument to colonial prisoners of war during the revolution- Fort Greene (look for the American flag)

Williamsburgh Savings Bank Dominates the area

Joseph Steele House c1845 - Greek Revival and Italianate

 

S

simple but solid wrought iron

Emmanuel Baptist Church 1886, Grand French Gothic funded by Stanard Oil's Charles Pratt

 

Three houses built side by side by Charles Pratt, one for each son:

 

 

The Pratt Institute not snapped, is in the next block, an educational institution for artisans and designers. Mr Pratt believed that the best way to help others was to teach them to help themselves. The Institute began granting degrees to men and women in 1887. On the campus is Brooklyn's first free public library also established by Mr Pratt.

 

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Easter with grandchildren

Easier to remember personally than describe. Watching in the playground, playing child games, reading stories. Words cannot express.

X practises on her bike from Antony Greenwood on Vimeo.

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Transit of Los Angeles

We planned a 48 hour stopover in LAX, for a meeting with a cousin of Wendy's. He emigrated as a boy in 1939. G & J drove 70 miles to our airport hotel to share lunch with us.

We stayed at the Sheraton Gateway, which we can recommend. a reliable free shuttle, good rooms, and for us registered Starwood Preferred Guests- a free option- a lounge with substantial complimentary breakfast, appetisers at dinner which were enough for us, and an upgrade to free high speed internet.

As the only LAX cultural attraction was closed on our free day, we spent it quietly exploring the airport neighbourhood on foot and recovering from the flight.

 

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