Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Happy Holidays!

I cannot believe that on this day last year we had just arrived in New York and were heading out for our first NYC dinner.

Wow. What a year it has been!

(view of Manhattan from our plane journey back from Montreal)

Last Thanksgiving we chased the Macy's parade around midtown and then ate pasta from paper plates in our unfurnished apartment! 

This year we hope to be watching the parade on TV from the cosy cabin in the Vermont countryside where we will be spending the holiday with friends. 

Happy Thanksgiving! xx



Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Montreal


We recently had a wonderful, chilly long weekend reunion with our favourite Frenchies in Montreal. 
It was my first time to Canada and I really liked it but also generally felt a bit confused by the combination of North American, British and (in Montreal at least) French influences.


We stayed in a great studio apartment in the Plateau district surrounded by hundreds of restaurants, shops, bars and coffee places that even passed the Dave coffee taste-test.
So of course there was plenty of eating and drinking to be done...

Including one of the best brunches I think I've ever eaten (sorry New York!)

Montreal's most famous bagels (I'm really not enough of a connoisseur to weigh in on the fierce New York vs. Montreal bagel rivalry...)

And Montreal's speciality - Poutine. Which does taste better than it looks. But not that much better...

We even managed to have coffee from our favourite place three times - a surefire way to feel like a local!

Other than that we did a lot of walking and exploring including McGill University, Mont Royal, the Modern Art Museum, the Botanics, Old Montreal, Olympic Park and the old pier. I didn't realise till we got there how much we needed a little break from NYC but it was perfect timing.


Everything was a bit quiet and we got the sense people had started going into hibernation mode. 
I'd love to go back in summer.


Frequent lonely planet/map stops as always!


Saturday, November 10, 2012

My favourite time of year


The first snowfall hit New York this week. So I think that means my favourite season is officially over. As we're approaching the first anniversary of our arrival in New York it also means that Autumn was the final season we were experiencing for the first time here. 

I think October is my favourite month in New York with crisp sunny weather and lovely autumn leaves. 

The Upper West Side looked picturesque as ever in its Halloween/Fall decorations.



We saw 'Fall' at its best on a lovely Sunday walk upstate with Julia and Marc. It was a great day out to the very scenic Walkway Over The Hudson

We went for an explore of Poughkeepsie afterwards but apart from some big old houses there was really nothing to see and almost nothing open. Luckily we found a very good burger place to hide out in and fill up before the train back to the city.



We have our winter coats at the ready and are feeling prepared for a real New York winter!