...for one week
After more than 5 months in the city, we are going home for one week. Right now, we are sitting in the airport and waiting for our ride home. Exciting... but also a bit scary. Will we still blend in? Maybe we are speaking with an American accent now, without even noticing it? Or maybe we gained so much weight after all those burgers so that people won't recognize us?
And won't we miss the city? New York is such an easy city to get used to. If hungry in the middle of the night, just walk out the door to a restaurant on the corner. If craving some Italian ice cream, Greek keftedes, Vietnamese noodles, American burgers, Belgian/French fries, Mexican burritos, or anything else for that matter, again just pick a restaurant around the corner. Some late night grocery shopping, just go to one of the supermarkets across your appartment. If you want to see the latest collection of a rare fashion designer, you'll find it in the city. If bored, go to one of the museums or theatres just around the corner... well, you get my point, New York City is truly the city that never sleeps... and Belgian towns are maybe just the opposite?
However, New York City is the city that never sleeps, also when you are trying to sleep. So we are looking forward to the blissful quiet Belgian nights! And the Belgian food... ah, boterhammekes met préparé, frietjes, stoverij, speculoos, chocolade, and so much more. And seeing our family and friends, and well, just being home. Now that I think of it, will we still want to go back to New York?
Then again, there are worse things in life than living in New York City. :-)
Friday, June 19, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Our Bronx adventures
Watch out for the lions!
Sticking with the subject of my prior post "getting away from the city", here are some pictures of two of our other subway trips ... to the Bronx. Yep, the Bronx, that sounds very scary for us, little Belgians, but rest assured, it is nothing to be scared of, at least not the part of the Bronx we visited... unless you end up in the lion's den.
Last Sunday, we visited the Bronx Zoo - in retrospect, not such a good idea to visit the zoo on a sunny Sunday afternoon as apparently half of New York state had the same plans, but regardless of the crowds, we were impressed by what we saw. Our Antwerp zoo cannot compete with the Bronx Zoo. 
First of all, the Bronx zoo is huge, it's the largest zoo in the US (365 acres) and even has five entrances. Secondly, the animals' cages (if you can call them that - "habitat" is maybe a better word) are amazingly big, mimicking the animals' real life surroundings. 
Thirdly, the number of species "on display" (sounds cruel, but that's how it is) is even more amazing. We saw the entire African wildlife in a safari-like monorail tour, monkeys, flamingos, tigers, a family of gorillas, all types of bugs and reptiles, birds, ... A good tip to get away from the city, although you don't always have to leave Manhattan to have the "zoo experience". For example, some exotic and extraordinary species can be spotted at Times Square, especially after dusk, but beware they may become aggressive if fed too much alcohol.
In the beginning of May, I visited the Bronx Zoo's neighbour, the New York Botanical Garden.
Not as big as the zoo (merely 250 acres),but as impressive, at least for the gardeners among us, with its 50 gardens and plant collections, 
including a conservatory with orchids, rain forest, desert and seasonal plants, a rose garden, rock garden, herb garden, a forest, etc. We took a train ride (thank you, America, for always providing motorized transportation no matter where you are) through the gardens, feeling like in a posh English garden. The conservatory offered a spring display with hundreds of daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and the like, "an excellent photo opportunity" quoting the guard.
That's it for our fauna and flora adventures in the Bronx, folks! And while writing this post, I can enjoy the sounds of Manhattan wildlife (traffic, bus stop, fire truck and police sirens, honking, subway trains, ...).
Sticking with the subject of my prior post "getting away from the city", here are some pictures of two of our other subway trips ... to the Bronx. Yep, the Bronx, that sounds very scary for us, little Belgians, but rest assured, it is nothing to be scared of, at least not the part of the Bronx we visited... unless you end up in the lion's den.
Last Sunday, we visited the Bronx Zoo - in retrospect, not such a good idea to visit the zoo on a sunny Sunday afternoon as apparently half of New York state had the same plans, but regardless of the crowds, we were impressed by what we saw. Our Antwerp zoo cannot compete with the Bronx Zoo. 
First of all, the Bronx zoo is huge, it's the largest zoo in the US (365 acres) and even has five entrances. Secondly, the animals' cages (if you can call them that - "habitat" is maybe a better word) are amazingly big, mimicking the animals' real life surroundings. 
Thirdly, the number of species "on display" (sounds cruel, but that's how it is) is even more amazing. We saw the entire African wildlife in a safari-like monorail tour, monkeys, flamingos, tigers, a family of gorillas, all types of bugs and reptiles, birds, ... A good tip to get away from the city, although you don't always have to leave Manhattan to have the "zoo experience". For example, some exotic and extraordinary species can be spotted at Times Square, especially after dusk, but beware they may become aggressive if fed too much alcohol.
In the beginning of May, I visited the Bronx Zoo's neighbour, the New York Botanical Garden.
Not as big as the zoo (merely 250 acres),but as impressive, at least for the gardeners among us, with its 50 gardens and plant collections, 
including a conservatory with orchids, rain forest, desert and seasonal plants, a rose garden, rock garden, herb garden, a forest, etc. We took a train ride (thank you, America, for always providing motorized transportation no matter where you are) through the gardens, feeling like in a posh English garden. The conservatory offered a spring display with hundreds of daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and the like, "an excellent photo opportunity" quoting the guard.
That's it for our fauna and flora adventures in the Bronx, folks! And while writing this post, I can enjoy the sounds of Manhattan wildlife (traffic, bus stop, fire truck and police sirens, honking, subway trains, ...).
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Jamaica Bay
The Birds
Ok, this post is way overdue but maybe a little bird has already informed you that as of end May, I have finally found a job - well no, actually, an internship in the fashion industry. But you'll probably read more on that subject later.
Speaking of little birds, a few weeks ago, we decided to escape the city for a while and took the subway to JFK airport to visit Jamaica Bay... This may sound very glamorous but let me disappoint you right away: Jamaica Bay is a wildlife refuge center/national park located near JFK airport. But still, a nice change from busy, noisy New York City. The park is a favorite of many bird lovers, so I had to see it myself. It's quite amazing to find the following scenery just one hour from the city center.
If you look closely, you can even see Manhattan at the horizon in this picture:
Well worth the one hour trip on the subway (even with the risk of another airco-cold)!
Ok, this post is way overdue but maybe a little bird has already informed you that as of end May, I have finally found a job - well no, actually, an internship in the fashion industry. But you'll probably read more on that subject later.
Speaking of little birds, a few weeks ago, we decided to escape the city for a while and took the subway to JFK airport to visit Jamaica Bay... This may sound very glamorous but let me disappoint you right away: Jamaica Bay is a wildlife refuge center/national park located near JFK airport. But still, a nice change from busy, noisy New York City. The park is a favorite of many bird lovers, so I had to see it myself. It's quite amazing to find the following scenery just one hour from the city center.
If you look closely, you can even see Manhattan at the horizon in this picture:
Well worth the one hour trip on the subway (even with the risk of another airco-cold)!
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