NYC weekend

We're taking advantage of our vicinity to NYC, and spent the weekend there last weekend. What fun now that we know our way around! We walked all over - despite it being a rainy weekend - and were able to explore a few new neighborhoods.

New neighborhood #1: Brooklyn!

And we finally got to see the Flatiron building

On our first night, we ended up being convinced to go to a free comedy show...and we ended up being basically the only audience members! It was a bit hit and miss with the comedians, but quite the experience and fun for a free show!

Coney Island Boardwalk

We also did a tour of Brooklyn and stopped at two amazing pizzerias (Grimaldi's and Spumoni Gardens) as well as Coney Island.

The view from Brooklyn!

One of the things we were most looking forward to was seeing the show All The Way...starring Bryan Cranston! We couldn't wait to see "Walt" on Broadway - he played LBJ, and it really was amazing to watch.

After a night at the theater, we weren't feeling a full dinner out, so we had gyros for dinner from a food truck near our hotel...it was SO good, we went back the following day! It's one of our favorite ways to enjoy a unique and cheap meal in New York.

Flower displays at Macy's

However, on our last day, we decided we did want a nice meal and ended up at a fabulous Spanish restaurant for lunch - paella and all!

Craft Project

Finally putting all those pinterest posts to good use...one table refinishing started, 2 to go!

April Fool's...and a Beer

Happy April Fools Day! Although I have no great stories about pranks, we were looking forward to today. Conshohocken Brewing Company had their grand opening tonight! About 2 months ago we found out that a local craft brewery was opening in town...about a 10 minute walk from our apartment. We've been counting down to the grand opening and apparently we weren't alone. We waited in line 45 minutes for our beer, but it was very good - and it was a beautiful day here so we could enjoy it on their back patio overlooking the bike trail.

For those of you looking closely, there's a 'Feine Espresso Stout created with the help of my favorite local coffee shop!

More to come on our fun (slightly rain soaked) last weekend in NYC later in the week. Cheers!

Happy Spring!

It's like these little guys knew yesterday was the first day of Spring! A welcome sight to see at our front door yesterday morning!

London

Mike and I just returned from a fabulous trip to London! We had a marvelous time seeing the city and enjoying all it has to offer. I was super excited to show Mike my stomping grounds from my semester abroad. However, it was even more fun this time around experiencing the city anew. It's such a dynamic place, and even sites I'd visited before felt new. Not sure if that's the city or me growing up...maybe a bit of both!

Mike's first view of Westminster!

We stayed really close to where I went to school, but, again, it was completely new. Although, I do admit that it was nice to jump on the Tube knowing where we were going. Speaking of the Tube...I was definitely reminded that it's the first and best underground system ever!

We had an interesting start to the trip...mother nature decided the day of our departing flight was a perfect time for a blizzard in Philly. If there's one thing we've learned from living out here, it's how to change our schedule on the fly! Thankfully we got on a flight the day before and missed not only a blizzard here, but also a major wind storm in London!

With the lions and my favorite art museum in Trafalgar Square

Mike had found an amazing tour company, London Walks, and we took a number of really interesting walking tours throughout the city. We even did the Tower and Westminster Abbey via these tours...really interesting. We visited a bunch of amazing museums too.

After our tour of the Tower of London

And the view from inside the Tower

One of our favorite things was going to shows in the West End. We had booked tickets for Book of Mormon a few months in advance for a special birthday night for Mike. And it lived up to the hype...funniest show ever! We had to sell our tickets for the show in Minneapolis when we moved to Philly, and tickets in NYC are way too expensive, so we were thrilled to be able to finally see this show.  In addition we got day of tickets to two other shows.

It wasn't a West End show, but we did happen upon the tents at London Fashion week!

Another favorite: our Saturday historical pub crawl! Again, a walking tour across the city to some of the most historic pubs in London. How did I not know these existed when I studied here? One still has inn rooms and is a location where Shakespeare performed some plays prior to the Globe theater being built. Oh yeah, and Chaucer frequented pubs in this area. These were some seriously historic pubs.

The first pub on our tour...this is the courtyard where Shakespeare performed plays 

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is just showing off..."rebuilt" in 1667 after the great fire!

The Princess Louise - all artisan hand crafted interior - this is just the front entryway!

We did get out of the city one day, and took a bus tour to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge is as interesting as ever (seriously, how did they build that...). And then we had a few hours to wander Bath. This is possibly the most picturesque town I've ever seen! All planned stone homes, and a 1000 year old Roman Bath (hence the name) to boot!

The Roman Baths - bath below and church next door

They're no longer in use, but we did want to jump into the steaming warm water! It's all natural hot spring water

One of our favorite new things to do now is having Indian dinner! Other than my poor excuse for homemade tikka masala, Mike had never really had it. We made up for lost time with at least 4 dinners at Indian restaurants!

Millennium Bridge...on our tour we found out about an artist that transforms the gum on the walking bridge into "art" by burnishing it and adding colors and random faces. Appropriately modern outside the Tate Museum!

From inside the Abbey at Westminster

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

Yup, there are still phones inside!

Swans (and a few other birds) in Hyde Park...15 minutes later was an absolute downpour!

Anyone could parallel park this little guy! Oh, and there's a bug behind it - Slug!

Hanging out with the Horseguardsman

On our last full day, we decided to tour St. Paul's Cathedral. Wow, it was really spectacular up close. And then, crazy as we are, we climbed to the top. Now, I didn't think I had vertigo issues, but this climb taught me differently! The outside dome is actually built on top of the interior dome so you walk in between the two...on metal grid spiral staircases. You can see all the way down!!! Deep breaths (and not just from 500+ stairs) but the views were totally worth it!

Just a wee bit of wind from way up here!

We did upload all our pics to our shared site if you want to see more (Click HERE for link). London has officially solidified itself as one of my favorite cities ever..."Cheers" until next time!

Bird watching

Yesterday there was a loon (migrating, I assume) on the river swimming and diving. Today, a bald eagle flying overhead! Nothing like the national and Minnesota state birds to welcome me home from abroad...

January Updates

We've had a pretty normal January - getting back into the swing of things after the holidays. We've especially enjoyed trying to see as many Oscar nominated movies as possible before the awards. We've seen every "best film" nominee for a few years in a row and weren't sure if we'd be able to this year, so we're loving being able to see so many this month.

The last two weekends have been really fun. Last weekend, we had free tickets to the Philly home show. While we aren't exactly the target audience (um, we don't own a home...) we did have a fun time wandering. We met a wonderful gentleman from India who was selling textiles, so I had to stop to purchase a runner. He had an incredible story about how his shop in lower Manhattan had been completely destroyed by Sandy. His insurance still has not paid him anything, and he's lost his shop. It was a sobering reminder that not everyone out here is back to normal after that storm. We were so happy to make a purchase from him!

Afterward, we wanted to enjoy the city a bit, so we walked over to the Reading Terminal Market for a crepe snack (we love that place!), and then onward to a favorite spot in town for an early appetizer dinner.

This past week, we got a last minute invite to a Super Bowl party on Friday night in New York through Mike's team at work. We took the train and were able to find a cheap hotel for the night. The event was a Boomer Esiason's restaurant right off Times Square, and it was pretty cool to be able to meet him, as well as see a few other celebrities while we chatted with some co-workers. We were reminded again that the city doesn't ever sleep as we walked back to our hotel after midnight and saw hundreds of other people out enjoying a beautiful Friday night.

Hangin' with Evander Holyfield!

Mike with Boomer

Saturday was the warmest day we've had out here in a while, so we walked up to Central Park. It was filled with so many others enjoying the day. We found a Turkish restaurant for lunch and I'm not sure if we'll ever be the same - the food was so delicious! We're just loving being able to go up to the city and check out new neighborhoods, and are looking forward to our next time in New York.

Strawberry Fields - the John Lennon tribute in Central Park

Happy Super Bowl Sunday - and to the Zitzmans: Go Seahawks!