Midsommar i New York

Grand Central

Dave and I took the train from Riverside (very handy and within walking distance from our house) and 45 minutes later we were in New York. What luxury to have such a cool city so close. But I suppose they pay for it too, the people in Greenwich. I haven't seen any house for sale for under 2,5 million dollars... Anyway, we arrived at Grand Central Station - this beautiful, classic building as seen in so many movies.

My favourite - the Chrysler Building

The weather was good, not too warm (but almost) and luckily not that sunny. The day before, Greenwich had turned into the Sahara, but Friday was a bit cooler. We decided we're gonna go back and forth a few times to New York while we're here so that we can explore the city and really take our time. So today we didn't have any plans, just walked around, up from Grand Central to Central Park and then down again to Times Square.

LOVE (and a bit of rain) is in the air.

My Converses felt at home

Alex thought the M&M building in Times Square was the coolest thing ever. Dave got tired of it fairly quickly.

At Times Square, we took the subway all the way down to the tip of Manhattan and Battery Park. That's where all the swedish New Yorkers celebrate Midsummer's Eve...

Småland, Sweden? No, New York!

Arranged by the Swedish Consulate, the festivities had a maypole, a good crowd, sill but no snaps (herring but no shots). You are not supposed to drink in public places in America, so the Swedes politely drank their rose wine with discretion, hiding behind someone else.

... So we hid our beer in a sock.

We hooked up with Dave's friend Ben and his little daughter Mikaela who was practising the traditional "little frogs" dance.

Definitely not Småland.

Of course, it had to rain a little bit on Midsummer's Eve as it always does in Sweden, so just before the festivities were starting up Dave and I felt one drop of rain and decided to look for shelter. We walked to a tent and waited there. Two minutes later hell broke loose. The rain started lashing down and all the swedes in their pretty, summery dresses and white shirts ran for their life and joined us in the tent. But after fifteen minutes the sun was out again and the show could go on. Alex joined in with the dancers around the pole and enjoyed her favourite songs "Vi äro musikanter" and "Räven raskar".

All good again.

Tired, but happy we took the train back to Greenwich and decided to do the remaining 98% of New York some other day.

Happy Midsummer!

It's waaarm! Over 100 degrees (38) is expected in the New York area later today, now it's 95 (35). Then it'll cool down to about 85 (29,5) for the weekend.

We are so happy in our new home. The people we're staying with are nice, it's a cute (and high end) area, I've taken up running again, they let us borrow the car sometimes and it's just all good. The cleaning lady was here the other day, so when we got back from work our room really looked like a hotel room... :-) I know we shouldn't get used to this luxury, and believe me we're not. But we appreciate it for the time being. I've realised I can help out by cooking dinner (the mum doesn't like to cook) so I've taken care of feeding the six of us. Last night, we put some nice bugers on the bbq and served with a feta cheese sallad but we had to have dinner inside since it was still about 30 degrees outside...

Today, Gill and I have ran a few errends for Mary and now Dave and I are off to the beach. We got the beach cards, (yes, it's not free to go to the beach here, you have to pay 5 dollars of some strange reason) hand made turkey subs, some peaches, water and we're ready to go.

Tomorrow is the big holiday of Midsummer in Sweden. Us Swedes usually celebrate the summer solstice with dancing around the maypole, eating a lovely summery dinner al fresco and we're drinking and dancing all night. We don't know yet what we'll do to celebrate here tomorrow, but maybe, just maybe we'll go in to the City... :-)

Glad midsommar till våra familjer, härliga vänner och släktingar! Vi saknar er! /Alex & Dave

We're out of the boat!

Our new house!

... And have ended up i New England-heaven!
Yes, we finally got off the boat as my work colleague Gil offered to put us up in his parents' house. And what a house! I was extatic just walking through the door. It is New England at its best. The kitchen has a kind of conservatory where the breakfast table and kitchen island are, and it's just one of those kitchens that I've always dreamt of. The sitting room has a huge, old-fashion brick fireplace and the walls are dressed in light blue panels. The ceiling is white, the shelves that run on top of the panels are light blue and the furniture is either white or with white and blue stripes.

Our room is like the nicest hotel room that would cost €100 a night. It is all in black and white with some antique furniture, an ensuite and walk in wardrobe. I'm loving every minute here so far! Oh, and the house is clean... :-)

Alex & Dave's room

In this house on Lockwood Rd in Riverside, Gil and his brother Teek live with their parents, Blizzard the dog and Lemon, the kakadua. Last night I cooked dinner for us all and then we took our Millers and sat on their lovely porch watching the fire flies doing their disco dancing in the garden.

Today, Friday, both Gil and I are off work so after breakfast I went for a run. I ran down the road to a pretty park where a group of "trophy wifes" were doing their morning work out with their strollers. I could definitely live here, I immediately thought.

Yesterday we went shopping. Clothes and stuff are such good value here. I got a pair of Nike runners, a pair of shorts, a sports bra and a tank top for 118 dollars (= €94 or SEK 800). The shoes alone would have been 140 dollars back home. These savings make my splashing out on the Jimmy Choo's look a little less bad.

We have no plans yet for this weekend. Since we're no longer on the boat, we're not in such a rush to go somewhere. So Dave and I might just get to know our new area and have some quality alone-time together. Tonight though, we'll probably join this family who are having dinner on the beach. They've promised lovely weather for the weekend and for the coming week. :-)

Cherioo!
Alex

The not so romantic roadtrip to the Hamptons

A dog sandwich? - Mr Beats in between the cushions, Mimi on top in the basket.

On Friday, after Alex had planted Mike and Mary's entire garden, (I love planting & gardening and Mary needed someone to do it), we moved out of the house and onto their boat. I'm a boat person in some ways (my dad was a captain and we had a sailing boat when I was growing up) but I'm also a person who likes to keep things neat, clean, organised and well-planned... And I don't like camping or outdoor living or toilets that sometimes work and sometimes don't. So for me, the boat is nice to sit in when it's sunny and you have a bottle of Miller in one hand and Dave in the other. It's also not so bad to take out, dock somewhere near a little island and jump off the boat. But I prefer not living in one. But anyways, that's what we're doing now since the teenage daughter reclaimed her room coming back from collage (with all rights, of course!)

So, Dave and I abandoned the ship on Saturday around luchtime, packed Jack's old Saab (which in Dave's mind is not a Saab but a Mustang or maybe an MX5) and decided to go on a roadtrip to Long Island! Happy and excited we crossed Throgs Neck Bridge which connects Connecticut on one side of Long Island Sound, to New York on the other.

We made one stop on the way, in a small hole that most people just drive through, I don't think it even had a name. We got some turkey sandwiches at Marta's Deli and popped into an antique shop where we met a Swedish man named Jerry (what else?). He gave us his number and said if we ever needed anything - just give him a call. He also recommended a few places in the Hamptons. Later on, we seriously considered calling him to ask if he could put us up in his house...

We drove through Southampton, a larger town, and continued to Bridgehampton. That's where the Hamptons really start. Driving into Bridgehampton, we noticed that all houses and manors had a sculpture in their front garden. Some in copper or iron, some in stainless steel. The sculptures were very appreciated by designer and art lover Dave. Bridgehampton's main street was jammed with nice shops in white wooden buildings (Ralph Lauren, Tiffany's, Longchamps, Vineyard Vines) and the town also had some parks and little white chapels (all very appreciated by Alex).

We continued on Road 27, a pretty drive through all of the Hampton villages, and spotted some tempting looking fields with vines and vineyards. Many states have wine trails, and that's something we definitely shouldn't miss before we go home.

East Hampton came next. It seemed to be the most popular village of the Hamptons. East Hampton looked almost the same as Bridgehampton, with fancy shops, people eating outside in restaurants along the main strip, pretty wooden chapels and greens. Dave and I tossed a coin and the coin wanted us to drive on to Montauk on the very end of Long Island. We could've killed that coin...

I bet Montauk is a great place when you're 19 years old, constantly stoned and have no cares in the world. But if you're over 30, never tried any drug what so ever and you're looking for a cool town with a nice feel, fresh seafood, a cold beer and a bit of newly-engaged romance - then Montauk isn't the place! We got the first dodgy vibes as we approached the town. Some kids were hitch hiking and we pulled over.

Two girls jumped in the backseat of the old Saab and one was extremely LOUD! She was sitting behind Dave shouting in his ear: "OMG, I can't believe you guys pulled over! No one does that, that is soooo nice of you!" And then the questions came... "Are you guys on your honeymoon??" (No, but we recently got engaged.) "OMG, look at that ring! You did sooo well (to Dave). So when did you get engaged?" (One and a half months ago) "OMG, so are you on your honeymoon?" ....
Dave and I just laughed and laughed and Dave had been trying to ask the girls what was going on and where they were going, but the one talking was so high/drunk/both that she didn't hear anyone but herself. When he had asked for the 6th time she finally said: "You guys have a lot of bags back here - that's what's going on!" (feeling a bit crowded in the backseat and still not understanding that Dave wanted to know about the party they we're going to). We dropped them off and tried to find a place to stay in Montauk.

A teethless woman who'd been doing drugs for at least 40 years of her life (rough estimation) answered the door in the first shabby motel we stopped at. They had no vacancy and it was the same story in all motels and Inn's but one... This one was actually not a streched out shed with a huge yellow smiley on the side (like the others) and they did have 2 rooms available - a studio with 2 single beds for 180 dollars or a suite for 250 dollars... We decided to drive back to the Hamptons. Not that it would be cheaper, but at least nicer. But first we had a rather crappy, overprized dinner along with an overprized corona... Thank you Montauk.

After having stopped at 4 other hotels, motels and b&b's in Bridgehampton, we agreed on just driving back to our boat in Greenwich. The b&b (a beautiful white house with a big porch and light pink roses in the garden) had a sign on the lawn simply saying Bed & Breakfast and their name... When we talked to the owner, he said the rooms were 250 dollars and they never provide breakfast. "There's a Starbuck's right there (pointing across the street)". If that had happended in Ireland, surely they would lose their license. I mean, a B&B without one of the B's???

When we were almost back in Connecticut, some wise fella decided to close off Throgs Neck Bridge. We found ourselves stuck on the other side of Long Island Sound. Luckily, after about an hour's detour, the GPS took us over another bridge back to our home, the boat (which wasn't so bad now after all).

Yesterday, Sunday, was hot! We had breakfast on the boat and in the afternoon Mary and Mike came down and we all took the boat out. We stopped at their mooring outside a little island with a lighthouse, jumped off the boat and swam in the sea which wasn't very cold and finished off with a barbecue on the boat. :-)

Please leave a comment! :-)
/Alex & Dave

Some pic's!

Everyday life has started for us in Greenwich and it feels really good. I am helping Mary out with her projects and Dave is busy with Mike. We do that during the week and then the plan is to do roadtrips and traintrips to fun places during the weekends. Their son Jack is so sweet lending us his car so that we can do a bit of Connecticut and New England. :-)

I'm posting some pictures below. And please leave a comment so that we can see who is following us on our trip! :-)

Love
Alex

 Alex & Mimi.

 ...and Mr Beats.

 Mimi posing.

 Huck & Mr Beats.

 Mr Beats.

Superstar Mimi...