Another week of our travel schedules not tying up. For a change Franzi stayed in New York this time and Alex was the one travelling. He had to go to Santa Clara, California. The lucky coincidence: Alex dad Wolfgang is currently doing a three-month motorcycle trip through Alaska, Canada and the US and he just happened to arrive in San Francisco the very same day as Alex. Thus, once Alex touched down in SFO both met up for a quick coffee at the airport before Alex had to head to the client site.
However, Alex dad arranged to get a room in the same hotel Alex was staying to simplify logistics and chances to spend some more quality time together. Luckily, Alex was able to wrap up the first day on time. It is always great to breakout from typical consultant life and add a pinch of family to the weekly schedule. Both celebrated the unforeseen reunion with a nice steak at Rok steakhouse.
The next morning Alex and his dad had breakfast together before Wolfgang headed further South to continue his trip towards Los Angeles. What are the chances that a travel schedule lines up for a rather spontaneous meeting on the other side of the world? Overall a great start of the week.
Back in New York Franzi met with her friend Svenja for her last evening in New York at PHD Terrace for some summer night drinks. Alex took a redeye flight back from California to New York and arrived early Friday morning after getting on the plane Thursday night, which was quite exhausting.
Therefore, we spent the weekend rather relaxed – we went for a run on Friday after work and then made our way over to Greenpoint in Brooklyn. We were invited to the birthday party of a colleague from Franzi’s current project. Before going there, we made a quick stop for some tacos and then enjoyed an amazing view over Manhattan at the party.
Saturday was a relaxed day. A classic start with Bagels at Tompkins Square Bagels, followed by a stroll through the East Village to get some things done. We found time to redeem Franzi’s birthday gift voucher and got a bicycle helmet at REI SOHO to protect her from the craziness of New York City traffic and discovered a nice little store called Makari in our neighborhood that sells handmade unique Japanese tableware.
In the afternoon, Alex devoted some time to his newly re-discovered passion for drawing. He is currently working on a drawing of the design classic Eames Lounge Chair.
In the evening we had dinner at Balade for some fine Lebanese food and went to the “Village East Cinema” opposite our street and watched the newly released Tarantino movie “Once upon a time in Hollywood” starring Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. The cinema looks spectacular from the inside!
It is one of New York’s last remaining Yiddish theater buildings and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The theater was originally named the Louis N. Jaffe Theater (also called the Yiddish Art Theatre (after its first tenant) and later the Yiddish Folks Theatre). The structure was built in 1925-26 by Louis Jaffe, a developer and prominent Jewish community leader, at 12th Street and Second Avenue in the Yiddish Theater District.
On Sunday we enjoyed a late summer ride out to Bear Mountain with the motorcycles. We did the Seven Lakes Drive which is always beautiful and saw the New York skyline from afar. The rest of Sunday was spent with drawing, going for a run, food shopping and a fresh salad.
