Archive for March 26, 2008

One Month On

OK I know it’s been over a month but I couldn’t think of another title…

We’ve been here for nearly 6 weeks now, amazing how quickly time flies, and it’s all still going OK despite the odd attack of homesickness…

We’ve still yet to receive our sofa however, and the blow-up bed which we’ve been using as a substitute seems to have developed a puncture, which amazingly Alex managed to find. Thankfully we still have the fold up chairs our lovely landlord loaned us, and apparently our sofa should be here tomorrow…although they said it would be here last Wednesday too…

 Last week was the best week I’ve had here so far, there was a Search Marketing conference on in New York which a few of my ex colleagues attended so I managed to get out of the flat and have some fun. On Monday I met up with friends from Totaljobs; Jason, Nick and Dave and we had a few celebratory St Patricks Day drinks in an Irish bar, then on Tuesday Alex and I met up with the lovely Kate from RBI and we had many drinks and a weird curry (it’s very different here). It actually took me a couple of days to recover and I didn’t properly go back out until Saturday when Alex and I met up with Jason again and his brother in Williamsburg to watch more bands – Holy F**k and A Place to Bury Strangers.

Anyway – I haven’t blogged for a couple of weeks so instead of boring everyone with minute details I just thought I’d list some of the highlights…

Walking over Brooklyn Bridge
I’d read about doing this in one of my guide books and I’d really reccomend it – you get an amazing view of New York and the bridge itself is pretty amazing…I also visited Wall Street which apart from being heavily guarded,  has some pretty impressive buildings

bridge1.jpg     manhattan.jpg

Finding Prospect Park
About 20 minutes away from our flat is an amazing park – almost twice the size of Hyde Park and the best thing is that they let you have BBQ’s in the summer and even provide grills for you to use.

Discovering Williamsburg
Many bars, gig venues and nice people – I will be spending much more time here! 

Finding out about KEXP radio
Seattle’s best radio station is now available in New York as of yesterday – YES! Not very interesting I know, but I’m finding the most boring things to be hugely exciting right now.

Drink, Drink and Be Merry – Part 1

I thought I’d do a post dedicated to my favourite kind of establishments – places that serve alcohol. As many of you know I am partial to a small tipple every now and again, so I thought why not write about good places that I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. At least that way I will remember them, and also use them to tempt visitors over (soon please, we miss you all!) Unfortunately the descriptions may not be all that good – alcohol kills brain cells and affects memory apparently,  plus I can’t remember everywhere I’ve been, and there have been some really good places.  Nevermind – here goes…

Fort Greene
First up I’ll start with the locals – luckily there are two bars within about 3 minutes of our flat…Rope and Vespa

Rope
Myrtle Ave
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
I love Rope, its definitely my kind of place – great jukebox, good selection of drinks including cocktails and ales and a really young, friendly crowd. Such a nice atmosphere and the bar staff were really friendly and the decor is great, this will definitely be a regular haunt over the next year. Oh yeah, and I hear that they let you grill your own food on a BBQ out the back in the summer…cool.

Vespa
Myrtle Ave
Fort Greene, Brooklyn

We visited this bar on a quiet Tuesday night and it was actually really pleasant. It was pretty empty but the bar staff and people in there seemed really friendly. The drinks were cheap, the music was good and we’d go back again although I’d rather go to Rope.

Park Slope 

Park Slope Ale House
356 Sixth Ave at 5th St,
Park Slope, Brooklyn 

We’d read a lot of great reviews about this place, especially the burgers, and we weren’t disappointed as the the food was great, and the service was really good too. The atmosphere was a lot more sophisticated than I’d imagined though, from the reviews I’d read I kind of expected a much younger crowd but was still pretty laid back. I think we’d go again, but just for the food and not a night out.  

Hmm, It’s quite difficult remembering all of them actually…I can’t remember the names of the ones I have been to in Williamsburg and I’ll post about Manahattan Bars another time, too much writing for one night I think!

Congratulations

Alex and I would like to say a massive CONGRATULATIONS to Alex’s brother Loz and his fiancee Wendy on the arrival of their baby girl Nikki Gillian Ager who was born last Monday 17th March! We’re so happy for you both and we can’t wait to see you all in April! Love you loads xx

 Beautiful Baby Nikki     Happy Family