A big week for American culture – Thanksgiving week! Since many Americans take off the whole week and it gets about as quiet as it does around Christmas in Germany, Alex and Franzi didn’t have to travel this week, which allowed for a joint week at home.
We spent the days at the office and the evenings cooking dinner at home. What sounds normal is quite unusual for us and we really enjoyed it. During the week we received a package from Franzi’s parents, which was a homemade advent calendar. Franzi was so happy about it, since this is a beloved tradition and it was lovely to have a piece of home in New York.
On Wednesday we worked from home and started off the day with a trip to the market to get our ingredients for our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.
Kati and Eike back in NYC
Wednesday night, Eike and Kati came back from their road trip to Rhode Island (where Eike and Alex studied together) so we could spend the long thanksgiving weekend together. On Thursday we kicked off the day with a breakfast at Tomkins Square Bagels (Yes, also Kati and Eike fell in love with this place immediately).
Afterwards, we took a quick peak at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, which is the world’s largest parade. The tradition started in 1924 and lasts about three hours.
It was a bit too crowded for our taste, so we ventured into the Central Park via Bryant Park and Times Square for a more relaxed walk and listening to some street music.
Getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner
Back home, we started preparing our modified three course Thanksgiving meal: Salad with Prawns and self-made Pesto as a starter, beer butt chicken with rosemary potatoes and asparagus wrapped in bacon as a main and a berry crumble for desert. Eike prepared Negroni as our Aperitif and we had a wonderful Friendsgiving with good food and drinks. After dinner we took a walk to feel a bit lighter after all the food and then fell straight into bed.
On Friday, we started the day with a brunch in Williamsburg at Gotan. To show New York to Eike and Kati not only by foot, but also from the water we took the ferry from Williamsburg to Dumbo. We had beautiful weather, so the skyline was shining in full force. After we explored Dumbo for a while we walked across the Brooklyn bridge, which we do with almost all visitors, but it’s always fun.
Our visitors leaving after two great weekends
On Saturday it was already time to say goodbye – after a breakfast at Tompkins Square Bagels Kati flew back to Houston, Texas and Eike back to Hamburg, Germany.
Alex and Franzi spent the day strolling around and enjoying the New York sun. Christmas was slowly starting to take over the city – the first Christmas tree stands opened up close to our apartment. We found some incredibly tall trees, more than two times as tall as Alex. When asking if these were for hotel or building lobbies, we were informed that these are mostly purchased for private apartments and cost upwards $2000 – this city really has different dimensions in everything.
We also found a beloved pastry roll from home at the East Village Meat Market. It’s a fluffy milk roll which tasted just like in Germany! On Sunday we decorated our apartment for the Christmas season and Alex also received his advent calendar made by Franzi.
