Spontaneous Danish Pub Crawl
On the first Tuesday in August, NY was struck by the tropical storm Isaias and the effects were quite visible on the streets with many fallen trees and broken branches. During the week, Franzi got a birthday card for her father’s upcoming birthday ready for its journey to Germany. To end the week, we visited our friend Vlad and had an Israeli dinner.
On Saturday, Franzi had brunch with Elena and Alex met up with Godfred and friends for a coffee at Smør. At least that was the plan. Instead of coffee it turned out everybody was actually more in favor of sampling through the craft beer menu. Later Franzi joined them for a beer and we took a little bike ride through the city to an Irish pub for another outdoor beer. Later that day we met with Alan and Colleen (whom me met during our 4th of July weekend at the camp site) for a socially distanced meetup in Battery Park that ended with a Pizza in the West Village
A sad Goodbye 🙁
Sunday was quite relaxed – Alex changed all liquids (engine, transmission, final drive, suspension) on his new GS to reset maintenance records and be able to ride with peace of mind. However, it was also a weekend to be memorized as a sad one. We had to bring Choco to his new owner. Through the ACC website a new owner, an old lady living on the upper Eastside wanted to adopt our roomie. Of course we were happy for Choco to find a new long-term home, but it is crazy how attached the two of us got to our new friend within less than four weeks.
Williamsburg – fun and “work”
After the next work week, we were invited for a rooftop BBQ at Marlene´s and Henrik´s place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The skyline never fails to amaze and it was a good time with nice food and friends. On Sunday, we helped our friends Mark & Elena move. They got their first joined apartment in Mark´s apartment building. Thus, overall it was a fairly relaxed procedure, consisting of pushing carts into an elevator. After the work was done, we had a revitalizing lunch at Mekelburg´s. Later in the day, we took a walk to Washington Square Park and witnessed a COVID techno party.
During the following week, we spent one of our evenings with a little trip to Red Hook, Brooklyn. We were lucky to arrive at the Louis Valentino, Jr. Park and Pier just in time for a beautiful sunset. The pier is the perfect location to witness the sun going down right behind the statue of liberty (see title picture of this post).
On Friday after work, we looked at possible new apartments in Williamsburg. Don’t get us wrong, we still love our apartment in the East Village, but due to COVID rents went down a bit and overall vacancy went up with many people leaving the city. The views and amenities were definitely unbeatable but the contract length didn’t really fit for us.
“Sea” the city – exploring NYC via Jetski
Afterwards we kicked-off the weekend with a dinner at Oleg´s and Karol´s place (Pizza of course). Saturday was a fun day – Alex gifted Franzi Jetskiing around Manhattan so we drove to the liberty harbor and took off from there. It was super fun to see the city from the water, speed beneath the Brooklyn Bridge and ride across the statue of liberty – amazing present!
Spontaneous trip to South Hampton
Sunday continued just as fun. We drove up to the Hamptons with Marlene and Henrik and spent the day at Cooper´s beach. It was beautifully empty and the water had the perfect temperature! Before heading back, we spoiled ourselves with a classic lobster roll.
The next week was mostly focused on work. On Thursday Franzi’s team did a virtual team cooking session – gotta be innovative these days! Every team member received a HelloFresh box and we made vegetable Enchiladas we shared over video – crowned by Franzi winning the award for best plating.
Just a week in the city
Friday, we met up with Kushal and had a classic German dinner at Cafe Katja. It felt good to have something to remind us of home, since it’s almost been a year since we’ve last been to Germany at this point. So Sausage, Sauerkraut, Gulasch and Spätzle were just right. The rest of the weekend was pretty unspectacular. Saturday we visited a photography exhibition at Fotografiska that covered various topics, from deathrow exoneers to utopian images. Fotografiska was founded in Stockholm in 2010, and recently opened its newest outpost in a treasured, six-floor historic landmark building in NYC’s Flatiron district. Later that day we made Ratatouille and meatballs. Sunday we kicked of with a walk and Alex did a short motorcycle tip upstate. In the meantime, Franzi prepared a card for her mothers upcoming birthday.
