Wednesday was a bit of a slow moving day but after a little while we braved the rain and wind (the rain was coming in sideways - it was horrible!) and decided to step outside to head to the South Bronx as Luke wanted to see some famous graffiti (apparently this is where graffiti originated) As each subway stop went by out of Manhattan the more multicultural the train became. We stepped out at Hunt’s Point (apparently notorious for prostitution) Luke failed to leave that out of the disclaimer prior to arriving there and the first Avenue I saw once emerging out of the subway was “Hoe Ave”. I couldn’t help but have a little chuckle to myself. Within ten minutes of strolling around the notorious neighborhood we stumbled across the first prostitute I’ve ever seen. Here she was standing on the street – exactly like in the movies. I had to pick my jaw off the ground and put my head down and keep walking. This is definitely somewhere I would not be rushing back to!
For someone who doesn’t really understand graffiti or the culture behind it the artwork created on the walls was pretty impressive. The South Bronx has two famous Jewish female graffiti artists and we saw of a few pieces of theirs scattered along the buildings’ walls. I really wanted to make it back to Manhattan before the sun started setting so we made the mission home. I’ve now ticked the Bronx off my list now at least!
A few nights ago we went to a lovely Italian restaurant just down the road from his house – just Harry and I. The first date we went on in Australia was also at an Italian restaurant so it seemed fitting that we continue that tradition. We shared a bottle of red wine (perfect for the Winter time) some beautiful entrées and then followed with a main meal.
On Friday Benfield, Ed and I had planned to go to the Guggenheim and had gotten all the way to 5th Avenue and 88th Street only to walk through the doors and be told the museum was shut for a private function. The other option was to go to the Natural History Museum which on my previous trip to New York I had been to and wasn’t overly keen to go back so we strolled for about 40 blocks stopping and looking at shops. I ended up buying some legwarmers which to my surprise are actually useful and work! I can honestly say I have never worn them before and swore I would never. I was grateful that I was too young the first time this trend came through however the conditions yesterday called for some drastic measures and am now a converted legwarmer wearer!
We stopped at a diner for late lunch and felt like we had stepped in to a Happy Days time warp. The décor and style of food made me keep checking over my shoulder to make sure the Fonz wasn’t about to step inside as a relief from the cold conditions.
We started making our way back home as Ed had a game of touch football so I made some spaghetti and meatballs for all of us (finally the cooking lessons my mother gave me have paid off!) and accompanied it with another nice bottle of red wine – very civilized and a perfect Winter night in!Saturday was bar golf day for the rugby boys and friends - basically means you dress as golfers and “play” 9 holes (bars) with a different challenge per stop. At about the 7th hole the challenge was set that you had to swap clothes with someone of the opposite sex who wasn’t your partner. I ended up swapping with one of the boys’ team mates who is of a more sophisticated age and a lovely man in general. Poor Larry had to wear my little shorts, baby pink sweater and silk scarf in exchange for his polo shirt and yellow corduroy pants. This made one bar manager not so happy and everyone was eventually asked to leave. After playing golf with my father every Saturday for a few years this was a complete change!
Yesterday we had a very lazy start to the day and around 3pm made a move to Home Depot so the boys could enjoy “man land” (imagine Bunnings on steroids) after collecting a few “essential” tools we then moved to the Christmas Tree section and I wish I could explain to you the beautiful smell that came from that room. Crabtree and Evelyn have a Christmas room spray which sums up the smell of the pines, the sap, and the wood. It was perfect. Ed found our little families tree so off we went with a car full of tools and a tree poking out the back of Harry’s car home via White Castle – which I would recommend to everyone to never enter. You know when you get 20 sliders (mini burgers), 4 packets of fries and 3 drinks for less than $20 there must be a problem. The boys played around with their tools whilst I went next door bought and organized our Christmas tree decorations. I decided seeing as I have two male roommates the most manly option would be to go for blue and silver theme. I had the honour of being able to top the tree with our silver star and Ed and I continued to decorate the tree whilst playing Christmas music. This was blissful and a wonderful start for hopefully a perfect holiday season.
Wow! I didn't realise you were doing this :) Now I can pretend I am with you and not bored in the Switch hahaha
ReplyDeleteHope you are having a ball xx
love rah